August 14, 2019 at 1:32 p.m.
Notebook: Practice starts for girls' swim, tennis
Notebook: Practice starts for girls' swim, tennis
Tuesday was the first day either team could practice under WIAA regulations and both teams jumped straight into two-hour practices.
The RHS cross country, volleyball and boys' soccer teams will be the last to begin fall practice. All three squads will begin their seasons next Monday.
Here are some notes from the first day of practice for the girls' swim and tennis teams.
Swimmers looking to ride momentum
Momentum keeps building for the Rhinelander High School swim program. A solid girls' season last year led to a great boys' season. After strong participation in the offseason program, coach Jenny Heck feels like the wave can continue now that the girls' season is back again.
"The girls are a great group of girls," Heck said following Tuesday's opening practice. "The dynamics, I can always tell a lot on the first day and I think it's going to be a great team - both with talent and personalities and attitude. I'm looking forward to the season."
Sixteen swimmers were at Tuesday's first practice, which Heck said, "went even better than I expected." Part of the reason can likely be traced back to the offseason program which Heck ran during the summer. She said the vast majority of the swimmers took part in the program, or similar training, during the summer months - which puts them a stroke ahead of the game this week.
"That offseason training is so critical, especially coming into this girls' season," she said. "If you've been swimming, you definitely have a three-week advantage on those who haven't. You can tell the kids who did and the kids who didn't are just going to have to work a little bit harder and they'll get there as well."
The team wasted no time on Tuesday, opening their first practice with a 2 1/2-hour workout. Even though the girls' swim season is one of the longest on the WIAA fall sports calendar, competition begins right away next Wednesday and Thursday for the Hodags with back-to-back invites at Colby and Merrill.
"We didn't have time to dilly-dally," Heck said. "We had a good workout today. The kids are tired. They're going to be tired tomorrow, but we're going to keep pushing them. We're starting them on the weights, starting them on tough swims - race-pace swims. They need to be ready for (next) Wednesday."
Additionally, as it did last year, Heck said the team will lift multiple times a week through the RHS strength training program. The team utilities the Volt Athletics lifting program.
"Coaches Jim Moore and Ken Heck will be leading the Volt for the girls," Jenny Heck said. "They both have great experience and the Volt program has been really successful for us with core strength. We look forward to continuing that this season."
Rhinelander finished second in the Great Northern Conference last year behind perennial power Tomahawk. Makenna Winnicki was the team only state qualifier last year, making it to Madison in both the 100-yard butterfly and the 500-freestyle as a sophomore. All-conference swimmers Lisa Kennedy and Noelle St. Pierre also return for the Hodags, who are expected to get a shot in the arm this year with sophomore Malia Francis - the younger sister of former RHS state champions Kiah and Nolan Francis - coming out for the squad.
Tennis gets through the 'easy day'
At the end of Tuesday's opening practice, longtime RHS girls' tennis coach Bob Heideman told his squad that it had just finished its easiest practice of the year.
That's because, while the team practiced for two hours, there was the extra clerical work of going through paperwork, covering the ground rules, handing out equipment and so on.
"There are somethings that remind you of why you want to coach, and the excitement, and somethings that (illustrate) why the beginnings, you got to get through them to get to the meat of the thing - to get to the part of the season that you like," Heideman said afterward. "There's far more talking in terms of the paperwork and what's coming next because the freshmen don't know what's going on. Even just the warmups, the freshmen don't know what to do, so you've got to take a little more time and all that. You work your way through it. That's OK."
Heideman has more freshmen than usual this year - nine to be precise - to introduce to the program. They make up a third of the roster overall.
"Hopefully they catch a little tennis fire and stick with it and the program's in good shape then, numbers-wise," he said.
Heideman said a number of the players he did not see over the summer, so Tuesday's opening practice was a matter of gauging their skill level. He spilt the team into varsity and JV sections on Wednesday and went about sorting out a lineup for a squad that lost half its starters from a season ago.
"Right now, it looks to me like I'm looking to get a fourth singles player and then sort out two and three doubles. That's what I'm looking for up to Saturday," Heideman said. "We've got three people vying for the top three singles spots, roughly equal and that we've got to sort out."
The Hodags scrimmage Wausau West Saturday morning at the RHS tennis courts and then head to Wausau West for an invitational Monday. That kicks off a week that includes three match dates for the Hodags. They will begin defense of their Great Northern Conference title next Thursday at Marshfield Columbus and return home next Friday for a triangular meet against Merrill and Ironwood, Mich.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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