Brudzinski: ‘A conference championship is definitely in play’

Since 1989, Eau Claire Memorial has either outright won or had a share of the Big Rivers Conference championship in all but six of the seasons for girls swimming and diving. The Old Abes have been the preeminent power in the BRC for decades and this season, River Falls is looking to unseat them.

The River Falls High School swimming and diving program is 2-0 in Big Rivers Con- ference play this season and is eyeing its first league title in program history. That dream became much closer to reality after the Wildcats defeated Eau Claire Memorial 85-84 in the second dual meet of the season.

That contest, held in River Falls on Tuesday, Sept. 13, featured a thrilling back-andforth battle in which the Wildcats came out victorious. That seemingly ordinary Tuesday night turned out to be historic, as it was only the second time in school history that River Falls defeated Eau Claire Memorial. River Falls head coach Caitlin Brudzinski spoke about the start of the conference season.

“As far as we know, that’s the second time in school history we’ve beat them. The first was three years ago,” Brudzinski said. “To have that slim of a margin is fairly rare. Sometimes it comes down to those little points if teams are that closely matched.” According to Brudzinksi, in previous seasons Memorial regularly beat River Falls by 15-30 points depending on the meet. The one-point victory proves that River Falls’ roster is ready to compete with Memorial this season and that a conference championship isn’t out of the question.

“We’ve swam Chippewa Falls and Eau Claire Memorial and we’ve won both meets,” Brudzinski said. “A conference champion- ship is definitely in play. Chippewa swam Hudson last week and I just saw that Chi-Hi beat Hudson by three points. It’s going to be interesting to see results (from around the conference).” High school swimming and diving is unique compared to most other sports because the conference championship isn’t decided by standings alone like in football, basketball or volleyball. Instead, it’s decided based on dual meet standings and also the annual conference championship meet. Brudzinski explained how a champion is decided.

“Our conference championship is decided by the dual meet record and by the confer- ence championship meet,” Brudzinski said. “Typically, the top team in dual record usually wins that conference meet but if teams are this close, that could be a toss-up as well.” River Falls began the conference schedule with a 90-80 win against Chippewa Falls and an 85-84 victory against Memorial. While the Wildcats are ou to a stellar undefeated start, there is a lot of work left to be done before raising a conference championship trophy.

That would include having a strong showing against the Hudson Raiders on Thursday, Sept. 29. While not on Memorial’s level historically, Hudson has been one of the two strongest teams in the Big Rivers for the better part of 10 years. That run included three consecutive outright conference championships from 2014-2016. “A conference championship is in the realm of possibilities, but I’ll get back to you after we swim Hudson next week,” Brudzins ki said.

The Wildcats have also been active in non-conference competition this season, including a 134-51 victory at home against Tartan, Minn., on Tuesday, Sept. 20.

River Falls defeats Tartan 134-51, Ottem breaks school record River Falls secured a first-place finish in 11 of the 12 varsity events during the home meet against Tartan on Tuesday night. In the lone event that the Wildcats didn’t win, River Falls secured a second-place finish less than a second after Tartan’s winner.

The standout performance of the night belonged to River Falls senior Ellery Ottem, who broke both a pool and school record in the 500 Yard Freestyle, a record that she also previously held. Her time of 5:09.32 beat the nearest second-place finisher by approxi mately a minute and ten seconds.

After Ottem had finished the race and waited for other swimmers to finish, a rau cous home crowd of River Falls football players chanted “Ellery! Ellery! Ellery!” in celebration of her breaking another school and pool record. Brudzinski spoke about Ottem’s GOAT-like status in River Falls swimming lore.

“It’s been a lot of fun (to watch her do this),” Brudzinski said. “She owns all of the individual records other than diving. There is only one swimming school record that her name isn’t currently on. One of her goals has been to rebreak some of those records she set previously.” River Falls and Tartan have scheduled friendly non-conference matches for years, in part because Brudzinksi’s husband, Michael Brudzinski, is the head coach of the Tartan girls swimming and diving program.

In addition to competing in the pool, the girls in both programs have become friends outside of the pool. After the annual meet between Tartan and River Falls, both coaching stau and rosters will celebrate with a dinner together at a venue of their choosing. This year, the post-swim get-together was at Junior’s in River Falls.

“It started before I took over the girls’ team, he coaches the high school at Tartan and the club team in River Falls, so he’s coached all of these girls,” Caitlin Brudzinski said. “It’s a lot of fun and it’s really great to see the girls branch out and sit and eat dinner with the girls from the other team. It’s a lot of fun.” While Tartan has struggled in recent years, Caitlin Brudzinski stated that the all-time record between the two programs is fairly close. It’s been competitive for many years. The 134-51 victory simply displayed the talent River Falls has on the roster this season and why the Wildcats are closer than ever to winning a Big Rivers Conference Championship.

That championship picture will become clearer on Thursday, Sept. 29, when River Falls travels to Hudson for the next Big Riv- ers Conference dual meet. The first event is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. in Hudson.

River Falls senior swimmer Ellery Ottem breaks the surface as she comes up for a breath during her record-breaking performance on Tuesday, Sept. 20, at home against Tartan. Ottem rebroke her own school record in the 500 Yard Freestyle with a time of 5:09.32. Photo by Reagan Hoverman