November 9, 2020 at 7:59 a.m.
Hodag swimmers dominate sectionals, send 15 entries to state
Hodag swimmers dominate sectionals, send 15 entries to state
The Hodags' tour de force continued Saturday as they dominated a seven-team WIAA Division 2 subsectional, winning 10 events and setting five pool records at the Heck Family Community Pool.
By the time the water settled and the results were combined with a six-team subsectional in Medford, the Hodags won eight events overall, qualified 15 entries for the WIAA state meet and rolled to a second consecutive sectional championship.
Rhinelander, which was projected to score 386 points based on the sectional psych sheets, did one better with a score of 387. That was good enough to beat Rice Lake by 86 points for the sectional championship. The same two teams finished 1-2 in last year's sectional, with Rhinelander coming out on top by a single point.
"As far as what they did today, I was really pleased with overall swims, times and what we saw is kind of what we expected," coach Jenny Heck said. "A few swimmers we were hoping to have a little faster times but, overall, a good meet for the Hodags."
It was a historic meet too, as the Hodags hosted sectionals and shattered a number of records.
Malia Francis set pool records in the 100-yard butterfly and the 100 backstroke as she began her state championship defense in both events. Freshman Abi Winnicki took down both the pool and the school records in the 200 freestyle. The Hodags also broke the school and pool records in the 200 freestyle relay and bettered their pool record in the 200 medley relay.
Makenna Winnicki added a sectional championship in the 200 individual medley while Lisa Kennedy, Noelle St. Pierre and Karis Francis were at-large state qualifiers in two individual events each. Genna Fugle was the seventh team member to qualify for state, as part of the championship-winning 400 freestyle relay team.
The relays came out firing. The quartet of Kennedy, St. Pierre, Makenna Winnicki and Karis Francis set the tone in the medley relay, knocking more than 2 seconds from their pool record time in the event, hitting the wall at 1 minute, 50.30 seconds to beat Wausau East by nearly a second in the event.
"Those girls came out ready and excited," Heck said. "I think they know they're fast and it was great to see Makenna get that fast fly time. All of them had personal-best splits in that medley relay which was really cool. I think that got the momentum going."
That momentum carried over to the 200 freestyle relay as the Hodags smashed a school record set when Rhinelander won the WIAA Division 2 state title in the event back in 1993. Abi Winnicki, Karis Francis, Noelle St. Pierre and Malia Francis went 1:39.43 on Saturday, taking 0.71 seconds off that school mark. Fugle, Abi Winnicki, Makenna Winnicki and Malia Francis went 3:43.33 to win the 400 freestyle relay in a time that was 0.2 seconds off the pool and school mark the foursome had set 16 days prior at the GNC virtual meet.
"I thought it was pretty crazy," Malia Francis said of the team's relay times. "Even putting my little sister, Karis, on those relays. She really stepped up. I think everybody really just dropped a whole bunch of time. I was really blown away about how fast the relays were."
Malia Francis had a big day in her individual swims as well. She went 56.58 in the 100 butterfly and 55.87 in the 100 backstroke to beat her own pool records in both events. In an ominous sign for her competition, those times were faster than her sectional championship times in those events last year and the Hodag junior appears to have more in the tank for this coming Friday night at state.
"I know she hasn't really come down a lot until now," Heck said of Malia Francis' times. "I think, mentally, she's getting there. She's getting ready. She'll be fully tapered next week. She'll shave then and I think she'll be really excited about those times."
Malia Francis actually saw one of her records fall Saturday courtesy of Abi Winnicki, who went 1:55.38 in the 200 freestyle. That was better than the mark of 1:56.31 Francis set two weeks prior during the GNC virtual meet. Later, the younger of the two Winnicki sisters nearly took down Lindsay Byrka's school record in the 100 freestyle with a time of 53.43 that missed the school mark by 0.06 seconds.
"For a freshman, they don't really know what to expect at a sectional meet, I was especially pleased with her composure," Heck said. "She went out there being aggressive and wasn't afraid. I think that really showed in her 200 free. I think she has more to take off on both those events."
Makenna Winnicki held off a late charge from Merrill's Amber Winter to take the subsectional and combined sectional titles in the 200 individual medley in a time of 2:16.14. Kennedy finished third (2:19.78) and Karis Francis was fourth (2:20.12) as both secured at-large bids to the state meet, which went to the 12 best performers in each event who did not win sectional titles. Despite winning her subsectional, Makenna Winnicki finished second overall in the sectional in the 500 freestyle with a time of 5:28.29, about three seconds slower than the winning time for Ladysmith's Madeline Bunton in the Medford subsectional.
St. Pierre won the subsectional in the 50 freestyle (25.34), edging Wausau East's Lucy Gilles to the wall by 0.08 seconds, but there were three times faster in the Medford subsectional, highlighted by Rice Lake's Faith Forsberg at 24.36. St. Pierre finished third in both the subsectional and sectional in the 100 breaststroke (1:11.13) to earn an at-large bid after narrowly missing out on qualifying for state in that event last year.
Kennedy finished second behind Malia Francis in the backstroke, breaking the 1-minute barrier again with a time of 59.51 seconds that was fourth-fastest statewide. Karis Francis also qualified in the 100 butterfly after finishing third in the sectional at 1:01.51.
"It's exciting to see the number of people on the team we were able to push into state," Makenna Winnicki said. "This is probably going to be the biggest number of people we've had qualify for state."
"All the swims I thought were pretty good," Heck added. "All had something good happen to them. Maybe some weren't as fast as they wanted but, overall as a team, we couldn't be more pleased with the way we went after it."
In total, 15 of Rhinelander's 21 sectional entries advanced to this Friday's D2 state meet at Waukesha South High School.
Fugle missed out individually in the 50 and 100 freestyle. She finished 13th in the sectional in the 50 (26.41) and 11th in the 100 (58.48). Junior Maria Heck was about three seconds over the cutline in both the 200 and 500 freestyle as she took seventh and fourth in the events, respectively. Sam Sundby was eighth in the 100 breaststroke and Sierra Woodford was 10th in the 500 freestyle.
Saturday's subsectional was unlike any other the Hodags have seen, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. There were no spectators, and only a handful of swimmers from each team allowed on deck at a time. Team members who weren't on deck were camped in the adjacent Jim Miazga Community Gymnasium.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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