August 17, 2018 at 12:56 p.m.
Swimming: RHS 6th in Merrill Relays; Winnicki fastest sophomore at Colby Pent
Swimming: RHS 6th in Merrill Relays; Winnicki fastest sophomore at Colby Pent
Rhinelander competed in the Colby Pentathlon on Wednesday and then was back in the water Thursday as it placed sixth in the nine-team Merrill Outdoor Relays at the Bierman Aquatic Center.
The two meets could not have been more different. Wednesday's event was a strictly individual competition that focused on sprinting. Thursday's meet was entirely comprised of relays and focused on the longer events. Heck said the two competitions provided herself and assistant coach Marna Winnicki with plenty of data as they begin to formulate their plans for the Great Northern Conference season.
"Now we know the times and where we can start from - who can do the breast(stroke), who can do the back(stroke), who can do 50s, who can do 100s - I think that will be valuable in our lineups for the season," Heck said.
Sophomore Makenna Winnicki led the way for the Hodags in Wednesday's pentathlon, where each swimmer competed in a 50-yard race in each stroke along with a 100 individual medley. The combined time of the five races was used to determine the final individual standings.
Winnicki was the fastest sophomore in the butterfly and the IM, and second fastest in the other three events, as she won the sophomore division. Her combined time of 3 minutes, 8.84 seconds was fourth-fastest among all swimmers.
Sophomore teammate Lisa Kennedy edged Winnicki in the 50 backstroke. She finished third in class, and eighth overall, with a combined time of 3:13.64.
The Hodags had three of the top six freshmen in the six-team meet. Noelle St. Pierre was second fastest overall among ninth graders (3:23.53), and posted the second-best time in the breaststroke, freestyle and IM.
Maria Heck was fifth overall for the freshmen and Sierra Woodford was sixth.
Marisa McGuire, despite battling a lingering foot injury from last spring's girls' soccer season, was the third-fastest junior (3:24.34). Grace Heck was the fifth fastest senior (3:21.86).
"I thought the kids did really well sprinting," Jenny Heck said. "You kind of anticipate that's going to be a little better than the long distances, with only a week of training in, but I think we're just going to get better and faster as we go."
Top finishes were hard to come by on Thursday in a relay meet that included five schools from the Wisconsin Valley Conference. Stevens Point and D.C. Everest dominated the meet, sweeping the top two spots in every event.
Rhinelander's best finish came in the 400 backstroke relay as Kennedy, Winnicki, Grace Heck and Maddie Quinn placed third with a time of 4:31.12.
"The backstroke was pretty strong," Jenny Heck said. "It was fun to see them all get together. Even though they weren't at their (personal best) times, they were close for this being the start of the season. We were pleased with the back."
Rhinelander was fifth in the 800 freestyle relay with the team of Woodford, Maria Heck, Ella Schiek and Quinn; sixth in the 200 medley relay with Kennedy, Miranda Erdmann, Winnicki and Grace Heck; sixth in the 400 medley relay with Quinn, St. Pierre, Winnicki and Rilely Miller; and sixth in the 400 butterfly relay with St. Pierre, Miller, Maria Heck and Kennedy.
Jenny Heck said she was impressed with Miller, a junior who transferred into the district this season, who was pressed into duty on some of the A relays Thursday due to some late scratches in the lineup.
"Riley did fantastic," she said. "We asked her to come in and she had never swam the 100 fly before. She never swam anything except the back and the free in her previous school. She came in and did a great job for us."
Not only did the Hodags establish an early baseline for themselves Wednesday and Thursday, they also caught an early glimpse of some of their conference competition. Tomahawk attended both meets while Ladysmith/Bruce/Flambeau and Colby/Abbotsford were both at Wednesday's pentathlon.
Rhinelander finished only three points behind Tomahawk for fifth place in Thursday's relay meet, but the Hatchets showed they still have strength at the top of their lineup on Wednesday. Katy Volz and Kylee Theiler finished second and third overall among all swimmers in the field and the Hatchets swept the top three spots in the senior division. Ladysmith, meanwhile, had the fastest freshman in the field with Brooke Lechlietner.
"I think they're fast teams," Heck said. "We're going to have a lot to work and improve on to match up against them. They're fast and it's going to hopefully make our kids work harder and see what we can do when it comes down to the season."
The Hodags will be back in the pool for an invite this Wednesday on the road at Marshfield.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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