For the first time in more than half a de – cade, the River Falls High School swim and dive team earned a share of second place in the Big Rivers Conference. The Wildcats share the silver medal with Eau Claire Me – morial and finish runner-up to the 2022 BRC Champion Hudson Raiders.

For River Falls head coach Caitlin Brudz – inski, earning a share of second place in the Big Rivers Conference means that her roster completely outperformed expectations this season. Typically, River Falls is a fourth or fifth-place team in the annual standings.

"This outperformed our expectations, ab – solutely," Burdzinksi said. "When we set our goals at the beginning of the year, it was to win an additional dual meet than we did last year. I'm really proud of the girls." Eau Claire Memorial and Hudson have spent the last approximately 20 years filling their respective trophy cases with Big Riv – ers Conference Championships. While that won't necessarily change as Hudson claims another BRC title, River Falls came within striking distance. Brudzinski knew some –

thing was diuerent this year when the Wild cats defeated Memorial in a dual meet on Sept. 13.

"We wanted to win that additional dual meet, it wasn't (an original goal) to place sec –

ond," Brudzinksi said. "I think after that Me – morial win, that was the big one. It was kind of like, 'Oh, we're doing something here.'" River Falls finished the dual meet portion of the season with a 5-1 record in such meets with the lone loss coming against the eventu – al conference champion Raiders on Sept. 29. The Wildcats' biggest win of the season was that 85-84 victory on the road against Memo rial.

In swimming and diving, the conference champion is selected through a points system based on results in dual meets against conference opponents throughout the year in addition to the Big Rivers Conference Cham pionship meet.

Both River Falls and Hudson went into the BRC meet tied for first place in the league standings with 6.5 points. Eau Claire Memo – rial and Chippewa Falls went into the meet tied for second with 4.5 points each. Brudz – inksi spoke about getting out to a hot start at the 2022 BRC meet on Saturday morning.

“We started super strong. Our divers have been crushing it all year and they were first, second and third at diving," Brudzinski said. "Throughout the first half of the meet every time they gave an update we were in first, but I knew it was going to get close." By the time the 100 Freestyle began, Hud –

son, Eau Claire Memorial and even Chippe – wa Falls had begun chipping away at the lead that River Falls had spent the whole morning building. By the time the final event ended, Hudson finished first, Memorial took second, Chippewa Falls took third and River Falls earned a fourth-place finish. Coach Brudz – inski spoke about the final results.

"We still had some strong finishes in the later part of the meet, but it just wasn't quite enough," Brudzinski said. "Hudson pulled away at the end and won, but (the BRC) meet is so hard to judge. We had really good swims, there were just teams with athletes that had better swims." Including the dual meet records through- out the season and the Big Rivers Conference meet results, Hudson won the league title with 14.5 points, River Falls and Memorial share second with 11.5 points and Chippewa Falls had sole possession of third place with 10.5 points.

Moving forward, the River Falls coach – ing stau begins preparing its swimmers for the Sectional Swim and Dive meet, which is going to happen at Hudson High School on Saturday, Nov. 5. Saturday marks the begin – ning of the final playou run for Ellery Ottem, the most decorated swimmer in River Falls history.

"Ellery (Ottem) will absolutely qualify in her individual events and will probably win both of the events she swims on Saturday," Brudzinski. "Other athletes swimming-wise, I don't think we're quite there yet. We've got a freshman who by the end of her high school career could be there and we've got a junior who took a big step, but it will be close." Part of the challenge for River Falls is adjusting to being in the Division 1 bracket. For many years, the Wildcats went back and forth between Division 1 and Division 2, but in recent years, the school's enrollment has continued to rise and Division 2 keeps drift – ing further away.

While that's not necessarily a problem for Ottem, one of the greatest swimmers in River Falls history, it's a problem for other girls on the roster who may be a lot closer to almost making the cut. Brudzinksi spoke about the challenge of the Division 1 competition.

"The fact that we're Division 1 is a strug – gle," Brudzinski said. "We're competing with the schools down in Madison and the Milwaukee area. I would say our top diver, Rachel (Everson), has a chance. It's hard in Division 1 with our size of school." Regardless of the divisions, River Falls won't change its approach to coaching and trying to get athletes through to the state competition. Brudzinski and the team will practice throughout this week and then com –

pete in the D1 Sectional at Hudson on Satur – day, Nov. 5, which is slated to begin at 1 p.m.