By Jared Schmeltzer
Reporter
On Thursday the Merrill girls swim team traveled to Wausau to face off in a dual with Wausau East at Horace Mann. This being the first Valley competition of the season, Merrill lost 128 to 42.
“East is a very strong team and while the score didn’t show it we had some very good swims, each member of the team had a personal or season best swim or triumph,” stated MHS coach Kristie Winter. “Really standing out was sophomore Trinity Kanitz. Trinity was the night’s top point earner, taking first place in the 500 Free breaking the old school record by three seconds; and second in the 200 IM also breaking the school record by two seconds. Great early season swims were also recorded for freshman Erin Kanitz taking third in the 200 free and second in the two backstroke. In addition we had some great swims from Freshman Camryn Schulz, third in the 50 free; and Sophomore Aliyah Pillai, fourth in the 100 Fly.”
Bluejays travel to Lodi
On Saturday Merrill traveled to Lodi to compete in a small teams invite with Lodi, Monroe, Portage, River Valley and Edgerton. In this invite Merrill took fifth place, however competed well overall.
“As a team we took fifth overall but we were very competitive in the meet having swimmers in the top heat for each event,” Winter noted. “Top swimmer was Erin Kanitz taking second place in the 50 and 500 Free events with a season best times in both. We also had several fourth place finishes, just missing medaling at the meet, Trinity Kanitz in the 200 free and 100 free, Ananda Van Wie in the 500 free, Camryn Schulz in 100 Fly. This was a great meet for the team and I think boosted confidence for the team there were many close races.”
The Merrill swimmers won’t be back in the water for a while as their next meet will be Thursday, Sept. 21, as Wausau West come to town.