August 19, 2019 at 10:59 a.m.
Team preview: RHS girls' swimming
Hodags hope young core is enough to unseat Tomahawk atop GNC
Team preview: RHS girls' swimming
"We definitely want to go after Tomahawk this year," RHS girls' swim coach Jenny Heck said. "They've beaten us way too many times. I think the girls are hungry."
The Hodags lost a number of seniors from last year's squad, but return two swimmers with state meet experience and gain a swimmer with a championship pedigree.
The key addition for the Hodags is sophomore Malia Francis, who joins the Hodags after swimming the club circuit as a freshman. Her two older siblings - Kiah and Nolan - were both two-time state champions for the Hodags. Malia Francis brings to the table a similar resume. She won a championship in 200-meter backstroke in the Wisconsin Swimming Long Course state meet back in 2018 and she comes into the season after recording top-20 finishes in the 100 and 200 backstroke in the National Club Swimming Association Summer Swimming Championships in Indianapolis earlier this month.
"We're excited to have Malia," Heck said. "She just swam junior nationals and had a great meet. She's ready. She's hungry and I think she's excited. She saw all the success her siblings had with swimming high school, and the fun that they had, and I think she's really excited to be a part of the team. She's going to bring in her own set of ways to help the team, as well as the team's going to help her."
While backstroke and IM are Francis' strong suits, Heck said she will likely compete in several different events for the Hodags throughout the course of the season.
Francis joins a lineup that already has a number of strong returning swimmers, led by two-time WIAA state qualifier Makenna Winnicki. The junior is back after finishing seventh in the 500-yard freestyle at last year's WIAA D2 state meet, only 2.74 seconds off the podium. She also placed 16th in the 100 butterfly at state - an event she won a Great Northern Conference championship in last fall.
Fellow junior Lisa Kennedy also returns. She and Winnicki were part of the team's 200-yard medley relay when it qualified for state back in 2017, and were part of a medley relay squad that finished second in the GNC and fourth at sectionals a season ago. Kennedy has been a backstroker mainly in her high school career, but the team had some success stretching her into distance freestyle last year as she earned honorable mention all-conference with a third-place finish in the 200 freestyle at last fall's GNCs.
A pair of sophomores return after contributing a number of points to the squad last year. Noelle St. Pierre was on the medley relay with Winnicki and Kennedy, she also had a third-place finish in the 100 breaststroke, and a sixth-place showing in the 100 freestyle last year at conference. Maria Heck returns after placing fourth and fifth in the 500 and 200 freestyle, respectively, at the GNCs.
Other returning swimmers include seniors Riley Miller, Marisa McGuire, Jaylen Jansen and Alyssa Scheuermann. Sophomores Sierra Woodford and Emily Tinsman also return.
"I think all of the kids, and I was thinking of that as I was looking at them today, can contribute points at the conference meet," coach Heck said. "Every single one of these kids could really prove themselves, be there and provide points. That's what our goal is. I think they want to do it."
Heck sees versatility in her roster. With her top swimmers there's a strong base in each of the specialty strokes, the IM and the distance races. The team's biggest weakness entering the season may be sprint freestyle, after graduating its top sprinter from last year, Grace Heck.
"We're going to be doing a lot of race-pace swimming," Jenny Heck said. "We've got to get those kids swimming. All the high school events are sprints. They need to get going, and get going on that right away. We want to push those fast times right away in the season and just get faster throughout."
Tomahawk has been the team to beat in the GNC, having won five straight conference titles. How strong the Hatchets will be this year remains to be seen after they graduated four of their five state qualifiers from a season ago. Only Kylee Theiler returns from that quintet.
Though the Hodags have their sights set on Tomahawk's conference crown, they need to keep one eye in the rear-view mirror. Ladysmith/Bruce/Flambeau, Lakeland and Medford all tied for third in the GNC standings last year, and were all in the hunt late in the conference meet. Medford and Ladysmith finished ahead of the Hodags in the team standings at sectionals last year.
"There are also a lot of other good teams. I know Lakeland's always tough. Ladysmith's tough," Heck said. "We're going to have good competition but I think, with our team here, we have a good shot at most anything."
The Hodags will battle the three teams right on their heels in the conference - Lakeland, Medford and Ladysmith - on three successive Thursdays in September. Should they get through those meets clean, it could setup a showdown with Tomahawk at the Heck Family Community Pool Oct. 17.
Right away this week, the Hodags will get a look at some of their conference competition. Tomahawk and Ladysmith will be in Colby tomorrow for the Colby Pentathlon. Tomahawk is also in the field Thursday in a nine-team outdoor meet at Merrill.
"Those are great meets to get times, see where we're at and get ready for the dual meets in season," Heck said.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
Comments:
You must login to comment.