January 5, 2018 at 2:02 p.m.
Hodags handle Medford in swim return
Hodags handle Medford in swim return
The Hodags won 11 events - sweeping the top two positions in seven of them - as they cruised to a 110-53 win over Medford in a Great Northern Conference dual at the Heck Family Community Pool.
Rhinelander put in some of its hardest practices of the season over the break, which showed on the stopwatch Thursday evening.
"The guys looked really good tonight," Hodag co-coach Marna Winnicki said. "I think everybody had at least one best time, some of them had two. They all looked great tonight."
The result of the dual was never in doubt against the last-place Raiders (0-7 Great Northern). The Hodags (3-3-1 Great Northern) raced out to a 40-18 lead by intermission, and continued to pull away during the second half of the meet. Nine of Rhinelander's 10 swimmers had a hand in at least one race win.
"We had a lot of fun with this lineup, either putting guys in things they haven't swam or they picked an event they were interested in swimming. We had a lot more fun with the lineups of the relays as well, trying to have them compete against themselves," Winnicki said. "I think everybody had a chance to be in the top spot and I think they had a lot of fun doing it."
Joseph Heck, Thaddeus Heck and Russell Benoy all won a pair of individual races for Rhinelander. Joseph Heck took the 200-yard freestyle (2:07.35) and the 100 butterfly (1:09.08), Thaddeus Heck won the 50 freestyle (26.15) and the 500 freestyle (5:47.19), and Benoy took the 200 individual medley (2:20.38) and the 100 backstroke (1:02.97).
Martin Hoger added a win for Rhinelander in the 100 freestyle (58.43) and David King took the 100 breaststroke (1:17.08).
King nearly added a win in the 500. He made up nearly two seconds over the final 100 yards, but Thaddeus Heck beat him to the wall by 0.41 seconds.
"I loved watching the race between Thaddeus and David in the 500," co-coach Jenny Heck said. "Thaddeus had never swam the 500 before and now he's our fastest 500 guy."
That was one of seven 1-2 finishes for the Hodags on the night, two of which came in relay races. The team of Hoger, Joseph Heck, Devon Gaber and Isaiah Piosalan beat teammates Benoy, Thaddeus Heck, King and Jared Chizever by 2.36 seconds in the 200 medley relay. Hugh Wiese, Hoger, Piosalan and Joseph Heck beat Chizever, Gaber, Mathew Herman and King by 2.65 seconds in the 200 freestyle relay.
Rhinelander also took the 400 freestyle relay with its entry of Herman, Thaddeus Heck, Wiese and Benoy. Winnicki said Wiese, a first-year swimmer, had a big night.
"Hugh dropped time in everything," she said. "He dropped 13 seconds in his 200, four seconds in his backstroke. He was just on fire tonight, which was good see."
Other runner-up finishes for the Hodags included Hoger in the IM, Gaber in both the 50 freestyle and 100 breaststroke and Herman in the 100 freestyle.
The Hodags return to action today in the Jaguar Invite at Ashwaubenon High School. The team considers the meet to be a mid-season sectional tune-up, given that a number of the teams Rhinelander will face in next month's WIAA sectionals will be in the field.
"What we want to see is what these guys can do and how fast they can swim in what they'll be swimming at conference and sectionals," Jenny Heck said.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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