STOUGHTON — Teams generally like to see its players at their best as the end of the season nears. Swimming is no different, and the Monroe-New Glarus swim team certainly has coach Linda Moser pleased after a third-place finish at the Badger South Conference meet Oct. 27.
“Saturday was an exciting day in the water for MNG,” Moser said.
The Cheesemakers set 40 personal records between both the varsity and junior varsity races, with 18 being set by the varsity.
Monroe-New Glarus (276) finished ahead of Stoughton (227) for third, with regular season champion McFarland (478) edging Madison Edgewood (469) for the meet championship. In the final season standings, Monroe-New Glarus (29.5) finished behind Madison Edgewood (34) and conference champion McFarland (38.5) at the meet, and ahead of Stoughton (24) and the other five conference teams.
At Saturday’s meet, freshman Morgan Erstad finished with the team’s best mark of the day — a second-place finish in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 5 minutes, 26.22 seconds — breaking her previous team record for a third time in as many weeks. Senior teammate Nina Schiro was fourth in the race (5:36.73), also setting a personal best time.
Sophomore Mekenzie Hammer finished third in the 200-yard Individual Medley with a PR of 2:15.12. Hammer was fourth in the 100-backstroke with a time of 59.63. Hammer is the defending WIAA Division 2 state champion in the backstroke (58.22). Erstad took sixth in Saturday’s backstroke (1:01.39), a personal best.
Freshman Alyssa Roelli was ninth in the 200 freestyle (2:07.82), shaving three seconds off her previous person best mark, and fellow freshman Karley Michels set a PR in the 100 breaststroke (1:13.98), taking fifth overall.
The relay teams also fared well, with Hammer, Michels, Roelli and Erstad finished fifth in the 200 medley relay (1:58.82) in the varsity meet’s first race, just 1/10th of a second behind Edgewood for fourth.
Hammer, Erstad and Nina and Francesca Schiro were third in the 400 freestyle relay with a season-best time of 3:45.97. The Cheesemakers’ 200 freestyle relay team of Roelli, Francesca Shiro, senior Cammi Ganshert and sophomore Kendra Wenger finished ninth (1:46.84).
Other top finishers for Monroe-New Glarus at the conference meet included Francesca Schiro’s ninth-place finish in the 50 freestyle (26.43) and 11th-place finish in the 100 freestyle (57.51), and Roelli’s ninth-place finish in the 100 butterfly (1:05.21)
The JV team finished fifth in the meet.
Up next for Monroe-New Glarus is Saturday’s WIAA Division 2 sectional in Baraboo. The team will have to trim the number of event entries, which means Moser will have to look at maximizing opportunities for points and trips to state.
“There are limited entries — 18 individuals and one relay per relay event — so this is where the cuts have to be made,” Moser said.
