RIVER FALLS — River Falls took to the pool Sept. 25 against Hudson with more than just a rivalry on the line. The Wildcats were swimming in a meet to raise breast cancer awareness, ultimately fundraising over $1,000 for the Susan G. Komen Fund all because of an idea sparked months ago from captain Elise Gulick.

With custom pink swim caps, pink swimsuits, chuck-a-duck and silent auction baskets, the event was seen as a major success.

“She came to me before the season even started and said, ‘Hey, I’ve been talking with the Hudson captains. We’ve kind of built this idea that we want to do a fundraiser, we want to make some awareness,’” Head Coach Michael Brudzinski said. “She took that whole concept and she ran with it.”

As for the team this year, they lost a large graduating class, but a strong freshman class has helped fill the gap. With season and lifetime best times already filling the scoreboard this season, Gulick and fellow captain Jenna Juetten have the team motivated and ready to compete day in and day out.

“They’re doing a great job of leading the team and building that team cohesion piece,” Brudzinski said. “Everybody’s putting in the work and it’s been really good to see.”

Brudzinski said the attitude the team is bringing to the table is what has made the season a good one thus far.

“It’s a pretty experienced group of swimmers in terms of, they’re year-round athletes. Most of them are club swimmers who are now swimming high school as well, so they came in with some pretty good conditioning and some pretty good background.”

As the year goes along, River Falls is trying to cut down times on the back half of races. For example, 100-meter times aim for a 2-3 second difference from the front half of the race split to the back half. Many Wildcats are currently finishing in the 5-7 second difference range.
“We’ve put a lot of intentionality in the last two weeks and a lot of focus on being able to stay consistently strong and get better on the back half of our races,” Brudzinski said. “Especially on the 100s, of all the races, they come out with a really strong first 50, and then the second 50 [slows down].”

Brudzinski also wants the team to continue trying different events to get out of their comfort zone and find a lineup that best suits the team down the stretch.

“They are feeding off of each other’s success, for sure,” Brudzinski said. “Even those that aren’t hitting those lifetime best times yet, the meet demeanor, the attitude that they’re carrying into the meets and through the meets, has been way better as we continue to go on.”