A young and building Northeast Range Nighthawks team laid a bit of a foundation Tuesday at Babbitt.
Visiting International Falls left town with a 57-37 high school girls swimming victory, but the host Nighthawks were competitive throughout in their regular-season dual meet debut.
Senior Via DeBeltz had a hand in three first-place finishes, two as an individual and another as part of a first-place NRE relay quartet.
Alyssa Ice and Lucy Luthens also picked up individual victories during the afternoon.
DeBeltz, who is the lone individual section medalist returning for the Nighthawks this fall, picked up decisive wins in both the 200 (2:21.31) and 500 (6:24.49) freestyle events.
She also helped lead off the event with an NRE win, joining Jorden Borchert, Tuuli Koivisto and Ice in the 200 yard medley relay with a time of 2:17.97.
Ice pulled out a narrow win in the 50 freestyle, taking first in 28 seconds and edging out the Broncos’ Kayla Dowty.
Only an eighth-grader, Lucy Luthens, picked up the win in the 100 freestyle with a time of 1:10.56.
The Broncos picked up the team win behind overall depth.
NRE had one second-place individual finish, with Koivisto tying for second in the 100 backstroke in 1:23.58.
DeBeltz, Ice, Koivisto and Borchert teamed to place second in the 200 freestyle relay (1:58.86), and it was Luthens, Lindsay Israel, Ivy Ohlhauser and Maddie Johnson taking second in the 400 freestyle relay (4:57.57).
NRE also placed in these events:
• 200 medley relay - 3. Ohlahuser, Johnson, Israel, Luthens, 2:36.89;
• 200 freestyle - 3. Borchert, 2:25.51;
• 200 individual medley 3. Koivisto, 2:55.41;
• 50 freestyle - 4. Israel, 31.16;
• 100 butterfly - 3. Ohlhauser, 1:36.49;
• 100 freestyle - 3. Johnson, 1:17.84;
• 200 freestyle relay - 3. Ohlhauser, Luthens, Israel, Johnson, 2:09.23;
• 100 breaststroke - 3. Ice, 1:29.35; 4. Borchert, 1:33.47.
In the junior varsity meet, NRE scored a 53-30 win.
Raegan Borchert bagged first-place finishes in both the 100 and 200 freestyle races while Evelyn Moran was a double-winner as well in the 100 individual medley and the 100 backstroke.
Teagan Ihnen (50 freestyle), Moon Vetos-Keen (300 freestyle) and Avery Bee (100 breaststroke) also picked up firsts.
In the relay events, NRE won the 200 medley with Vetos-Keen, Bee, Borchert and Moran, while the same quartet won the 400 freestyle relay.
