The Platteville/Lancaster girls’ swim team thought for a brief moment it had won Thursday night’s non-conference dual with Dubuque Hempstead in thrilling fashion.
Entering the 400-yard freestyle relay — the 11th and final event of the night — the Hillmen were clinging to a slim two-point lead.
The trio of Melissa Wood, Megan Graney and Elissa Bahr swam the co-op to a slight lead before senior co-captain Melanie Schaefer pulled away on the anchor leg to deliver a winning time of 4:01.66 and an apparent team win.
However, after a recalculation of the team scores, a scoring error was discovered and the two teams had actually tied for the final score at 85–85.
“Since we tied with Hempstead at the [Dubuque Senior] Ram Relays earlier this year, we knew this dual was going to be a battle,” said Platteville/Lancaster head coach Liz Peters. “The girls stepped up to the challenge and swam fast times across the board. The win/loss record isn’t as important to me as how my girls are improving, and improving they are. This makes me happy.”
Schaefer, as well as a number of Hillmen, turned in outstanding individual performances Thursday night.
Schaefer was a double-event winner, while also anchoring a pair of winning relays — the 400 freestyle relay and the 200 medley relay.
The talented, record-setting senior took first in the 200 freestyle in 2:10.28 as well as the 500 freestyle in 5:48.72. She combined with Lauren Smith, Bahr and Wood to win the 200 free relay in a time of 2:39.45.
Wood was also a double winner for the Hillmen in the 100 butterfly (1:04.25) and the 100 backstroke (1:08.98).
Graney won the 100 freestyle in 1:01.49 and finished second in the 50 freestyle (28.67). Bahr won the 100 breaststroke in 1:18.97.
Smith placed second in both the 100 freestyle (1:04.03) and 100 backstroke (1:17.92).
The Hillmen (0–1–1) open Southern Lakes Conference dual action Tuesday at Whitewater. They will return to action Saturday, Sept. 27 at the Bishop Fenwick Invitational.
Platteville/Lancaster 85, Dubuque Hemstead 85
(from Thursday, Sept. 11 @ UW–Platteville)
Platteville/Lancaster top finishers
200 medley relay — 1.Pla/Lan (Lauren Smith, Elissa Bahr, Melissa Wood, Melanie Schaefer) 2:04.50. 200 freestyle — 1.Schaefer (P/L) 2:10.28. 200 individual medley — 2.Bahr (P/L) 2:45.79. 50 freestyle — 2.Megan Graney (P/L) 28.67. 100 butterfly — 1.Wood (P/L) 1:04.25. 100 freestyle — 1.Graney (P/L) 1:01.49, 2.Smith (P/L) 1:04.03. 500 freestyle — 1.Schaefer (P/L) 5:48.72. 200 free relay — 2.Pla/Lan (Smith, Haley Gotto, Mikayla Vincent, Graney) 1:57.92. 100 backstroke — 1.Wood (P/L) 1:08.98, 2.Smith (P/L) 1:17.92. 100 breaststroke— 1.Bahr (P/L) 1:18.97. 400 freestyle relay — 1.Pla/Lan (Wood, Graney, Bahr, Schaefer) 4:01.66.
