August 29, 2018 at 12:07 p.m.
Hodag swimmers win home triangular
Hodag swimmers win home triangular
The Hodags won nine events Tuesday in their final non-conference tune-up as they won a triangular meet against Wausau West and GNC rival Lakeland at the Heck Family Community Pool.
Rhinelander, which led Lakeland by only four points at intermission, pulled away during the middle of the meet and clinched first place overall by taking three of the top four spots in the 100-yard breaststroke.
"We're always happy with a win," Hodag coach Jenny Heck said. "I thought the kids did really well. I was pleased with their times and pleased with their splits, especially early on in the season."
A couple of freshmen, in particular, stood out on Tuesday. Noelle St. Pierre won two individual events and had a hand in a pair of relay wins while Maria Heck took first place in the 500 freestyle.
"Those freshmen have really stepped up right away," Jenny Heck said. "It's only August and they're doing great. We're expecting even bigger and better things from them this season."
St. Pierre continued to swim with Rhinelander's three returning state qualifiers from last season - Makenna Winnicki, Lisa Kennedy and Grace Heck - in relay races. The quartet opened the night with a victory in the 200 medley relay (1 minute, 59.89 seconds) and added a win in the 200 freestyle relay (1:48.28).
St. Pierre added wins in the 100 freestyle and the 100 breaststroke. She was the only swimmer in the field to break a minute in the freestyle (59.93), and cruised to a nearly seven-second win in the breaststroke (1:15.35).
"She's really doing a nice job," coach Heck said of St. Pierre. "I think she's confident. She knows she can swim fast and she knows what she needs to do to be on those relays and go for those wins."
Prior to the season, Heck figured breaststroke might be one of the team's weaker events but, on Thursday, Rhinelander took first, third and fourth in the event as it took an insurmountable 34-point lead over Lakeland heading into the final event. Another freshman, Sierra Woodford, finished third for Rhinelander in that event while Allie Fugle finished fourth.
"Actually, we had some who weren't in (the breaststroke) today I could see doing well in that," Heck said. "We're stronger in that than I thought we would be. We're happy about that and I think they're going to keep coming down in time."
Winnicki scored wins for Rhinelander in the 200 freestyle (2:07.32) and the 100 butterfly (1:03.98), Grace Heck won the 50 freestyle (27.34) and Kennedy took the 100 backstroke (1:03.43). In addition to her win in the 500, Maria Heck took second in the 200 freestyle behind Winnicki and was part of a runner-up finish in the 400 freestyle relay with Woodford, Ella Schiek and Maddie Quinn.
Lakeland won the 400 freestyle relay to trim Rhinelander's final margin of victory to 28 points at 104-76. Wausau West was a distant third with 44 points.
"It was nice to swim against Lakeland and Wausau (West)," Heck said. "It was good competition, good races with both JV and varsity, and that's fun for everybody. We put kids in events they're good at and will be swimming probably more in the future."
It was the first meet for Rhinelander this year with the standard 11-event program and it gave the Hodags a good look at Lakeland ahead of a dual meet against the T-Birds this coming Tuesday in Minocqua.
"We can see what they have for incoming freshmen, what they have for returning (swimmers) and where they are at for times," Heck said. "That will help us with our lineup a little bit."
Rhinelander kicks off the Great Northern Conference dual meet portion of its schedule this afternoon against Colby/Abbotsford in the Heck Pool.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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