December 15, 2017 at 2:33 p.m.
Hodag swimmers swept by Lakeland in 105-60 loss
Hodag swimmers swept by Lakeland in 105-60 loss
The T-Birds won all 11 events and defeated the Hodags 105-60 in a Great Northern Conference dual at the LUHS pool.
There were a number of close finishes, but the Hodags were unable to score a win against Lakeland, which has won 22 straight GNC duals dating back to December 2015.
"I thought that we gave them some really good competition in a couple events," Hodag co-coach Marna Winnicki said. "They're the top team in the conference."
A couple of Rhinelander's top guns were unable to beat Lakeland's top swimmers in head-to-head match ups. Lakeland's Jack Garcia put up a blistering 22.67-second time in the 50 freestyle to knock off Rhinelander's top sprinter, Russell Benoy, by more than a second. Garcia also knocked off David King in the 100 butterfly, despite a personal-best 58.66 second time by the Hodag sophomore.
"We just try to pick our strongest events and put our strongest swimmers in there, knowing that we'd have some good races," Winnicki said. "We weren't looking for the (dual meet) win, we just wanted to have some good races."
The closest race of the night came in the 100 breaststroke where Lakeland's Tyler Teichmiller beat Rhinelander's Thaddeus Heck to the wall by 0.16 seconds. Lakeland's Brandon Boh edged Rhinelander's Martin Hoger by 0.75 seconds for the win moments earlier in the 100 backstroke.
"I think (Hoger) had a personal best, another close race. It's the little things, the turns we need to fix and he'll be able to drop even more time," Winnicki said. "Even Thaddeus in his breaststroke, right there with Tyler. What was (the margin of victory), a tenth of a second? He's at his high school personal best. Those are great times for this time of the season. I'm just looking forward to more time drops toward the end of the season when it's going to count."
The Hodags recorded runner-up finishes in nine of the 11 events, with Lakeland going 1-2 in the 200 and 500 freestyle. King was second in the 200 individual medley and Benoy was the runner up in the 100 freestyle. The Hodags also finished second in all three relay races.
Winnicki also noted the improvement of first-year swimmers Jack Kovac and Mathew Herman, who competed for the Hodags in the 500 freestyle.
"Mathew dropped 56 seconds and Jack dropped 21 seconds since Tuesday. They're new. They're dropping time and doing a good job," she said.
The meet finished a stretch where Rhinelander competed four times in eight days. The team gets a little respite before starting the second half of the GNC dual season against Tomahawk next Thursday at the Heck Family Community Pool.
Lakeland Times sports writer Nick Sabato contributed to this story from Minocqua. Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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