October 12, 2018 at 12:04 p.m.
Swimming: Hodags tamed by Tomahawk
Swimming: Hodags tamed by Tomahawk
Tomahawk won every race, and added a pair of 1-2 finishes, as they defeated the Hodags 106-64 at Hatchet Pool.
The win guaranteed Tomahawk (7-0) sole possession of first place in the conference entering the GNC meet Oct. 26 in Minocqua. For the first time, the GNC is using a combination of dual meet results and the conference meet to determine its girls' swimming champion. The Hodags (5-1) will enter the GNC meet at least two points behind the Hatchets in the conference standings.
"We knew it would be tough going in because they had the top times in every event in the standings," Rhinelander coach Jenny Heck said, referencing the Great Northern Conference honor roll which keeps track of the conference's best times throughout the season. "We knew they would have a good chance of winning all of the events, which they did."
Every time the Hodags threw one of their aces into the pool, the Hatchets had at least one swimmer to trump them.
Tomahawk set the tone early as seniors Kaylie Svacina and Katy Volz both edged Rhinelander's Makenna Winnicki in the 200-yard individual medley. Moments later Tomahawk's Shelby Benaszeski and Molly Mott both out-touched Rhinelander's Grace Heck in the 50 freestyle. Tomahawk led 41-21 at intermission and the rout was on from there.
Winnicki came into the night with the second-best time in the conference in the 100 butterfly, but couldn't beat out Tomahawk's Megan Marcks, who moved into second in the GNC with a 1:02.99.
Rhinelander put its top swimmers in some of their fastest events - Lisa Kennedy in the backstroke, Noelle St. Pierre in the breaststroke, Maria Heck in the distance freestyle events. Tomahawk had an answer every time.
"They have enough fast swimmers that they can put them in different areas that they could block us wherever they really needed to," Jenny Heck said.
Heck said a combination of a fast pace - the entire event took less than 1 hour, 20 minutes to complete - and a wave of momentum shifting toward Tomahawk's side of the pool took a toll on her team in the second half of the meet.
"I thought we did fairly well the first half of the meet," she said. "The second half was not too impressive on our part. I think the girls need to be able to swim four strong events, no matter what the order is. That's something they have to work on, both physically and mentally.
"Sports is 50 percent mental. You've got to stay tough and be strong. Even if things aren't going your way, you've got to get out there and race."
Coach Heck noted she was happy with the way the meet started. The team's top 200 medley relay squad of Kennedy, St. Pierre, Grace Heck and Winnicki posted their best time of the season, a 1:59.54, in a runner-up finish.
Maria Heck was second in both the 200 and 500 freestyle, Kennedy was second in the 100 freestyle and the 100 backstroke and St. Pierre was second in the 100 breaststroke. Rhinelander also finished second in both freestyle relay races. Marisa McGuire, Kennedy, Grace Heck and Winnicki made up the runner-up quartet in the 200. McGuire, Maria Heck, Sierra Woodford and St. Pierre swam the 400 for the Hodags.
"I thought the kids would have swam a little faster at this point, but we've got the important meets coming up, we'll go after those and put this one behind us," the coach said.
The Hodags close out the dual meet portion of their schedule against Colby/Abbotsford on Monday before turning their attention to the GNC meet in approximately two-weeks time.
Tomahawk, which won 10 of the 11 events at the GNCs last year, will be tough to catch, but Heck vowed her team will try to close the gap.
"I think we can definitely close the gap. I think there are going to be a lot of great swims from the girls that are yet to come," she said.
Jeremy Mayo be reached at [email protected].
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