The Monroe/New Glarus High School Swim team competed in the Freeport Invitational on Saturday, September 24th. They finished in second place, with a score of 242.

“Today was a confidence builder for the girls! After three weeks of swimming the toughest three teams in our conference, today was a breath of fresh air as the girls saw their times improve and also saw their team swim to a 2nd place finish out of 11 teams,” said Coach Linda Moser. “This was a new invitational for us and we swam against swimmers we don’t normally see during our season. I think that helped, not knowing what we were up against, combined with a week of amping up our practices. We are at that point in our season where every practice is going to be extremely challenging so they are more than ready, physically and mentally, for conference and sectionals.”

Sophomore Nina Schiro swam to a PR and first place finish in the 500-Yard Freestyle, with a time of 5:49.70, which was an amazing 20 second improvement. Schiro placed second in the 100-Yard Backstroke, with a PR time of 1:05.29, which is a two second improvement. Teammate Linnea Tabaka also swam to a PR in the 500-Yard Freestyle, with a time of 7:01.13 - an astonishing 17 second improvement.

In the 200-Yard Medley Relay, the freshman/sophomore team of Linnea Tabaka, Cammi Ganshert, Emily Meritt and Hannah Swenson came away with second place, finishing in 2:17.23, which was a PR time for the relay team.

In the 200-Yard Medley Relay, the varsity team of Skylar Lassen, Nina Schiro, Maddie Hammer and Brynn Ritschard came in at fourth place, with a time of 2:08.74.

Monroe/New Glarus had two swimmers place in the 200-Yard Free. Maddie Hammer took second place with a time of 2:07.47, while teammate Skylar Lassen was right behind her in third, with a time of 2:08.00.

Ally Einbeck swam to a PR time in both of her events. In the 200-Yard IM, she finished in 3:00.96, and in the 100-Yard Breaststroke, she finished in 1:34.98.

In the 50-Yard Free, Emily Meritt and Samantha Ellefson came in at seventh and eighth places, respectively. Meritt’s time was 29.01 and Ellefson came in at 29.02. Teammate Madison Katzenberger finished the event with a time of 29.45.

Maddie Hammer placed sixth in the 100-Yard Fly, with a time of 1:09.74. Emily Meritt (1:14.79) and Hannah Swenson (1:21.09) also competed.

Swimming to a PR time of 1:05.22 in the 100-Yard Free was Samantha Ellefson, that’s a two second improvement. Cammi Ganshert also posted a new PR time, finishing in 1:05.68. Boasting a nine second improvement in the same event was Madison Katzenberger, finishing with a time of 1:05.77.

Coming in third in the 200-Yard Free Relay, with the fourth place team right on top of them, was the freshman/sophomore team of Hannah Swenson, Dee Delforge, Kayleigh Nesbitt and Emily Meritt. They finished with a time of 2:05.66 – a new PR.

The team consisting of Brynn Ritschard, Madison Katzenberger, Samantha Ellefson and Skylar Lassen took a fifth place finish in the Varsity 200-Yard Free Relay, with a time of 1:56.60.

In the Varsity 100-Yard Breaststroke, Brynn Ritschard finished sixth with a time of 1:22.67. Cammi Ganshert set a PR in the event with her time of 1:30.63.

In the 400-Yard Free Relay, the freshman/sophomore team of Hannah Swenson, Linnea Tabaka, Kayleigh Nesbitt and Cammi Ganshert swam to a fourth place finish with a time of 4:44.71.

The team of Maddie Hammer, Samantha Ellefson, Brynn Ritschard and Nina Schiro took third in the 400-Yard Free Relay varsity event, with a time of 4:10.38.

On Tuesday, the team faced Monona Grove at the Green County YMCA in Monroe.

“Our goal,” Moser says, “is to improve in the water and stay close to Monona on the scoreboard.”