The absence of their leading swimmer took its toll on the Northeast Range Nighthawks during the Iron Range Conference meet.
Senior Via DeBeltz missed the meet because of illness, leaving a giant-sized hole in the NRE lineup as the Nighthawks squared off against their IRC foes at Two Harbors.
The Nighthawks wound up fourth among five teams and had to reshuffle things, particularly in relays as well as the individual events that DeBeltz swims.
Two Nighthawks, senior Tuuli Koivisto and eighth-grader Lucy Luthens, earned All-IRC recognition as a result of the meet and the Nighthawks collected 237 points to take fourth among five teams.
NRE finished well in front of Chisholm but behind champion North Shore as well as Mesabi East and International Falls.
Koivisto was one of NRE’s top individual finishers, taking fifth in the 100 backstroke in 1:15.10.
Sophomore Jorden Borchert also scored a fifth-place finish in the 100 breaststoke (1:25:45).
Overall, the Nighthawks’ best finish was a fourth-place showing in the 200 freestyle relay as Jorden Borchert teamed with Lindsay Israel, Evelyn Moran and Luthens in 1;57.22.
The Nighthawks also placed as follows:
•200 medley relay - 5. Raegan Borchert, Maddie Johnson, Israel, Moran, 2:27.70;
• 200 freestyle - 6. Jorden Borchert, 2:22.13; 13. Bela Moskowitz, 2:49.08;
• 200 individual medley - 8. Koivisto, 2:46.67;
• 50 freestyle - 6. Israel, 29.35; 12. Ivy Ohlhauser, 32.09;
•100 freestyle - 6. Luthens, 1:03.58; 14. Ohlhauser, 1:11.09;
• 500 freestyle - 9. Bela Moskowitz, 7:27.48;
• 100 backstroke - 7. Moon Vetos-Keen, 1:26.44;
• 100 breaststroke - 12. Johnson, 1:34.07; 14. Avery Bee, 1:42.17; The Nighthawks are now gearing up for section competition, with preliminaries in the Section 7A meet slated for Thursday, Nov. 6 at Duluth, at the Lincoln Park School.
NRE will be looking to advance individuals and relays to the 7A finals, which will be held at the same venue two days later on Saturday, Nov. 8.
