SPASH swim gets past Marshfield
By Hub City Times staff
MARSHFIELD – The Stevens Point boys varsity swim team started the new year off right, defeating Marshfield 103-67 in a dual meet in the Wisconsin Valley Conference at Marshfield High School on Jan. 2.
“I thought our meet with Marshfield went great,” SPASH coach Courtney McMurrain said. “I’m really happy with how the team performed, especially on the first day back from winter break. We had a lot of strong swims, and I thought it was a great way to start the new year.”
The Panthers finished in first place in 10 of 11 varsity events. Some of those races, however, could have easily gone the other way. In the 200-yard medley relay race, SPASH beat Marshfield by 19/100 of a second. The Panther team of Cade Casey, Parker Soik, Kyle Franz and Marco Kurzynski defeated the Tiger team of Kyle Berres, Myles Jensen, Sander Marty and Ethan Dagit 1:48.18 to 1:48.37.
The Panthers won the 200 individual medley by an even closer margin, when Soik edged out Berres 2:19.91 to 2:19.99, getting the win by just eight-tenths of a second. In yet another close race, Soik edged out Marshfield’s Sander Marty in the 100-yard butterfly 59.55 to 59.76.
In the 100 Freestyle, Konnor Pilger held off Dagit by less than a second, winning the event 52.27 to 52. 86. In the 200 Freestyle, SPASH had the top two finishers in yet another tight race. Drew Harris won the event with a time of 1:52.33, edging out teammate Konnor Pilger, who came in with a time of 1:53.29, just 18/100 of a second ahead of Marshfield’s Myles Jensen. Harris also won the 500 Freestyle, beating Jensen 5:10.56 to 5:18.17.
Casey captured the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 59.11. Kyle Berres of Marshfield came in second with a time of 1:02.44. Kyle Franz won the 100-yard breaststroke event with a time of 1:10.12.
The Panther team of Pilger, Franz, Kurzynski and Harris won the 400-yard Freestyle Relay with a time of 3:33.70. The Tiger team of Kyle and Jeffrey Berres, Dagit and Jensen finished in second place with a time of 3:36.51. Pilger, Casey, Franz and Harris also won the 200 Freestyle Relay with a time of 1:37.49. The Marshfield team of Jeffrey Berres, Cole Hanson, Dane Tollefson and Marty finished second with a time of 1:46.20.
In the lone event won by the Tigers, Ethan Dagit held off Kurzynski and Casey to win the 50-yard Freestyle with a mark of 23.28.
With the win, SPASH improved to 4-0 in WVC competition. The Tigers fell to 2-2, and will host Wisconsin Rapids on Jan. 9. SPASH will host Marshfield on Jan. 23.