December 21, 2018 at 12:58 p.m.
Hodag swimmers sweep Tomahawk, enter break 6-0 in GNC
Hodag swimmers sweep Tomahawk, enter break 6-0 in GNC
Just like in the season opener, the Hodags won all 11 events as they cruised to a 108-58 win over the Hatchets Thursday at the Tomahawk High School Pool. The win moves Rhinelander to 6-0 in the GNC as it hits the holiday break.
The result was almost identical to the first dual meet of the season, which the Hodags took from the Hatchets (3-3) 107-58 Nov. 27 at the Heck Family Community Pool. Rhinelander went 1-2 in seven events on Thursday and led the dual from start to finish.
"We were really happy with the meet, not only for the wins but for the times as well," coach Jenny Heck said. "When we can go 1-2, it's great. And we were really close on those fifth places. Those guys, we put them in some different events tonight, too. That was good for them and I think they all had really good time drops."
Nolan Francis and Thaddeus Heck each played a role in four victories on the night. Francis took the 200-yard freestyle (1 minute, 47.17 seconds) and the 100 backstroke (55.83). He was also on the winning 200 and 400 freestyle relay teams. Thaddeus Heck won the 500 freestyle (5:34.33), the 100 breaststroke (1:08.22), and was also part of the winning 200 medley and 400 freestyle relays.
David King added a win for Rhinelander in the 200 individual medley (2:17.83), Devon Gaber won the 50 freestyle (23.70), Russell Benoy won the 100 freestyle (52.04) and freshman Jacob Schoppe picked up the win in the 100 butterfly (1:01.88).
"I thought Jacob Schoppe had the meet of his life tonight," Jenny Heck said. "That was really good to see his times come down and get him on the top of the leaderboard for the fly and the breast (third, 1:14.58)."
Benoy also broke the 2-minute mark (1:59.00) to finish second behind Francis in the 200 free. Joseph Heck was second in both the 200 IM and the 100 backstroke, Hoger was second in the butterfly and King took second in the 500.
Perhaps the biggest 1-2 of them all came in the 200 freestyle relay. Joseph Heck, Francis, Hoger and Benoy won the race with a time of 1:34.42, and the Hodags' second entry of Cooper Kovac, Schoppe, Ashton Cole and King rallied in the final 50 yards to take the runner-up spot over Tomahawk.
"I was happy to have that 1-2 on the (200 freestyle) relay," coach Heck said. "That's always great. I saw some great splits. The 200 free was really fun, I thought Nolan swam faster than I thought he would. Ashton and Russell also swam great times in that race."
Heck said she was impressed by her team's performance Thursday night, especially considering where the team currently sits in its season-long training program.
"We've been training extremely hard. Actually, I was surprised some of these guys swam as fast as they did with the training we've done this week," she said. "Having only one meet, we were able to really train well. We're going to continue training even harder next week and the week after that because, pretty soon, we're going to need to start resting."
The Hodags do not return to action until Jan. 3 when they will take on Antigo at the Heck Family Community Pool. Yet the holiday break is anything but for the team. The team will have some of its most strenuous practices of the season next week, including its annual 10,000-yard practice next Friday.
"That kind of signifies the high point of our (training). We're working hard and the guys know there's an end in sight of it as well," coach Heck said.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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