Ladies Swimming and Diving: Warriors intestine out early win over Bemidji – Brainerd Dispatch

BRAINERD — Avery Duerr was not thrilled along with her opening night time efficiency.

Her swimming cap wouldn’t keep on her head. Her again was sore and he or she simply wasn’t feeling it. None of that mattered because the Brainerd Warriors senior gained the 200- and 500-yard freestyles and was a part of two profitable relays to steer the Warriors to a 120-66 victory over the Bemidji Lumberjacks.

“Today was not a great day for me,” Duerr stated. “Yesterday in practice, I felt pretty good, but I’m pretty sore today. Last week, my back was hurting quite a bit, so I had to take a couple of days off. That might be part of it.”

Duerr stated it’s mentally troublesome to get into race mode after long-distance exercises throughout apply. She stated as soon as the primary race begins, the adrenaline begins pumping and he or she’s again to her previous habits.

This season is Duerr’s final hurrah. The senior captain stated she’s centered on setting a superb instance for Brainerd’s 14 first-year athletes, however she’s additionally set excessive targets for her season, too.

“It’s exciting, but it’s also a little sad because this is my fifth year on the team,” Duerr stated. “My goals are to make it to state in all four of my events that I swim at sections. In the breaststroke, I’m looking for a little bit of redemption from last year. I didn’t have a great race at state. I’d like to go higher on the podium and swim a 1:03.

“There is more pressure because it’s my last year. Normally, I feel like I do a good job at practice, but I need to watch all of the little things that I’m doing. I need to set an example for the younger girls because we have a lot of new girls on the team. I need to do a better job setting an example.”

Duerr gained the 200 freestyle in 2:00.6. Teammate Kaia Iske was second and Allie Reilley was third.

Reilley gave Duerr a run for her cash within the 500 free, nevertheless. Duerr touched in 5:44.08 with Reilley proper behind in 5:44.39.

“I saw her coming,” Duerr stated. “My swim cap kept falling off and I was pulling it back down during my turns because it just kept falling off. I was a little frustrated about that.”

Brainerd’s Aralyn Marcelo was a double winner as she captured the 200 particular person medley in 2:21.84 and the backstroke in 1:04.68. Lily Larson was third within the particular person medley and Corrina Rabasco was third within the backstroke.

Rabasco opened the season with a win on the diving board. She scored 184.55 factors to high teammate Blair Ahlquist, who scored a second-place 174.15.

“It’s nice to see those divers compete,” Warriors head coach Dan Anderson stated. “It’s nice to see because I look at where they were two years ago and a lot of them were brand new. To now see them scoring in the 170s, that’s some nice scores.”

Isabelle Ploof gained the 100 freestyle with a 55.11 to spherical out Brainerd’s particular person wins. Ploof teamed with Duerr, Iske and Marcelo to win the 400 free relay in 3:47.88. The foursome of Luella Guida, Iske, Reilley and Duerr gained the 200 free relay.

“We haven’t really done a lot of fast swimming, so it’s hard to get into race mode,” Anderson stated. “They haven’t really done any lactic acid-type workouts. It’s just been a lot of aerobic stuff. This is a new sensation for a lot of them. You could see them kind of lose their legs at the end of the race. It’s still part of their training.”

Bemidji put up a battle within the season opener, too. Anderson stated the Lumberjacks could possibly be a menace come sections. Finley Zothman gained the 50 freestyle and the butterfly. Abby Daman gained the breaststroke and the Lumberjacks opened the meet with a 200 medley relay win.

“Our young girls all raced and competed,” Anderson stated. “They didn’t back down. There were no tears, but they’re a good group of kids. Half of our team is new and I thought they competed really well. We do have to get better, though, and we will.”

Key: Avery Duerr and Aralyn Marcelo every gained two particular person occasions as Brainerd gained eight occasions.

Overall: Brd 1-0.

Next: Brainerd hosts Sartell 6 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 28.