January 30, 2019 at 12:42 p.m.
Hodag swimmers set sights on GNC title
Hodag swimmers set sights on GNC title
That all means nothing for the Hodags going forward, however, as their three most important meets of the season lie ahead, beginning with tomorrow night's Great Northern Conference championship meet in Medford.
What Rhinelander did during the conference dual meets means nothing in regard to where the Hodags place in the final GNC standings and which Hodags swimmers earn all-conference honors. All of that will be decided by how the team does tomorrow night in Medford. Not only do the Hodags want to clean up at conference, they want to set the stage for a big WIAA tournament run at sectionals and state.
"This gives us a great opportunity to see what the relay splits are, how the kids are going individually and what events they should go for to qualify for the state meet," Rhinelander coach Jenny Heck said. "The kids are excited about that. That's definitely our goal, to win the meet. I think they're excited, they're ready. It's going to be some tough races. Lakeland has some fast guys and they're out to get those No. 1 positions."
Rhinelander is seeking its first GNC title since 2016. The Hodags also won the inaugural boys' swimming conference title in 2012.
Lakeland, which finished 7-3 in the conference duals, three games behind the Hodags, poses the biggest threat Friday night. The T-Birds may struggle to have the overall depth to win their third straight conference championship, but the core of Liam Hogan, Tyler Teichmiller, Alex Tucker and Brandon Boh figure to give the Hodags a run for their money in several individual events and a couple of relays.
A quick look at the GNC honor roll, which posts the best times from the dual meet portion of the schedule, confirms that fact. Rhinelander has the top spot on the honor roll in 10 of the 11 events. Lakeland has the top spot in the other one, the 500-yard freestyle, and has at least one spot in the top three on the honor roll in every event.
The honor roll can be a bit misleading, however. For example, Rhinelander's Nolan Francis has the conference's best time in seven of the eight individual events. He can only swim four events Friday night.
Rhinelander's ace in the hole is its depth of high-caliber swimmers. Russell Benoy, Martin Hoger, Devon Gaber, David King, Thaddeus Heck and Joseph Heck all show up in the top five on the honor roll at least once.
"For Friday night, the goal is to win as many events as possible," Jenny Heck said. "We have Nolan, but we need the other guys to step up and win events as well. Nolan can only swim two (individual) events, so the other guys are going to have to win their fair share of events as well. We also need our B relays to swim really fast. We need them to beat the other conference B relays, and maybe even an A relay along the way."
Then there's the guessing game where the other coaches will place their swimmers. Heck said she has set the lineup for where her swimmers will place the best and score the most points - and those events might not necessarily be her swimmers' fastest events, or even what they will swim next week at sectionals as they attempt to qualify for the WIAA Division 2 state meet.
Some conference records may be on the line as well. Rhinelander's best time of the season in all three relays is faster than the official GNC records, which can only be set at the conference meet. Francis is also below record pace in six individual events.
All the GNC schools have been thrown a curveball this week by Mother Nature as snow, sub-zero temperatures and dangerously cold wind chills have canceled classes and practice anywhere from two to four days, depending on the school.
Rhinelander got off relatively easy in that regard. So far, the team only lost Wednesday's practice due to excessive cold. The team was able to practice Tuesday afternoon before the district closed all of its buildings at 5:30 p.m. As of deadline for this edition, today's practice was still on despite classes being canceled. The district is scheduled to reopen its building for practices and games at 3 p.m.
"Practice is crucial these next couple weeks," coach Heck said, adding that the team has been working on fine-tuning starts, turns, strokes and relay exchanges this week. "Missing even one day is a huge deal. I don't know exactly how other sports work but one day builds upon the next and there's such of a plan of attack with swimming that we can't afford to miss anything right now. We'll find a way to make it work. Hopefully the weather will cooperate."
The GNC meet is set for 5:30 p.m. tomorrow at the Medford High School swimming pool.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
Comments:
You must login to comment.