Trident Swim Team returns from competing in WIAA State Meet

The Trident Swim team of Ladysmith/Flambeau/Bruce returned from the WIAA State Championship Swim Meet with a 14th place finish overall in the 200 Freestyle Relay. The relay team of seniors Missy Avery, Rachel Helgeson, Cassie Long and Flambeau junior Hailey Zimmer went head to head with some very fast teams in their last swim of the season. 

Wrapping up their 2009 season, these four ladies have had quite a ride. They go out undefeated in their 200 Freestyle Relay event, were both the Conference and Sectional Champs in this event, were WIAA state qualifers and leave behind a new team record to be challenged. 

For Coach Lusk, he has mixed feelings when asked about his state qualifying relay team. “I am sorry to see the season over for these ladies, but it has been awfully, awfully fun and very rewarding.”

Assistant coaches Bob McMahon and Lyn Cragin could not agree more. They commented the girls on the team set their goals to be the 2009 conference champions earlier this season and worked hard to get there. It truly was a team effort all season long and they enjoyed watching their swimmers help each other along the way in practices. 

Coach Lusk reflects back that it has been a long journey to the state meet for his four state qualifiers this year. Coach Lusk remembers both Missy Avery and Cassie Long entering his area club swim program (FAST) back when they were only 6 years old and literally teaching them to swim their first strokes in his learn-to-swim program. 

As a 9 year old, Hailey Zimmer also got her first taste of racing in the pool with Coach Lusk’s club program, as did Rachel Helgeson when she moved to the area as an 11 year old.

For Coach Lusk it is great to see these four swimmers from his club swim program many years ago, go out on top their senior year of high school swimming at the WIAA State Championship Swim Meet.

Over the years, Coach Lusk has created a rich and talented history for the Ladysmith/Flambeau/Bruce girl’s high school swim program through the area club swim program called FAST (Flambeau Area Swim Team). 

Coach Lusk’s girl’s co-op high school swim team is the only area high school athletic team that has had WIAA State qualifiers every year for the past 7 years down in Madison for the WIAA State Swim & Dive Championship since the inaugural year of the co-op high school swim program in 2002.

After the co-op’s first season of high school swimming, it was then Flambeau sophomore Nikki Avery who was Coach Lusk’s first high school swimmer to attend the WIAA State Meet in 2003. Avery qualifyed in the 100 Breaststroke and then returned the following year in 2004 to qualify to swim at the WIAA state swim meet in both the 100 Breaststroke and 200 IM her junior year. Former Ladysmith High swimmer Megan McMahon added to Lusk’s state qualifiers earning a trip to the state meet in 2005 in the 100 Butterfly along with teammate Nikki Avery, a senior, who attended for her third year in a row as a WIAA state swim qualifier in the 100 Breaststroke.  

In 2005, Megan McMahon also became Coach Lusk’s first swimmer to set an individual high school conference record. That record still stands today - 4 years later. The record is for the 100 Butterfly event with a time of 1:03.50.

2006 proved to be a big season for Coach Lusk’s swim team as Megan McMahon returned her senior year to the WIAA state meet in the 100 Butterfly, 500 Freestyle and shared a leg on both the 200 Freestyle Relay and 400 Freestyle Relay with teammates Alaina Guns, Amy Hoover and then freshman Missy Avery.

Flambeau senior, Alaina Guns the following year in 2007 became Coach Lusk’s first individual WIAA Sectional winner in the 200 Freestyle event and advanced to the WIAA State Meet.

WIth the addition of diving competition to his high school swim program in 2008, Coach Lusk worked hard preparing his divers and finished the season qualifing both Nicole Flackey and Sigrid Stensvold  that year for WIAA state meet dive competition in Madison. 

Although Coach Lusk will be graduating six senior swimmers from his swim team this season (Missy Avery, Rachel Helgeson, Cassie Long, McKenzie Morgan, Taylor Stunkel and Amanda Gustafson), he is already looking forward to next season.

With the addition of 6-10, 8th grade swimmers next season, Coach Lusk feels many of them have the potential to have an immediate impact on his high school swim team along with the 11 returning letter members of his team from this season.

Coach Lusk’s swim team was also honored out of the pool. This will be the 4th year in a row that his swim team has been awarded the National Gold Team Scholar Award from the National Interscholastic Swim Coaches Association (NISCA). 

The NISCA Scholar Team Award recognizes teams across the nation achieving high school academic standards in the classroom. The award is based on the average cumulative G.P.A. of the entire varsity team. Coach Lusk’s team received the highest honor by achieving a team G.P.A of 3.75 to 4.0 

Coach Lusk’s high school swim program has also been honored in national dual meet rankings for schools with enrollment of 900 students or less. The Ladysmith/Flambeau/Bruce Girl’s High School Swim Team’s 8 - 0 season record currently ranks them 17th in the nation overall for this season in dual meet competition.