Dolphins open 2024 season with a splash

WAYNE - The Hartington Dolphins swim team opened the 2024 summer campaign with a splash taking the team titles in West Point on June 12 and Wayne on June 15.

Not only did the Dolphins post the wins in both meets, the 49-swimmer group left the other teams in their wake, out swimming the hosts in the Wayne meet, 461-299 and besting Fremont in the West Point meet 540-380.

“Winning the West Point meet by this big of a margin was an awesome start to the year,” Dolphins coach Anna Reifenrath said. “Wayne and Fremont are our biggest competition so it was good to come out with a strong win over them.”

Hartington defeated Fremont by 35 points to win the conference title last summer.

Wayne was third in the West Point meet with 375, North Bend was fourth with 333 and West Point was fifth with 255.

Fremont was third in the Wayne meet with 208 followed by North Bend with 201, Blair with 198, West Point with 187, Dodge with 68. Norfolk with 65 and Tekamah with 12.

“We were down quite a few swimmers (30 of 49 competed) in the Wayne meet,” Reifenrath said. “I knew winning as a team was no guarantee. I was really pleased and proud when the swimmers stepped up and got the job done.”

Piper Dendinger placed first in the 100 Individual Medley, the 25 backstroke and the 25 freestyle. She also grabbed a second in the 25 butterfly and competed in both relay teams which won their respective age groups.

She combined with Chesney Peitz, Finley O’Brien and Luke Kleinschmit to win the 8 and under coed medley relay and swam with O’Brien, Kleinschmit and Grant Huesers to take gold in the freestyle relay for the same group. The two relay teams won by 27 and 47 seconds respectively.

Hadley Dendinger paced the 11-12 year old group. She finished first in the 100 Individual Medley and 50 backstroke, second in the 50 breaststroke and fourth in the 50 freestyle.

Dendinger combined with Lucy Steffen, Celia Gall and Randall Huesers to win the 11-12 freestyle relay and combined with Kloe Fischer, Randall Huesers and Allison Huesers to place second in the 13-14 medley relay.

The 9-10 freestyle relay team of Garrett Bartling, Anders Peitz, Braxton Christensen and Andrew Huesers won gold and Andrew Huesers won an exciting 9-10 individual medley race with a swimmer from West Point by .01 second and Bartling who was third.

Huesers won the 25 breaststroke and and Bartling won the 25 backstroke and the 25 freestyle.

The 15-18 medley relay of Emily Climer, Cam Carl, Kyson Lammers and Joseph Barnell placed first and the same quartet was second in the freestyle relay.

Barnell also won the butterfly, was second in the breaststroke and individual medley and third in the backstroke.

Piper Dendinger scored a pile of points in the West Point meet as well with four individual firsts and the freestyle relay with Finley O’Brien, Luke Kleinschmit and Grant Huesers.

Eli Cattau and Andrew Huesers took first and second in the boys 9-10 individual medley while Cattau added golds in the 25 butterfly, 25 backstroke and 25 freestyle.

The 9-10 medley relay team of Rowan Becker, Andrew Huesers, Levi Steffen and Braxton Christensen finished first while the other Hartington team of Emerson O’Brien, Jake Christensen, Emmitt Koch and Anders Peitz was fourth in the same event.

The freestyle team of Paizleigh Eickhoff, Anders Peitz, Rowan Becker and Levi Steffen was first with the team of Emmitt Koch, Emerson O’Brien, Braxton Christensen, Jake Christensen was right behind to take the top two spots.

“The race was so close from where I was sitting it looked like our anchor legs Levi (Steffen) and Jake (Christensen) touched at the same time,” Reifenrath said.

Landry Heimes showed a dominating performance in the 13-15 50 breaststroke beating the rest of the field by five seconds and breaking the Dolphins team record for the age and event with a time of 43.98 seconds. Heimes is the record holder for the event for the 11-12 age division and is the returning conference champion.

Climer, Carl, Lammers and Barnell won the 15-18 medley and free style relays, Carl is only 13 and Lammers is only 14 but they “swam up” an age group to get enough swimmers in the group to compete.

Kloe Fischer won the 13-14 50 butterfly; Joseph Barnell won the 15-18 50 butterfly; Finley O’Brien won the 8&U 25 backstroke and Jake Christensen won the 9-10 25 breaststroke.

The Dolphins will return to West Point for another meet on June 22 before hosting their own meet on July 2.

WAYNE SWIM MEET TEAM RESULTS:

1. Hartington Dolphins 461; 2. Wayne 299; 3. Fremont 208; 4. North Bend 201; 5. Blair 198; 6. West Point 187; 7. Dodge 68; 8. Norfolk 65; 9. Tekamah 12.

WEST POINT SWIM MEET TEAM RESULTS: 1. Hartington Dolphins 540; 2. Fremont 380; 3. Wayne 375; 4. North Bend 333; 5. West Point 255.