February 5, 2018 at 2:32 p.m.
Hodags win medley relay, take 4th overall at GNCs
Hodags win medley relay, take 4th overall at GNCs
The Hodags turned in seven all-conference performances and reached the podium in every event except the 500 freestyle, by finishing in the top six.
"We were really happy about how we finished, happy about the meet," Rhinelander co-coach Marna Winnicki said. "The guys swam well, a lot of personal bests tonight. We're just happy about that and looking for some fasters swims next Saturday (at sectionals)."
The Hodags started out the night with their best finish, taking the 200 medley relay thanks to a little Lakeland misfortune. The T-Birds' A relay was disqualified, opening the door for the Hodag quartet of Martin Hoger, Thaddeus Heck, David King and Russell Benoy to take the race with a winning time of 1:47.13.
Even then, the win wasn't a slam dunk. In what they thought was a battle for second at the time, Benoy entered the water a fraction of a second ahead of Antigo's Holden Meidl for the final 50-yard freestyle leg. Benoy went 22.24 over the final 50, compared to Meidl's 23.32 to pull away.
"That's really been a strong suit. We bettered our time and took first," Winnicki said of the winning relay.
In individual races, Rhinelander's best showing came in the 100 breaststroke where freshman Joseph Heck edged his sophomore cousin, Thaddeus, by 0.06 seconds for the runner-up spot. Neither could quite keep up with Lakeland's Tyler Teichmiller, however, who won the race in a conference-record time of 1:03.66. Joseph Heck came in at 1:05.19, his fastest time of the season.
"Joseph did a really good job, Thaddeus did as well," Winnicki said. "Watching it, it was a lot closer of a race than it appeared, time-wise. Tyler pulled ahead right toward the end, but really good swims."
Benoy was a double third-place winner for the Hodags in the 50 and 100 freestyle and King added a third-place swim in the 100 butterfly. The top three finishers in each event earned all-conference recognition.
"Russell did a good job, again, some close races and in at least one he out-touched the other guy at the wall. He really swam strong and he finished well," Winnicki noted. "That was a personal best for David (58.00 in the butterfly). He looked strong. He didn't drop quite as much time in his events as the other kids did, so we're hoping he's got more significant of a time drop next week."
Rhinelander added a runner-up finish in the 200 freestyle relay with the team of Joseph Heck, Hoger, Devon Gaber and Benoy.
Hoger was fourth in the 100 backstroke and fifth in the 100 butterfly. Joseph Heck and King finished fourth and fifth in the 200 IM. Gaber was sixth in both the 50 and 100 freestyle. Thaddeus Heck was sixth in the 200 freestyle and the Hodags finished fourth in the 400 freestyle relay with the team of King, Gaber, Heck and Heck.
Lakeland won eight events and set five new conference records as it won its second straight conference title. Tomahawk was second, followed by Shawano, Rhinelander, Antigo and Medford. In a change this year, only the conference championship results determined the final conference standings. The Hodags had the fifth-best dual meet record (3-6-1), but finished a spot better in the final conference standings, placing ahead of Antigo, to whom they lost twice in dual meet competition.
"That was something for the kids to be proud of, a little vindication," Winnicki said.
The Hodags, and the rest of the GNC, will head to Hudson this Saturday for an 11-team WIAA Division 2 sectional.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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