March 18, 2019 at 11:30 a.m.
Team review: RHS boys' swimming
Hodag swim has season for the ages
Team review: RHS boys' swimming
"You guys are looking at one of the best teams of Rhinelander swim history," she said.
There aren't many who could argue, given the success the Hodags had during a 2018-19 season that saw numerous records fall and state championships return to Rhinelander for the first time since 1994.
Here are five key storylines from the recently completed season.
STATE SUCCESS
A great season culminated Feb. 15 at the WIAA Division 2 state meet in Madison, where the Hodags came away with an incredible haul - two state championships, two runner-up finishes, six podium finishes in all and a tie for third place in the final team standings.
The titles were Rhinelander's first in a quarter century and began with a near wire-to-wire performance in the 200-yard freestyle relay. Joseph Heck kept the Hodags in the hunt over the first 50 yards, senior Nolan Francis gave Rhinelander the lead in the second leg, Devon Gaber stretched the advantage and Russell Benoy brought it home. It was the 21st individual boys' swim state championship in Rhinelander history.
The wait for the team's 22nd title lasted all of nine minutes as Francis led wire-to-wire in the 100 backstroke and beat top-seeded Aidan Lohr of Baraboo by 0.83 seconds.
Francis was second in the 100 butterfly earlier in the evening and the Hodags took second in the meet-opening 200 medley relay. Benoy added a fourth-place finish in the 50 freestyle, finishing a mere 0.07 behind the state champion. Benoy was also fifth in the 100 freestyle while Gaber added eighth-place finishes in the 50 and 100 freestyle races.
"From a small town of Rhinelander, I thought we really did fantastic," Jenny Heck said, reflecting during the banquet. "People were really surprised to see how well we did at conference, sectionals and state. They saw our times, but didn't (realize) how well we could do. I think we put Rhinelander back on the map."
DOMINANCE
The state meet was the culmination of a dominating season for the Hodags, who went undefeated in Great Northern Conference dual meets, won their Hodag Relay invitation meet, and took both the GNC and sectional meets by more than 100 points.
IT TOOK ALL 10
The Hodags had six state qualifiers - Francis, Benoy, Gaber, David King, Thaddeus Heck and Joseph Heck - but coach Heck said it took all 10 swimmers on the roster to enable the Hodags to achieve the success they did this season.
"Every meet we won pretty easily, I would say, not to be too confident. How did we do it? We did it with all 10 guys," she said. "There were other teams that had as many guys as we did but maybe lost quite a few of the meets. What I'm saying is it wasn't just one of two of these guys, it was the whole team that really contributed to that 12-0 record. That was really cool. Our B relays beat every other conference B relays, plus some of their As. That's huge points."
RECORD NIGHTS
Because Rhinelander went into so many meets as the overwhelming favorite, it gave the team a chance to juggle its lineup. Sometimes, the team would pit its best swimmers against each other to increase the competition. Other times, the team would line up its top guns for a race against the clock.
The latter is exactly what happened Jan. 17 in a dual meet against Shawano. It was the final home meet of the season for the Hodags and the team responded by smashing four Heck Family Community Pool records - including a 400 freestyle relay record that had stood for 31 years.
"That's what we hoped would happen, but you just never know," Jenny Heck said. "Coming into this part of the season where they're working so hard, we were hoping and they really pulled through."
The Hodags had two more nights later in the season in which they set four records in one meet. The team set four GNC records en route to the title. Rhinelander set four varsity records at the WIAA state meet.
WHAT'S NEXT
The Hodags will lose three state qualifiers - including champions Francis and Benoy - to graduation, but will bring back four state qualifiers next year in hopes of keeping Rhinelander's tradition of being a northern power in a sport dominated by teams from the southern half of the state.
"I know the swimmers coming up are really excited. I think we're going to continue to give these teams down here a run for their money," coach Heck said.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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