Eagles’ swimmers win Platteville Invite

Sauk Prairie made numerous treks to the awards podium at the Platteville Invitational last Saturday. But the Eagles saved their best award for last when they walked away with the championship of the nine-team meet despite not recording a single-first-place individual or relay finish. “We won this last year, and the girls really, really wanted to win the meet,” Sauk Prairie coach Melani Guentherman said. “They pretty much were on a mission. “Every girl was trying to find a way to move up regardless of which place they were in. If you can get from 16th to 13th, that’s a big move up. It took a lot of moving up and racing hard, but we were an awesome team.” Sauk Prairie earned 14 individual top-six finishes and its top three relays all placed in the top three to finish with 458 points and outdistance runner-up Monroe/New Glarus (439) and third-place Edgerton (298). Leading the way was the Eagles’ 200-yard medley relay team of senior Alexa Judd, sophomore Amelia Hunter, freshman Riley Talmage and junior Cora Dunnum, which finished second in a time of 1 minute, 57.27 seconds. Dunnum, who had been sidelined most of the season with an off-season shoulder injury, continued her comeback with a second-place finish in the 50 freestyle in 26.32 seconds. She also swam on the third-place 200 freestyle relay (1:48.28) along with sophomores Kassandra Miller, Ashley Pape and Hunter. “All three of her swims were outstanding,” Guentherman said of Dunnum, who qualified for state in all three relays a year ago. “She’s just in a unique situation where she has been working out all season, her legs. But she is getting back in the groove of racing.” Judd also took third in the 100 freestyle (:59.43) along with the 400 freestyle relay (4:13.82) of senior Abbey McCumber, Talmage, senior Summer Acker and freshman Carly Coy. Earning fourth-place finishes were junior Lauryn Drager in the 200 freestyle, Talmage in the 200 individual medley, Hunter in the freshman/sophomore 100 individual medley and Miller in the 100 backstroke. “Riley Talmage had a great fly and individual medley,” Guentherman said of Talmage, who was fifth in the 100 butterfly. “Those were season-best times for her.” • Waunakee 106, Sauk Prairie 64 — The host Warriors won seven of eight individual events and swept the three relays to swim past the Eagles, who finished 4-3 to close out their Badger North Conference dual meet season. Sauk Prairie recorded a 1-2-3 finish in the 500-yard freestyle led by Riley Talmage’s winning time of 5 minutes, 49.92 seconds. Lauryn Drager was second (5:51.04) and Amelia Hunter took third (5:59.41). “Waunakee is a strong team,” Guentherman said. “They have a lot of great swimmers. We mixed up our lineup a little bit, but the girls in the 500 really stepped up, and they did awesome.” Talmage also finished second in the 200 individual medley and swam on the Eagles’ runner-up ‘A’ 200 medley and 200 freestyle relays. Sophomore Kassandra Miller also had a good day, finishing second in the 200 freestyle, third in the 100 freestyle and swimming a leg on the runner-up ‘A’ 200 freestyle and 400 freestyle relays. • On deck: Sauk Prairie will compete at the Badger North Conference meet at Baraboo on Saturday at 11 a.m. “We’ve got a few girls rested it for it, but I’m really excited about our end of the season meets, conference and sectionals for the girls,” Guentherman said. “It will be a lot of fun. “The JV meet (Oct. 29) is the catalyst and kicks us off in the right direction. I’m pretty excited to watch them all at the end. Now it’s time for them to know in their minds they are fast and be ready to go and hopefully make it to state.” Oct. 22 Waunakee 106, Sauk Prairie 64 200-yard medley relay — 1, Waunakee ‘A’ (Graf, Wallace, Schmeiser, Blitz), 1:55.89; 2, Sauk Prairie ‘A’ (Alexa Judd, Lauryn Drager, Riley Talmage, Ashley Pape), 2:01.78; 4, Sauk Prairie ‘B’ (Summer Acker, Cora Dunnum, Grace Orr, Amelia Hunter), 2:06.40; 4, Sauk Prairie ‘C’ (Carly Coy, Jade Babcock, Emily Vande Hey, Abbey McCumber), 2:16.28. 