NRE edged out in first swim meet

by Tom Coombe
In the season opener, Northeast Range/Ely was done in by the diving board.
Diving isn’t part of the girls swimming program here because of safety rules related to pool depth, but International Falls has retained its diving program.
That allowed the Broncos to pick up 10 uncontested points and pull out a 92-86 dual meet victory on Wednesday at the pool in the Falls. NRE won the junior varsity portion of the meet 60-38,
In the varsity competition, the Nighthawks, won six of the 11 contested events, but International Falls pulled out the dual meet win on the strength of the diving points.
Senior Lily Tedrick, an all-section swimmer a year ago, bagged two individual wins for NRE, taking both the 200 yard individual medley (2;37.16) and 100 butterfly (1:12.18).
Tedrick also teamed with sophomores Anna Larson, Kelly Thompson and Morgan McClelland to win the 400 freestyle relay.
And to complete a day with four first-place finishes, it was Tedrick teaming with Larson, McClelland and Cedar Ohlhauser on a victorious 200 freestyle relay (1:56.46). That race went down to the wire with NRE winning by two-tenths of a second.
The Nighthawks also picked up two more first-place finishes, with McClelland dominating the 200 freestyle en route to a victory in 2:27.60, and Maggie Dammann edging out teammate Esther Anderson by less than a tenth of a second to win in 1:19.80.
Larson picked up a pair of second-place varsity finishes, in the 50 and 100 freestyles.
Varsity second-place showings also were claimed by Via DeBeltz (200 freestyle) and McClelland (500 freestyle.
Scoring third-place points were Anderson (200 freestyle), Thompson (50 freestyle), Ohlhauser (100 butterfly), the 200 medley relay of Dammann, Via DeBeltz, Ohlhauser and Thompson, and the 400 freestyle relay combination of Ohlhauser, DeBeltz, Anderson and Emilia Swenson.
In the JV event, Carena DeBeltz and Grace Sundell gave NRE a one-two finish in the 200 freestyle, while ninth-grader Alyssa Ice picked up wins in both the 50 and 100 freestyle events.
Sabrah Hart won the 100 backstroke and NRE swept the relay events.
Hart teamed with Tuuli Koivisto, Madison Jonas and Grace Flynn to win the 400 freestyle relay, while Hart, Koivisto, Jonas and Jorden Borchert formed the winning 200 freestyle relay combination. Jonas, Sundell, Hart and Ice combined to take first in the 200 medley relay.
NRE returns to the water Thursday at Aurora for a dual meet against Mesabi East.