December 16, 2019 at 1:35 p.m.
Hodag swimmers rule at Hodag Relays
Hodag swimmers rule at Hodag Relays
Rhinelander won five events, finished second in two others, and cruised to victory in the five-team meet, beating runner-up Tomahawk by 20 points.
Ten different Hodags had a hand in at least one relay win and seven swimmers scored wins in multiple events.
"That was so much fun and such a great day," Hodag coach Jenny Heck said. "We always look forward to the Hodag Relays because all the teams here are just great guys to be with, great competitors and it's so much fun to race some of the guys we know and some guys we don't see that often."
Rhinelander took control of the meet with a string of four straight victories between the third and sixth events and clinched the meet in style as the trio of Thaddeus Heck, Jack Antonuk and Joseph Heck broke a 29-year-old meet record in the 300-yard breaststroke relay, winning with a time of 3 minutes, 19.42 seconds. The previous record mark of 3:22.64 had been set by Wisconsin Rapids in 1990.
"We definitely knew we had the win for today and that breaststroke was what we were going after," Jenny Heck said. "We thought about this last year already and we're happy that those guys (pulled it off). We knew they had to swim really fast to get that record and they all had 1:06 splits. That's fantastic. We have a great GNC breaststroke this year and we're fortunate to have three of them on our team."
Rhinelander scored its first win of the afternoon in the 400 individual medley relay as the team of Antonuk, Daniel Gillingham, David King and Joseph Heck (4:02.39) outdueled Lakeland's best quartet of Liam Hogen, Brandon Boh, Avery Tucker and Tyler Teichmiller by 3.34 seconds.
Carter Gaber, Charlie Heck, Gavin Ostermann and Devon Gaber won the 200 freestyle relay (1:39.75). Antonuk, David King and Jacob Schoppe won the 300 butterfly relay and Thaddeus Heck, Gillingham, Devon Gaber and Charlie Heck took the 500 decrescendo freestyle relay.
"I was really pleased to see the new guys swimming," Jenny Heck said. "Those freestyle times are coming down and we need those in our relays. Gavin had great splits today which was helpful for our sprinters. All of our freshmen really stepped up - Jack Antonuk, Charlie (Heck), all those guys. We have six freshmen and they all did a great job contributing and that's what we're looking for."
Rhinelander and Lakeland dueled again in the 150 mixer medley relay and Lakeland came out on top. Teichmiller, Hogan and Boh (1:17.87) edged Joseph Heck, Gillingham and David King by 0.02 seconds.
The Hodags added a runner-up finish in the 200 medley relay with the team of Eli Lundt, Thaddeus Heck, Ostermann and Devon Gaber.
Tomahawk won two events and finished second. Marshfield was third followed by Lakeland and Superior.
Coach Heck said the all-relay meet provides valuable split-time information on her swimmers that she can use later in the season.
"They all did fantastic, great splits all the way around, better than we swam last time. I think we're on the right track," she said. "We've been training so hard and to get the splits that we had today with the kind of training we're doing just really made me feel confident and ready for the season."
Rhinelander returns to action Tuesday night at home against Shawano in a GNC dual meet. Meanwhile, the Hodags' home dual against Antigo - which was postponed due to snow this past Thursday - has been rescheduled for Tuesday, Jan. 7.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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