September 20, 2020 at 3:37 p.m.
RHS swimmers rout Lakeland 117-51
RHS swimmers rout Lakeland 117-51
Lakeland, which figured to be one of Rhinelander's toughest challenges all season, could not take a race from Rhinelander. The Hodags swept all 11 events for the third meet in a row and raced to a 117-51 victory over the Thunderbirds Thursday in Minocqua in a dual that featured the conference's only remaining undefeated teams.
"We were trying to hook up some of the fastest girls in the conference and that's what we did," Rhinelander coach Jenny Heck said. "They have some great sprinters, great freestylers, so we knew the sprint races and the relays were what we were going to be looking at."
Seven different Hodags scored wins on Thursday. Sisters Abi and Makenna Winnicki each went 4 for 4 on the night, while Lisa Kennedy, Noelle St. Pierre and Malia Francis all had three-win programs.
The closest call of the night came in the opening event, the 200 medley relay where Maria Heck held off a hard-charging Rylee Ahlborn over the final 50 yards to eke out a 0.22-second victory. The team of Kennedy, St. Pierre, Makenna Winnicki and Maria Heck got to the wall in 1:57.15.
Abi Winnicki won arguably the race of the night, edging Malia Francis and Ahlborn in the 50 freestyle. The three were separated by only 0.36 seconds with Winnicki getting to the wall first at 25.45.
St. Pierre (1:14.44) held off Mariah Angove for the win in the 100 breaststroke, winning the race by 0.39 seconds and the Hodags' top 200 freestyle relay team of Genna Fugle, St. Pierre, Abi Winnicki and Malia Francis posted the fastest time in the conference this season in the 200 freestyle relay. Their time of 1:42.36 was good enough for a 1.8-second win over Lakeland's Brie Wescott, Naomi Hamerla, Angove and Ahlborn.
"The 200 free I thought the splits were pretty good too, and that was a great race in the 50 freestyle," Jenny Heck noted. "We were looking at some of our times, looking to improve on the leaderboard, and I think we did that."
Rhinelander swept the top two spots in four races on Thursday, including Abi Winnicki and Malia Francis' 1-2 in the 50 freestyle. Malia Francis (1:59:53) beat Maria Heck for the win in the 200 freestyle, Heck (5:48.2) and Kennedy went 1-2 in the 500. Rhinelander also swept the top two spots in the 400 free relay with the team of Kennedy, Makenna Winnicki, Abi Winnicki and Malia Francis (3:49.40), beating out Fugle, Abigale Johnson, Karis Francis and Heck.
Makenna Winnicki took both the 100 butterfly (1:02.64) and the 100 backstroke (1:03.36) for Rhinelander, Kennedy added a win in the 200 individual medley (2:24.30) while Abi Winnicki won the 100 freestyle (54.49).
The win moved Rhinelander to 3-0 in the GNC with Lakeland, Ladysmith co-op and Medford all at 2-1. Lakeland defeated Ladysmith 100-67 on Sept. 3 while Ladysmith was a 93-67 winner over Medford Sept. 10. The Hodags are back home this coming Thursday to take on Medford and then travel to Ladysmith the following Thursday.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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