Lumberjacks place last of four at LSC Meet Saturday in Superior

Eleven o’clock marked the start of Saturday’s Lake Superior Conference girls swim meet. It also triggered the start of a long day for Cloquet-Esko-Carlton.

Hampered by their low numbers, young squad and forfeited events, the Lumberjacks placed last out of four teams at Superior Senior High School. They didn’t record a single top-two finisher in any of the 12 events and their 145 total points wasn’t even half of their nearest competitor’s.

Superior, Proctor-Hermantown and Duluth Central cruised through the lanes and made a four-horse race into a three, leaving CEC behind. All three teams scored more than 300 points on the day.

The host Spartans squeaked out the LSC championship with 349 points, winning five events, while the Rails claimed second at 320, also with five victories. The Trojans took third at 301, topping the charts twice.

Before Saturday, ’Jacks second-year coach Stacia Grayson mentioned how nice it would be to place high in their strongest event: the 200-yard freestyle relay, featuring senior captain Aimee Goldschmidt, junior Kayla Whipple and sophomores Alison Denman and Kristina Erickson.

That didn’t happen, however. And it seemed after the first race, CEC was already sunk. CEC simply had a tough time keeping up with the bigger schools.

Despite the disappointing afternoon across the border, the ’Jacks will remain busy during their final season stretch. Saturday, their junior high squad will compete in the Little Giants Meet at Mesabi East, while Nov. 11 and 13, the varsity will head to the Section 5A competition in Grand Rapids. State is set for Nov. 18-20 at the University of Minnesota’s Aquatic Center.

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