January 24, 2018 at 12:45 p.m.
Foiled at the finish
Close races, late DQ cost Hodag swimmers in 83-72 loss to Antigo
Foiled at the finish
The Hodags lost three races that were decided by less than 1.2 seconds during the middle stages of the dual and fell to the Red Robins 83-72 at the McKenna Aquatic Center.
David King got out-touched for wins in both the 200-meter individual medley and the 100 butterfly. Russell Benoy and Joseph Heck settled for second and third in a close race in the 100 freestyle where the top three swimmers were separated by 0.25 seconds. The 13 points that swung Antigo's way in those three finishes proved to be the difference in the dual.
"Where we needed to 1-2 it, we 2-3'ed it. Where we needed to beat someone, they beat us. That makes the difference in a close meet," Hodag co-coach Jenny Heck said.
Despite all of that, the Hodags still had a chance to win the dual heading to the final event - the 400 freestyle relay - but were disqualified after the officials deemed Martin Hoger left the blocks too early to begin the second leg of the race.
"They said we jumped on our second swimmer and we DQed," Jenny Heck said. "I didn't see a jump. As a matter of fact, I thought we were slow, but I guess that's the call that was made."
The disqualification only widened Antigo's margin of victory as the Robins beat the Hodags in the race before Rhinelander learned of the infraction. The Hodags had a slight lead at the 200-meter mark, but Antigo's Zach Reineke was more than five seconds faster than Joseph Heck in the third leg, which proved to be the difference.
The biggest point swing of the night came in the 100 freestyle where Benoy and Joseph Heck were swimming 1-2 at the 50-meter mark. Reineke came back with a strong 30.24 second split over the final 50 to beat them both to the wall - edging Benoy by 0.06 seconds and Heck by 0.25 seconds.
On deck after the race, Benoy admitted to gliding into the wall with a two-hand finish as opposed to thrusting hard into the wall with one hand.
"He had a terrible finish. He knows what he's supposed to do, but it didn't happen," Jenny Heck said. "Joseph had a good 100 free but he was also out-touched. It could have been a 1-2 event and it turned into a 2-3 event. That's a big difference there."
Rhinelander won only three of the 11 races on the evening. Benoy, Thaddeus Heck, King and Devon Gaber started the night with a win in the 200 medley relay (2:04.94), Benoy won the 50 freestyle (26.21) and Thaddeus and Joseph Heck finished 1-2 in the 100 breaststroke (1:17.90, 1:22.84).
Trailing 71-60 at the time, Rhinelander went 1-2-4 in the breaststroke to keep themselves mathematically alive for the dual meet victory. First-year swimmer Jack Kovac turned in a time of 1:36.30 to score the fourth-place finish.
"Jack did really well. He really had a nice swim and gave us some key points," Jenny Heck said. "That helped us a lot that we weren't expecting, but not enough in the final standings."
Antigo's McKenna Aquatic Center is the only facility in the Great Northern Conference that boasts a short course meter pool, opposed to a short course yard pool. That means each event, save the 500-yard freestyle (raced as a 400 in a meter pool), is slightly longer.
While Antigo is accustomed to swimming in the larger pool, the Hodag coaching staff insisted that played no factor in Tuesday's result.
"The turns and the finishes are the same whether it's a yard pool or a meter pool," co-coach Marna Winnicki said. "That's what they need to work on."
The Hodags (3-5-1) close out the conference dual meet season against Lakeland tonight at the Heck Family Community Pool.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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