MONROE — It was a banner night for the Monroe-New Glarus swim team Oct. 15. The Cheesemakers celebrated a 103-66 win on Senior Night, and sophomore Morgan Erstad broke her own team record in the 400-meter freestyle.

“It was a really good meet. We saw great swims from everybody — seniors all the way down,” Monroe coach Kendra Kalvin said.

Monroe-New Glarus is graduating four swimmers after this season: Dee Delforge, Libby Fuller, Laurel Houston and Kayleigh Nesbitt.

The Cheesemakers won 8 of the 11 races and grabbed five other second place spots — equating for 68 points alone.

“When we needed them to have good swims, they did,” Kalvin said. “The team showed everyone how ready they are for the rest of the season.”

Erstad’s performance in the 400-free was the highlight, as she finished with a blazing time of 4 minutes, 43.85 seconds — 23 seconds ahead of the next finisher. 

“Morgan Erstad crushed her own record in the 400-meter free and swam well in her other events,” Kalvin said. “Morgan has been working really hard, but she’s also been dealing with some shoulder stuff, so this is much needed for her to have and she definitely deserves it.”

Erstad, a sophomore, has been dealing with an injured shoulder this season, making the new team record all the more impressive.

“Today it felt OK. To overcome it, I’ve been going to physical therapy, icing and doing all of my workouts because I really want it to get better before conference,” Erstad said.

Erstad, who also owns the program’s 500-meter record, previously set the top mark in the 400-free (4:49.77) 368 days earlier as a freshman last season.

“I wondered ‘what if I’m slower?’” Erstad said of the distance race, adding that “it feels really good” to break her own record.

The 400-free wasn’t Erstad’s only strong swim on the night. She also took first place in the 200-free (2:14.38), anchored the first-place 400-free relay (4:21.74), and was on MNG’s second-place 200-free relay team (2:04.10).

Joining Erstad in the 400-free relay was junior Mekenzie Hammer, two-time state champion, sophomore Alyssa Roelli and junior Francesca Schiro. Hammer won the 200 Individual Medley (2:14.38) and the 100-back (1:08.85). Schiro was first in the 100-free (1:01.13) and second in the 50-free (28.89), and Roelli was third in the 200-free (2:26.71). 

Roelli, Hammer, Schiro and Anna Newcomer won the 200-medley relay (2:10.93) to open the night.

Newcomer added a second-place finish in the 200 IM (2:42.01) and a fourth-place finish in the 100-breaststroke (1:24.22), and was on the third-place 400-relay team (4:47.29).

“We had really awesome swims across the board — specifically the 200-IM. Kenzie, Elsa (Schaefer) and Anna had an awesome race,” Kalvin said. Schaefer finished fourth (2:53.91).

Karley Michels won the 100-breaststroke (1:21.27) with Peyton Yaun third (1:23.94). Yaun was second in the 100-butterfly (1:16.56) with Samantha Schiro third (1:18.52). Samantha Schiro was fourth in the 50-free (31.86), one spot behind Kendra Wenger (30.67). Wenger was third in the 100-free (1:06.65). Wenger, Yaun, Erstad and Samantha Schiro were second in the 200-free relay (2:04.10), while Wenger, Newcomer, Michels and Kaitlyn Elgin were third in the 400-free relay (4:47.29).

“We definitely have high expectations,” for the remainder of the year, Kalvin said. “We’ve seen the effort they’ve put in the pool every single day. I don’t want to put any numbers on it, but I expect really good things. We’ll see a lot of swimmers at varsity conference and sectionals, and we should have a really solid state team.”

The co-op swim team will head to the Fort Atkinson Invitational Oct. 18 before hosting Fort Atkinson Oct. 22. Meets like the upcoming Fort Atkinson and Platteville (Oct. 26) invites help the swimmers prepare for sectionals, Kalvin said.

“More competition, more experience getting out there and swimming their races in a meet atmosphere. A good way to view it is as a trial (for sectionals) so that they can be better prepared for the end of the season,” Kalvin said.

Erstad, who swam in four races at the state meet last year, said that having an extra year of experience should help her more this time around.

“Last as a freshman I was pretty overwhelmed. It’s actually really fun, and I’m going to be way more calm this year,” said Erstad, who was sixth at state in the 500-free and fifth in the 100-back in 2018.