October 29, 2018 at 12:55 p.m.
Hodag swimmers take 2nd at GNCs
Hodag swimmers take 2nd at GNCs
Makenna Winnicki won the conference title in the 100-yard butterfly and the Hodags finished second at the GNCs, edging out host Lakeland and Ladysmith/Bruce/Flambeau for the runner-up spot.
Rhinelander finished 44 points behind conference champion Tomahawk, which won eight of the 11 events on the night, and rallied after being as low as fourth in the standings following the 100 freestyle to finish 13 points ahead of Lakeland, and 14 ahead of Ladysmith, for second.
The conference meet result, coupled with a 6-1 record in GNC dual meets, gave Rhinelander second place in the overall conference standings by a comfortable margin, six points ahead of a three-way tie between Medford, Ladysmith and Lakeland.
"We knew it was going to be a fight for second place," coach Jenny Heck said. "There were a lot of fast teams out here. We knew Medford, Lakeland and Ladysmith (would be fast) and there are a lot of fast individuals from other teams as well. We knew it was going to be tough."
Winnicki, a sophomore, had the best results of the night, placing in the top two in three of the four events she swam.
The highlight came in the 100 butterfly as she pulled away from Tomahawk's Megan Marcks over the final 50 yards to win the event with a time of 1 minute, 1.25 seconds - 1.42 seconds ahead of Marcks.
Winnicki followed that a short time later with a runner-up performance in the 500 freestyle. Her time of 5:21.12 was only 0.12 seconds off her personal record set at last year's WIAA Division 2 state meet. Winnicki finished second in the event to Tomahawk's Kylee Theiler, who broke her own conference record in the event with a 5:17.73.
"That was just fantastic and just lifted everyone up," Heck said of Winnicki's win in the 100 butterfly. "Everyone was just right there with her. That was a great swim by Makenna. Her 500 was great. Her splits were great. Overall, she just had a really solid meet."
Winnicki was also part of the Rhinelander quartet that finished second in the opening event of the night. She, Lisa Kennedy, Noelle St. Pierre and Grace Heck finished 1.73 seconds behind Tomahawk in the 200 medley relay.
"That was a best time by a couple of seconds," Jenny Heck said of the relay's 1:56.59 performance. "We were really pleased. That was a solid second. We know where we need to get faster and that's what we'll work on for next week."
The top three finishers in each even earned all-conference honors. Kennedy and St. Pierre made the all-conference team in individual events by virtue of their third-place finishes in the 200 freestyle and 100 breaststroke, respectively.
"Those third-place (swimmers) did really well," Heck said. "Sometimes those kids think they want to swim faster, but I think they were in great position for the conference meet and another week where we'll do even better."
The top six in each race made the podium and the Hodags had nine other podium finishes. Maria Heck was fourth in the 500 freestyle and fifth in the 200 freestyle, Grace Heck finished fourth in the 200 individual medley, Lisa Kennedy was fourth in the 100 backstroke, Allie Fugle placed fifth in the 100 breaststroke, Maddie Quinn was sixth in the 200 IM and St. Pierre was sixth in the 100 freestyle. Additionally, Rhinelander was fourth in the 200 freestyle relay with Winnicki, Marisa McGuire, Kennedy and Grace Heck. McGuire, Maria Heck, Quinn and St. Pierre finished fifth in the 400 freestyle relay.
There was no limit as to how many swimmers a team could put in an individual event, as long as a team stayed at or below the limit of 24 individual entries overall. The Hodags altered their lineup to stack a couple of events, placing third, fifth and seventh in the 200 freestyle with Kennedy, Maria Heck and McGuire. Rhinelander had four swimmers score points by finishing in the top 12 of the 100 backstroke.
"It was fun to get a lot of top-12 finishes," coach Heck said, noting she was especially pleased with the leadership and attitude displayed by her senior swimmers. "That's what we were looking for. Our goal was top-12 finishes, specifically top-six finishes, because we knew we needed to have those finishes to get second in this meet."
Next up for the Hodags is the WIAA Division 2 sectional meet this Saturday at UW-Stevens Point. All of the GNC teams, except for Mosinee which withdrew from the meet, plus six other schools will be in attendance.
"I think we're in great position. It's kind of where I thought we would be and we're going to continue to swim faster," Heck said.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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