Kingsford junior Sam Lamirand swims the 50 backstroke at the Splash-N-Dash meet at Marquette High School back on Jan. 18. (Ron Deuter photo)

IRON MOUNTAIN — The Kingsford swim team is back in action at the Northern Lights YMCA Dickinson Center this afternoon hosting Houghton, fresh off another positive performance at a meet in Marquette Senior High School on Tuesday.

The Flivvers were first in 13 of 24 events at Marquette, with the girls earning the team win 131 to 125 over the Sentinels. Sault Ste. Marie was third with 58 points. For the boys, Kingsford wound up second to Marquette 142-98.5, with Sault Ste. Marie third with 71.5 points.

“Our girls had a very good meet in getting a win against a very good Marquette team,” Flivvers head coach Jim Lindstrom said. “They were down a couple of their better girls, so it opened the door for us to get the win, but it still doesn’t take away from what our girls accomplished. Our girls had to overcome a 12-point deficit right off the bat because they had two divers.”

Freshmen swimmers led the way for the Flivver girls. Allison Deuter had two wins, continuing to fine tune her two strongest events, the 50 and 100 freestyle. She won the 50 in 26.84, and set a new U.P. standard for the season with a 58.93 in the 100. She also came from behind as the anchor to help the Flivvers to a win the 400 freestyle relay in 4:17.84 over Marquette which touched in 4:18.09. Senior Sierra Scott, sophomore Ella McLean and senior Petra Grubb swam ahead of Deuter in that victory.

Freshman Aubree Peterson took the 200 and 500 free races. She posted personal bests with a 2:20.36 in the 200 and 6:15.20 in the 500.

“I knew Aubree was going to be good, but she exceeded my expectations by a lot,” Lindstrom said. “Allison continued her stellar season with her wins. These two are forming a solid base to build on for the next few years.”

Scott added a win in the 200 IM with a time of 2:38.12, McLean won the 100 breaststroke in 1:19.63, and the foursome of junior Marley Dixon, McLean, Deuter and Scott edged Marquette by a second to win the 200 medley relay in 2:06.35.

Lindstrom noted that with sophomore Gianna Novara and sophomore Emma Strom (last meet) having added qualifying swims, the Flivvers are now up to 11 U.P. Finals qualifiers on the girls team. Novara got her time with a 2:35.76 and fourth place finish in the 200 free.

“We needed every point we could get, and up and down the roster they delivered this was truly a team win,” he added.

Not to be left behind, the Flivver boys also posted some strong performances. Sophomore Thomas Gibbons was six seconds faster than the field in winning the 100 breaststroke in 1:06.72, which now leads as the fastest time in the U.P. this season. Iron Mountain freshman Bryce Johnson beat two Marquette swimmers for first in the 100 backstroke with a 1:04.88, and Iron Mountain senior Joey Lundholm blew away the competition in the 200 IM with a 2:15.40, and also easily prevailed in the 100 butterfly with a 58.95.

Junior Sam Lamirand wasn’t feeling 100 percent and still posted some of the best times of his prep career, taking second in the 200 free (2:13.59) and the 100 free (56.36).

“Junior Quinten Smith, who is still recovering from shoulder surgery that limits what he can do, is still improving his times,” Lindstrom added. “Senior Justin Larson swimming in his first year is becoming a force. This boys team has some really good swimmers. I just wish we could get some more boys. It is hard to compete with really good teams when you are limited (by numbers).”

Following this afternoon’s meet, the Flivvers will have one final home meet at the NLYMCA Dickinson Center pool on Tuesday, Feb. 4. The Flivvers will honor their seniors at the meet.