MONROE — The Platteville/Lancaster girls swim team opened the season with a trio of meets last week.
With just two seniors — Zoe Meier and Margaret Drefcinski — and 13 combined sophomores and freshmen on this year’s team, fourth-year coach Liz Peters knows it will be a rebuilding year.
“With only 16 swimmers, seven of whom are new, it will be difficult to be competitive against bigger and more experienced teams in our conference,” said Peters.
The Hillmen opened the season with a 101–79 non-conference loss at Monroe last Tuesday.
The young Platteville co-op made great strides two days later when it finished sixth out of eight teams at the annual Southern Lakes Conference Relays meet at Whitewater with 279 points.
“With so many new swimmers, one goal we had for this meet was not to have any disqualifications and we succeeded,” said Peters. “This is extremely difficult considering it was a relay-only meet, so this means nearly every start begins with an exchange, and there were several unique events such as the 4x100 backstroke where swimmers have to dive into the pool, turn over on their backs and then start their ascension into their stroke. We worked on exchanges and the backstroke forward start during practice this week and it paid off.”
Saturday the Hillmen traveled to Dubuque and swam mostly JV events, finishing seventh out of seven teams in the varsity competition with 15 points.
“The ladies had a fantastic meet and performed to the best of their abilities,” added Peters. “Iowa has some really great swimmers and it is a good experience to perform out of state and see competition that we don’t usually see. Now we will get into our regular dual meet season and I’m excited to see what the ladies will be able to do this season.”
Monroe 101, Platteville/Lancaster 79
(from Tuesday, Aug. 23 @ Monroe)
Platteville/Lancaster top finishers (top 3)
200 medley relay — 1.Pla/Lan (Maddy Albert-Nelson, Alla Brehm, Renee Momot, Shelby Smith) 2:25.99. 200 freestyle — 2.Brehm (P/L) 2:37.76. 200 individual medley — 2.Albert-Nelson (P/L) 2:50.58. 50 freestyle — 3.Smith (P/L) 33.62 100 butterfly — 1.Albert-Nelson (P/L) 1:14.07, 2.Momot (1:32.63). 400 freestyle — 3.Smith (P/L) 6:12.47. 200 freestyle relay — 3.Pla/Lan (Erin Walker, Anna Gates, Kara Ellingsworth, Zoe Meir) 2:37.70. 100 breaststroke — 2.Brehm (P/L) 1:32.26. 400 freestyle relay — 1.Pla/Lan (Albert-Nelson, Smith, Momot, Brehm) 4:58.88.
Southern Lakes Conference Relays
(from Thursday, Aug. 25 @ Whitewater)
Team scores — 1.Lake Geneva Badger 478, 2.Burlington co-op 412, 3.Elkhorn 388, 4.Jefferson/Cambridge 351, 5.Whitewater 336, 6.Platteville/Lancaster 279, 7.Edgerton 198, 8.Delavan/Darien 102.
Platteville/Lancaster top finishers (top 6)
100 medley relay — 6.Pla/Lan (Savannah Baxter, Kara Ellingsworth, Jayla Miesen, Clare Drefcinski) 1:03.09. 400 freestyle relay — 6.Pla/Lan (Renee Momot, Alla Brehm, Shelby Smith, C. Drefcinski) 4:41.66. 100 crescendo relay — 6.Pla/Lan (Smith, Brehm, Albert-Nelson, Margaret Drefcinski) 12:57.09.
Dubuque Senior Rams Relays
(from Saturday, Aug. 27 @ Dubuque Senior)
Team scores — 1.Bettendorf 117 2.Dubuque Walhert 103, 3(tie).Decorah 77, 3(tie).Dubuque Senior 77, 5.Davenport 71, 6.Dubuque Hempstead 47, 7.Platteville/Lancaster 14.
Platteville/Lancaster top finishers (top 8)
Frosh/soph 200 medley relay — 5.Pla/Lan (Maddy Albert-Nelson, Alla Brehm, Renee Momot, Shelby Smith) 2:10.65. 200 freestyle — 2.Brehm (P/L) 2:37.76. Frosh/Soph 200 free relay — 5.Pla/Lan (Albert-Nelson, Clare Drefcinski, Smith, Brehm) 1:57.06. Frosh/Soph 400 freestyle relay — 5.Pla/Lan (Albert-Nelson, C. Drefcinski, Momot, Smith) 4:36.53.
