Chris Caporale, sports@wolfrivermedia.com
Leader Photo by Chris Caporale Shawano Community High School sophomore James Krueger swims the 100 butterfly Thursday against Lakeland. Krueger took third place in the race, as the Hawks fell, 95-73.
Leader Photo by Chris Caporale Shawano Community High School junior Tyler Buerman swimsthe 500-yard freestyle at Thursday night at the school. Buerman finished in second place with a time of 7:02.50.
The past two meets, the Shawano Hawks boys swim team has been close to getting back to its winning ways.
After falling to Rhinelander on Tuesday 98-70, the Hawks fell to Great Northern Conference foe Lakeland 95-73 on Thursday.
Shawano head coach Jeff Easter knows just how close the team is to breaking through.
“What we look at is the last two meets, we’ve lost by maybe around 20 points,” Easter said. “We told them that it’s just a matter of about one point per event, that if we can pick up an extra point each event, we could be in a tie, or even win these things. We’re really close, but we’ve just got to get them over the edge.”
Junior Nathan Kane secured the Hawks’ only victory Thursday in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 26.03 seconds.
The Hawks could have added a few extra points early in the meet during the 200 individual medley. Shawano’s lone returning state qualifier, Griffin Rades, had pulled ahead of Lakeland’s Jack Garcia during the breaststroke portion of the race. In the final meters, however, Garcia (2:10.19) outswam Rades (2:10.54) for the victory.
“We were watching him, and he could have won that. Just at that last little 10 feet, he lost it. So, we’re going to work on that,” Easter said.
Easter said his swimmers need to improve their stamina, which could make a difference in the tight races.
“We’re seeing guys keep up, and then toward the end, fall behind. We’ve been working on it in practice to push them a little harder to go beyond where they think they can go.,” Easter said. “We can get there I think.”
In the longest race of the night, the 500 free, Easter approved of the effort of his swimmers — Tyler Buerman, Collin Buerman and Cesar Ramirez. Tyler Buerman, a junior, extended the lead on his brother on the final lap, even through Lakeland’s Stanlee Kmiecik had already won the race by nearly 30 seconds.
“Our guys were listening to some of the directions we gave them this week, and they responded,” Easter said. “We were proud of our 500 guys for doing all the laps they did. That last length, they kicked it and swam their hearts out, so that was good.”
Lakeland 95, Shawano 73
Top 3 finishers
200 medley relay: 2, Shawano A (G. Rades, Kunschke, Krueger, Easter), 1:59.87; 3, Shawano B (Angeli, Kane, Lhotka, C. Buerman);
200 freestyle: 3, Green, 2:10.72;
200 individual medley: 2, G. Rades, 2:10.54; 3, Angeli, 2:32.12;
50 freestyle: 1, Kane, 26.03; 3, Easter, 27.70;
100 butterfly: 3, Krueger, 1:06.04;
100 freestyle: 2, Green, 58.68;
500 freestyle: 2, T. Buerman, 7:02.50; 3, C. Buerman, 7:23.51;
200 freestyle relay: 2, Shawano A (Krueger, Green, Easter, Kane), 1:46.47; 3, Shawano B (Lhotka, Rankin, T. Buerman, C. Buerman), 1:53.85;
100 backstroke: 2, G. Rades, 1:00.45; 100 breaststroke: 2, Kane, 1:17.30; 3, Kunschke, 1:17.42;
400 freestyle relay: 2, Shawano A (Green Rankin, Angeli, Rades), 3:58.71; 3, Shawano B (Lhotka, T. Buerman, C. Buerman, Kunschke), 4:34.86.