February 18, 2019 at 2:09 p.m.
Return to glory
Hodags win two races, tie for third at state meet
Return to glory
After a 25-year climb, Rhinelander was finally back on the top step of the podium at the WIAA State boys' swim meet. Francis won the 100-yard backstroke and was part of Rhinelander's winning 200 freestyle relay team. In all, it was a banner night Friday in the D2 state meet at the UW-Madison Natatorium.
The Hodags added four more podium finishes, including a couple of runner-up showings, as they tied for third overall in the team standings.
"It's a great privilege, a very great privilege," Francis said of bringing a pair of gold medals back to Rhinelander. "All of these guys worked really hard this season. We all had positive attitudes and we all deserved this win. I'm very proud of these guys."
After a number of close calls earlier in the meet, the Hodags finally broke a championship dry spell that dated back to 1994 with a masterful swim in the 200 freestyle relay.
The team of Joseph Heck, Francis, Devon Gaber and Russell Benoy turned in a school-record time of 1 minute, 27.76 seconds in the eighth event of the night.
Leading off the race, all sophomore Joseph Heck had to do was keep Rhinelander in touch with the lead. He did that with a 22.94-second split that had Rhinelander fourth, 0.61 seconds out of first when Francis hit the water.
Francis turned that deficit into a 0.3 second lead with a blistering 21.34-second split over the second 50 yards to give Rhinelander a lead it would not relinquish. Gaber extended the lead in the third leg and Benoy brought it home for a 0.39-second win over the Madison Edgewood quartet of Sean O'Connor, Tommy Beyer, Chase Korb and Nate Frucht.
"I saw Devon pulling away from the guys on both sides of him and it was just amazing," Benoy said. "All three legs of the relay before me did their job perfectly. It was a great, great choice, coaching-wise, to set the relay up that way. I knew that lead that Devon and the other two gave me, I knew we would be able to finish it."
Coach Jenny Heck said there had been some consternation as to how to align Rhinelander's four swimmers for the relay. Ultimately, the team stuck with the same order they used to qualify first for the event at sectionals back on Feb. 9.
"We thought getting out ahead and being ahead worked well, getting Joseph to have a solid swim, have Nolan get out ahead and keep that swim with no wake going," she said. "That worked well. You always hope it does and tonight it worked out for us."
The wait was 25 years for Rhinelander between championships No. 20 and No. 21 in Madison. The wait for championship No. 22 lasted all of nine minutes. Francis led wire-to-wire in the 100 backstroke. He smashed his previous school record with a time of 49.91 seconds and beat top-seeded Aidan Lohr of Baraboo by 0.83 seconds.
"I knew in the backstroke, I was going to be ready," he said. "I had warmed up from the 50 freestyle in the relay. I was just so ready. I just knew, when I was standing up by the block, it was like, 'Hey, this is it. I've got to finish hard. This is one of those races I'm going to remember.'"
It turned out to be a race Rhinelander fans won't soon forget. Francis went 24.54 over the first 50 yards to take a 0.22 second lead over Lohr. The lead visibly grew after Francis made the turn to begin the third length and he finished off what amounted to a victory lap.
"I was confident the race was over after the second wall," he said. "Everything was put together in that swim."
Though Francis was seeded behind Lohr in the event, he and coach Heck were confident about his chances in the race, especially following the 200 medley relay. Francis and Lohr went head-to-head in the backstroke leg of that relay. Francis' backstroke split was the fastest of the race, 0.18 seconds better than Lohr's.
"We knew that Nolan could do that," Jenny Heck said. "He felt confident and we did too. It's easy to say that afterward, but that was a great swim by Nolan, a great time and we were all happy for him."
The Hodags were seeded first in the medley relay and led after Francis' opening split, but proved to be no match for eventual overall state champion Madison Edgewood. The Crusaders dropped an astonishing 4.37 seconds in the event to take the win. The race was for second between Rhinelander and Baraboo. Thaddeus Heck, David King and Benoy brought home the race with solid splits - Benoy's split of 21.52 seconds in the freestyle was the fastest of the race - as the team beat Baraboo by 0.39 seconds and set a new school record of 1:37.61.
"That medley relay did fantastic. They had a time drop. The other team just went faster," Jenny Heck said. "That was a great way to start. I think they all knew they could continue and it just set the tone for the rest of the night."
The same could be said for Francis' swim in the 100 butterfly. Francis was seeded first in the event and shaved 1.43 seconds from his qualifying time, but lost to Berlin/Green Lake's Sam Ryf who dropped 3.28 seconds to post a winning time of 50.13 seconds. Francis had to settle for a silver medal and a school record of 50.88.
"I'm so happy with that time. It's my best time by nearly a second," Francis said. "Sam just had an amazing race. I'm so proud of him. He did amazing."
Benoy was also tantalizingly close to the top step of the podium as an individual, placing fourth in a crazy race in the 50 freestyle where the top five swimmers were separated by 0.08 seconds.
"I think there were a couple of things I could have improved on," Benoy said of his 21.97-second time. "I swam a little bit faster last week. Not everything aligned perfectly, but it was still a good race though."
Benoy got back on the podium later in the program, placing fifth in the 100 freestyle (49.01).
Gaber joined Benoy in the top eight in both of the sprint freestyle races as the Hodag junior turned in the race of his life. Gaber, who barely qualified in the 50 freestyle, won the opening heat with a time of 22.48 seconds. He followed that up by breaking the 50-second barrier for the first time in the 100 free with a time of 49.51, again winning the opening heat.
"I soon as I won that (heat of the) 50, I looked up and saw No. 1 on the board, I was extremely excited," said Gaber, who flexed his muscles for the Hodag cheering section after both heat race wins. "I barely got into state. I think it was like .02 and to beat another kid from the heat after me. It was really amazing. In the 100 I really wanted to get another win and after seeing that I got it again, I was extremely hyped."
Gaber followed with a lifetime-best split of 21.91 seconds in the Hodags' championship-winning 200 freestyle relay.
"He had an awesome meet last weekend and an even better meet tonight. He's just getting bigger and stronger," coach Heck said. "He put in a lot of work offseason and he deserves all the success. He had a great split and was just really important for tonight's overall performance."
The Hodags were sitting second on the leaderboard entering the final event. Without an entry in the 400 freestyle relay, however, the Hodags were surpassed by Monona Grove for the silver trophy and settled for a tie for third with Elkhorn. The tie for third was Rhinelander's best showing at state since a string of four consecutive runner-up finishes from 1965-1968.
"To even be in that situation and be in that place just made us smile," coach Heck said. "We had a few closes misses to get into the state meet, so we knew (second) would be hard for us. I'm just really pleased to have a third place. Final place wasn't our end goal at this meet, but third place was still great."
King was 12th for Rhinelander in the 100 butterfly and Thaddeus Heck finished 15th in the 100 breaststroke to round out Rhinelander's list of 10 entries for the state meet.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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