On a night when they honored their seniors, the Northeast Range/ Ely Nighthawks also had one of their tightest matchups of the season.
Visiting Stella Maris Academy won by a whisker, edging past NRE 47-46 in an exciting girls’ swimming dual in Babbitt.
Seniors Via DeBeltz, Tuuli Koivisto and Alyssa Ice were honored during their final home meet of their respective prep swimming careers.
DeBeltz and Koivisto both gained two individual first-place finishes in the meet, while Ice has been recently sidelined by an injury.
DeBeltz and Koivisto were also part of a first-place relay for NRE, but Stella Maris did just enough in the remaining events to gain the one-point win.
“It was a close meet today but we had some great swims,” said NRE Head Coach Cheri DeBeltz. “The girls are getting ready for the section meet.”
Postseason action is fast-approaching for the Nighthawks, who had their final dual meet Tuesday and take part in the Pumpkin Pentangular at Aurora on Tuesday, Oct. 28.
The Nighthawks are tapering in anticipation of the Section 7A preliminaries, which take place Thursday, Nov. 6 at Duluth’s Lincoln Park School.
Against Stella Maris, which is based in Duluth, Via DeBeltz continued a strong senior campaign by winning the 200 freestyle in 2:17.28 and the 500 in 6:18.24.
She and teammate Lindsay Israel gave the Nighthawks a one-two finish in the 500.
Koivisto, meanwhile, cruised to an easy win in the 200 individual medley (2:43.59) and later won the 100 backstroke in 1:15.16.
Thetwoseniorsalsoteamedwith Ivy Ohlhauser and Lucy Luthens to win the 400 freestyle relay in 4:27.05.
The same NRE foursome was second in the 200 medley relay (2:17.03).
NRE also won the 200 freestyle relay, with Jorden Borchert, Lindsay Israel, Evelyn Moran and Luthens forming the winning combination in 1:59.12.
Moran (50 freestyle, 29.23) and Luthens (100 freestyle, 1:05.59) had individual second-place finishes for the Nighthawks.
In third were Jorden Borchert (200 freestyle and 100 breaststroke), Israel (50 freestyle) and Moon Vetos-Keen (100 backstroke).
NRE’s Raegan Borchert, Ohlhauser, MaddieJohnsonandNicole Freking combined to take third in the 200 freestyle relay, while Raegen Borchert, Jorden Borchert, Israel and Moran were third in the 200 medley relay.
• Stella Maris won the junior varsity portion of the meet, although Nicole Freking (200 freestyle), Avery Bee (100 individual medley), and Teagan Ihnen (100 freestyle) had second-place showings.
SENIOR NIGHT: Nissa, Tuuli and Chris Koivisto. Photos by Eric Sherman.
Tuuli Koivisto
