By Jennifer Eisenbart
Sports Editor
According to Elkhorn head coach Jamie Richardson, the big deal wasn’t her girls’ performance Saturday at the Southern Lakes Conference meet.
With the majority of the team set to taper now with sectionals and state ahead, the Elks were more than solid at the SLC meet at Platteville, but finished third behind Badger and Burlington.
“We posted some great times for the day,” said coach Jamie Richardson. “We had several top finishers, which was awesome to see.
“We have a lot of good swimmers in our conference, so to finish in the top six at conference (and medal) is a big deal.”
The Badger co-op won the meet with 498, with the Burlington co-op a distant second at 410 points. Elkhorn was third with 380 points.
The Elks finished with 10 individual medals, as well as four relay medals.
Leading the way for Elkhorn was Kady Ruemmele, who posted a second-place finish in the 100 backstroke and a third in the 200 individual medley relay.
“Kady is so versatile,” said Richardson. “She really has impressed me this season. She is a hard worker in practice and does whatever is asked of her, which is awesome to have that caliber of swimmer on your team.”
Another double-medal winner for Elkhorn was Anne Blackbourn, who took third in the 100 freestyle and fourth in the 200 freestyle.
“Anne dropped .77 seconds off of her time,” Richardson said. “Anne is such a hard worker day in and day out.”
In terms of an event, the Elks had their best team work in the 100 breaststroke. Rachel Anderson took third, Avonlea Odling took fourth and Savanna Kreiser sixth.
“Rachel dropped .79 seconds off of her time. She really looked smooth off of every wall,” Richardson said. “Avonlea dropped 5.04 seconds off of her time. It was great to see Avonlea win her heat from an outside lane and be able to edge people out in the last heat to get up on the medal stand.
“(Savanna) had a nice first 50 to her race.”
Lilly Remington added a third-place finish in the 100 backstroke and a fifth-place finish in the 50 free, while Emily Ames took fourth in the 50 free.
“(Emily) really finished her race strong and had a good finish to her race,” Richardson said of the 50 free. “Lilly has really done a great job sprinting for the team. I was impressed with her nice dive off the block.”
Elkhorn’s “A” relay in the 200 medley relay of Remington, Kreiser, Ruemmele and Ames had the Elks’ best relay finishing, taking second.
“Lilly dropped .71 seconds in her led off split. Savanna had a nice relay exchange,” Richardson said. “Kady does a great job reaching out on her stroke using her long arms to reach on the stroke. Emily anchored with a .71 second time drop.”
The Elks had both its “A” and “B” relays medal in the 200 free relay. Ames, Remington, Linnea Baas and Blackbourn finished fourth, while Natalie Rinaldi, Megan Leahy, Bethany Buikema and Emma Glogovsky took sixth.
Finally, the Elks “A” relay in the 400 free relay of Buikema, Glogovsky, Ruemmele and Blackbourn took fourth.
SLC meet
Team results
1. Badger 498, 2. Burlington 410, 3. Elkhorn 380, 4. Platteville/Lancaster 298, 5. Whitewater 282, 6. Jefferson/Cambridge 121, 7. Delavan-Darien 106, 8. Edgerton/Evansville 79.
Elkhorn results
200 medley relay – 2. Lilly Remington, Savanna Kreiser, Kady Ruemmele, Emily Ames 1:58.46; 9. Megan Leahy, Rachel Anderson, Ellie Chechowitz, Natalie Rinaldi 2:05.89.
200 freestyle – 4. Anne Blackbourn 2:04.18, 14. Linnea Baas 2:10.98, 15. Bethany Buikema, 2:12.79.
200 individual medley – 3. Kady Ruemmele 2:17.78; 12. Emma Glogovsky 2:32.35, 16. Ellie Chechowitz 2:36.69.
50 freestyle – 4. Emily Ames 26.30, 5. Lilly Remington 26.37, 12. Natalie Rinaldi 27.60.
100 butterfly – 10. Bethany Buikema 1:09.37, 11. Amanda Robers 1:09.88, 12. Ellie Chechowitz 1:11.94.
100 freestyle – 3. Anne Blackbourn 55.62, 9. Emily Ames 59.55, 10. Emma Glogovsky 59.74.
500 freestyle – 8. Linnea Baas 5:51.35, 14. Emily Ackerman 6:07.94.
200 free relay – 4. Emily Ames, Lilly Remington, Linnea Baas, Anne Blackbourn 1:45.18; 6. Natalie Rinaldi, Megan Leahy, Bethany Buikema, Emma Glogovsky 1:51.36.
100 backstroke – 2. Kady Ruemmele 1:00.72, 3. Lilly Remington 1:02.88, 13. Megan Leahy 1:10.82.
100 breaststroke – 3. Rachel Anderson 1:14.92, 4. Avonlea Odling 1:15.67, 14. Amanda Robers 1:21.68.
400 free relay – 4. Bethany Buikema, Emma Glogovsky, Kady Ruemmele, Anna Blackbourn 3:51.81; 9. Elllie Chechowitz, Natalie Rinaldi, Savanna Kreiser, Linnea Baas, 4:10.78.