200 freestyle – 1, Rosenkvist, W, 2:03.70; 2, Kassandra Miller, SP, 2:06.91; 4, Orr, SP, 2:19.47; 6, Coy, SP, 2:24.42. 200 individual medley — 1, Sautebin, W, 2:22.31; 2, Talmage, SP, 2:26.06; 4, Pape, SP, 2:37.09; 5, Vande Hey, SP, 2:37.94. 50 freestyle — 1, Ryniak and Graf, W, :27.23; 3, Hunter, SP, :27.56; 4, Drager, SP, :28.39; 6, Giulia Brickl, SP, :28.55. 100 butterfly — 1, Schmeiser, W, :59.49; 4, Brickl, SP, 1:14.90; 5, McCumber, SP, 1:18.27; 6, Acker, SP, 1:23.72. 100 freestyle — 1, Blitz, W, :56.88; 3, Miller, SP, :58.10; 4, Dunnum, SP, :58.44; 6, Judd, SP, :59.82. 500 freestyle — 1, Talmage, SP, 5:49.92; 2, Drager, SP, 5:51.04; 3, Hunter, SP, 5:59.41. 200 freestyle relay — 1, Waunakee ‘A’ (Blitz, Rosenkvist, Wallace, Schmeiser), 1:45.05; 2, Sauk Prairie ‘A’ (Miller, Talmage, Hunter, Judd), 1:48.59; 4, Sauk Prairie ‘B’ (McCumber, Orr, Drager, Vande Hey), 1:57.15; 6, Sauk Prairie ‘C’ (Jade Babcock, Kailey Baker, Klaire Baier, Allyson Saladis,), 2:15.82. 100 backstroke — 1, Schmeiser, W, 1:01.21; 2, Acker, SP, 1:09.46; 4, Pape, SP, 1:12.69; 5, Coy, SP, 1:13.03. 100 breaststroke — 1, Wallace, W, 1:13.94; 2, Judd, SP, 1:17.46; 3, Orr, SP, 1:20.48; 6, Babcock, SP, 1:30.04 400 freestyle relay — 1, Waunakee ‘A’ (Rosenkvist, Ryniak, Sautebin, Blitz), 3:56.37; 2, Sauk Prairie ‘A’ (Miller, Pape, Acker, McCumber), 4:09.43; 5, Sauk Prairie ‘B’ (Vande Hey, Coy, Audrie Nurkala, Saladis), 4:42.15. Oct. 26 Platteville Invitational Team scores: 1, Sauk Prairie, 458; 2, Monroe/New Glarus, 439; 3, Edgerton, 298; 4, Whitewater, 222; 5, tie, Lodi and River Valley, 218; 7, La Crosse co-op, 209; 8, Wausau West, 136; 9, Platteville/Lancaster, 121. 200-yard medley relay — 1, Monroe/New Glarus, (Erstad, Michels, Hammer, Schiro), 1:56.54; 2, Sauk Prairie ‘A’ (Alexa Judd, Amelia Hunter, Riley Talmage, Cora Dunnum), 1:57.27; 7, Sauk Prairie ‘B’ (Summer Acker, Giulia Brickl, Grace Orr, Emily Vande Hey), 2:05.11. 200 freestyle – 1, Schieldt, E, 2:04.54; 4, Lauryn Drager, SP, 2:09.49; , Abbey McCumber, SP, 2:13.59; 8, Acker, SP, 2:18.21; 9, Vande Hey, SP, 2:18.79. 200 individual medley — 1, Houwers, W, 2:11.87; 4, Talmage, SP, 2:24. 73; 5, Hunter, SP, 2:25.66. 100 individual medley (frosh/soph) — 1, Puls, L, 1:06.51; 4, Hunter, SP, 1:07.42 6, Ashley Pape, SP, 1:10.95; 10, Carly Coy, SP, 1:13.99. 50 freestyle — 1, Harper, RV/RC, :25.90; 2, Dunnum, SP, :26.32; 9, Brickl, SP, :28.09. 100 butterfly — 1, Hammer, M/NG, 1:01.27; 5, Talmage, SP, 1:04.98; 6, Kassandra Miller, SP, 1:05.59; 9, Orr, SP, 1:10.07. 100 freestyle — 1, Harper, RV/RC, :55.84; 3, Judd, SP, :59.43; 5, Pape, SP, 1:00.47; 9, McCumber, SP, 1:02.11. 500 freestyle — 1, Erstad, M/NG, 5:30.08; 5, Drager, SP, 5:50.97; 8, Acker, SP, 5:59.80; 10, Vande Hey, SP, 6:10.85. 200 freestyle relay — 1, Whitewater (Houwers, Focault, Fanshaw, Krebs), 1;47.09; 3, Sauk Prairie ‘A’ (Miller, Pape, Hunter, Dunnum), 1:48.28; 7, Sauk Prairie ‘B’ (Orr, McCumber, Vande Hey, Drager), 1:54.98. 100 backstroke — 1, Hammer, M/NG, 1:01.18; 4, Miller, SP, 1:05.48; 11, Coy, SP, 1:12.66; 12, Orr, SP, 1:12.97. 100 breaststroke — 1, Houwers, W, 1:06.69; 6, Hunter, SP, 1:15.63. 400 freestyle relay — 1, Edgerton (de Moya-Cotter, Gorski, Schmitt, Schieldt), 3:49.52; 3, Sauk Prairie ‘A’ (Miller, Drager, Pape, Judd), 3:58.53; 5, Sauk ‘B’ (McCumber, Talmage, Acker, Coy), 4:13.82.