August 23, 2017 at 4:00 p.m.
Hodag swimmers dominate Wausau West triangular
Hodag swimmers dominate Wausau West triangular
The Hodags won eight of the 11 events in the three-team meet, scored four additional runner-up finishes and easily surpassed Lakeland and Wausau West for the top spot.
"Wausau West does a great job putting on a fun meet and I think we matched up pretty well," Hodag swim coach Lindsay Byrka said. "This was our opportunity to play around with the (lineup). It wasn't their best event, per se, and that's what we use these kind of double duals for. I think the girls, it gave them a chance to not have that pressure of being in their best event."
Junior Grace Heck and freshman Makenna Winnicki each had a hand in four victories for the Hodags. Freshman Lisa Kennedy and sophomore Marisa McGuire also scored individual wins for Rhinelander.
McGuire had the closest win of the four, holding off a late push from Wausau West's Natasha Neumann in the 200-yard freestyle. McGuire led most of the way, lost the lead during the final 50 yards, but got it back in a frantic push to the wall as she out-touched Neumann by 0.05 seconds.
"Marisa's 200 free was a really good race," Byrka noted. "She comes in trying to get back into shape and she led most of the way and kind of fell behind, but then she traced down that girl in front of her and had an awesome finish. She's been doing a great job of closing the race and she wants it really bad."
Heck pulled off the double in the sprint freestyle events, winning both the 50 (27.14 seconds) and the 100 (1:00.57).
Winnicki won the 200 individual medley (2:24.99) by 9.49 seconds over Wausau West's Hannah Senanayake and added a nearly three-second win in the 100 butterfly (1:05.47). Kennedy beat Lakeland's Megan Ross by seven seconds to win the 100 backstroke (1:05.12) and was the runner-up in the 500 freestyle.
"I'm really excited to see Makenna going in there and trying different events, and Lisa as well in the backstroke," Byrka said. "These freshmen are coming in, no fear, no holds barred and they just go for it. We've got some great upperclassmen leadership. We've got some great incoming freshmen. It just makes a real, solid core unit. The girls are having fun and that equates to fast times."
Kennedy, Jenna Hawley, Winnicki and Heck made up the winning quartet for the Hodags in the 200 medley relay (1:59.35) while McGuire, Heck, Kennedy and Winnicki took the 400 freestyle relay (4:03.80). The Hodags nearly swept all three relay races, but finished two-tenths of a second behind Lakeland for the win in the 200 freestyle relay with the group of Carly Seidl, Taylor Macak, Hawley and McGuire.
Macak completed a 1-2 sweep for the Hodags with a runner-up finish in the butterfly (1:08.50), and added a third-place finish in the 200 freestyle (2:18.01). Hawley finished second in the breaststroke (1:18.95) and third in the 50 freestyle (27.75). Maddie Quinn added a third-place finish in the backstroke (1:12.78).
"When you've got these upperclassmen that can deliver when they need to, that's what makes the team that much stronger," Byrka said. "You talk about the wins all the time, but these girls that can come in, be your second entry and get second and third, that's what makes the team. That's why our B relays did so well today."
Monday's meet marked the debut for another freshmen, Marissa Martin, who recently joined the team. Martin chipped in a fourth-place finish in the breaststroke and was part of fourth-place finishes for Rhinelander's second entries in the 200 medley and 200 freestyle relays.
Rhinelander finished with 171 points in the meet to Lakeland's 113. Wausau West was third at 108. The Hodags open the Great Northern Conference dual meet schedule against Lakeland next Thursday at the Heck Family Community Pool.
"I'm really excited for our matchup with Lakeland (next) Thursday. I think we square off pretty well in a couple of those sprinting races," Byrka said.
The Hodags scrimmage this afternoon in Merrill.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at jeremy@
rivernewsonline.com.
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