December 21, 2020 at 8:09 a.m.
Hodag swimmers drop Lakeland, move to 4-0 in GNC
Hodag swimmers drop Lakeland, move to 4-0 in GNC
The Hodags won only seven of the 11 events on the night, but still had more than enough depth to get by a Lakeland team that had only seven swimmers available for the meet. The win moved Rhinelander to 4-0 halfway through the Great Northern Conference dual meet schedule.
"We wish some of the guys would have gone a little faster but, at the same time, for this time of year I think it served its purpose," coach Jenny Heck said.
Sophomore Jack Antonuk had a hand in four victories for the Hodags, as Rhinelander won all three relay races and had a 4-4 split with Lakeland in the eight individual events. Antonuk took the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 2 minutes, 8.59 seconds, beating teammate Daniel Gillingham by roughly five seconds for the win. Antonuk added a win in the 500 freestyle (5:21.57) with a time that was 0.06 seconds faster than his runner-up performance in the event at last year's GNC meet.
"We love racing those guys against each other. I wanted to push some good times out of Jack and Daniel in that IM," coach Heck said. "That worked. Jack had a great meet tonight, really strong throughout. His splits were good. His 500 was good, his 200 IM. He had a really solid meet."
Marcus O'Malley scored the two other individual event wins for Rhinelander, taking the 200 freestyle (2:09.81) and the 100 butterfly (1:07.15).
Carter Gaber, Antonuk, Gavin Ostermann and Gillingham started the night with a win for the Hodags in the 200 medley relay (1:48.07). Charlie Heck, Jacob Schoppe, O'Malley and Joseph Heck (1:39.97) led a 1-2 Hodag finish in the 200 freestyle relay ahead of Billy Berwig, Eli Lundt, Zacha King and Daniel King. The Heck brothers, Antonuk and Gillingham took the 400 freestyle relay (3:33.00).
Liam Hogan, who finished fourth in the WIAA D2 state meet in the 50 and 100 freestyle for Lakeland last February, won both events for the T-Birds on Thursday night. Hogan beat Joseph Heck for the win in both events.
"It's good for those guys to swim against Liam. He's so fast and powerful. He's one of the best sprinters in the state," Jenny Heck said. "They have to know what it's like to swim behind some waves, how to handle that pressure too. I think it was a good learning experience."
Avery Tucker, the defending conference champion in the 100 backstroke, won that event for Lakeland on Thursday. Max Nowak took the 100 breaststroke for the T-Birds.
Rhinelander has one more meet to close out the first half of its season, this evening at home against Tomahawk. From there, its on to the winter break, with a non-conference dual against Ashwaubenon thrown in Dec. 30.
"People are at different points in their training," coach Heck said. "Some people are handling it a little more. The sprinters are beat up a little bit more. That's just part of the process. Hopefully it just all comes together at the end."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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