Girls Swim: Witt-Birn tops Shawano/Bonduel in Bay dual

SHAWANO — The Wittenberg-Birnamwood High School girls swim team earned first-place finishes in all but two events to claim a 91.5-75.5 Bay Conference dual win over Shawano/Bonduel on Tuesday.

Lauren Bahr, McKenna Metropulos and Annika Resch each won two individual events to lead Witt-Birn.

“Tonight’s win marks our third of the season, which brings us to 3-3, I believe,” said Bahr. “After the meet. we were talking with Rudy (coach John Rudeen), and this is the best season the team has seen win-wise in many years, which is super exciting. Tonight was also our last dual of the season, so now we’ve got a nice wave to ride to conference on.”

Bahr was the top finisher in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 1 minute, 1.1 seconds, edging out Shawano/Bonduel’s Isabel Colon (1:01.91). Bahr also won the 100 backstroke (1:10.54), with Shawano/Bonduel’s Allison Langlois coming in second in 1:15.35.

Metropulos got the Chargers off to a strong start with a dominant showing in the 200 freestyle. Metropulos won the event in 2:05.21, nearly 25 seconds faster than any other swimmer.

Olivia Curley and Emma Herb took second and third, respectively, in the 200 freestyle, giving the Chargers 13 team points in that event alone.

Metropulos also was victorious in the 100 butterfly with a time of 1:02.75. Langlois came in second with a time of 1:19.84, while Shawano/Bonduel’s Anne Carrier and Witt-Birn’s Christina Thrun tied for third in 1:21.64.

Resch won the 50 freestyle (26.83) and 100 breaststroke (1:18.7).

“At this point in the season, it feels good to win a meet, especially with a small team because we know we had to work hard to get there,” said Resch, who noted she personally likes competing on relay teams the most.

Resch helped the 200 medley relay team to a first-place finish in 2:10.18 in the first event of the night. Thrun, Metropulos and Jalynn Horacek rounded out the team.

Thrun capped a strong night in the pool with a top finish in the 200 IM (2:42.4). Thrun held off Shawano/Bonduel’s Gabi Bukoski (2:42.91).

Witt-Birn’s Isabella Hegewald was third in the 200 IM (2:45.03) and came in second in the 100 breaststroke (1:20.22).

The Chargers’ 200 freestyle relay team also took first, finishing in 2:02.8 — Herb, Curley and Horacek teamed up with Alexa Chaney for the top finish. Lydia Quandt, Allison Brown, Elizabeth Dillenburg and Ashauntee Smith formed the Shawano/Bonduel team that took second in 2:07.36.

Bukoski was a part of both of Shawano/Bonduel’s top finishes on the night.

The sophomore won the 500 freestyle in 6:22.13, pulling away from Witt-Birn’s Jessica Storlie (6:34.73). Bukoski was also on the 400 freestyle team that took first in 4:28.25, with Langlois, Colon and Macy Monfils filling out the relay.

“I think that our team competed very well against a really strong team,” said Bukoski, who achieved a personal best time in the 500 freestyle. “Our team took this as a challenge and ended up having 19 personal best swims (Tuesday). I think we performed really good as a team and as the season goes on, we keep getting better and better.”

The quartet of Langlois, Bukoski, Colon and Monfils also formed the 200 medley relay team, taking second in 2:11.99.

Individually, Colon came in second in the 50 freestyle (27.26), while Faith Ugoretz took third in the 100 breaststroke (1:22.8).

The dual was the final one for both teams. Shawano/Bonduel, Witt-Birn and Clintonville are all scheduled to compete in the Bay Conference Sprints at Shawano on Tuesday.

The three teams are then set to travel to Sturgeon Bay for the Bay Conference Relays on Oct. 24 before the Bay Conference Meet in Clintonville on Oct. 31.

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