September 28, 2020 at 8:26 a.m.
Hodag swimmers set pool record in 200 free relay, beat Medford 128-42
Hodag swimmers set pool record in 200 free relay, beat Medford 128-42
Medford was the latest team to be left in the Hodags' wake. Rhinelander remained perfect in races against GNC competition, and set a new Heck Family Community Pool record in the 200-yard freestyle relay to boot Thursday night, as they defeated the Raiders 128-42 to move to 4-0 in conference play.
"That was a fun night, lot of fast swimming," Rhinelander coach Jenny Heck said. "The girls are really excited to be at home and the energy here just makes them go out and go after it right away. I think, right from the start, we were strong and fast all the way through."
Senior Makenna Winnicki, junior Malia Francis and freshman Abi Winnicki all won four events on the night and formed three legs of the record-breaking 200 freestyle relay along with junior Noelle St. Pierre. Francis and Abi Winnicki posted matching 24.98-second splits over the final two legs of the race as the group finished in 1 minute, 42.68 seconds, eclipsing the pool record set by the Hodags back in 1993.
"Of course, to get a pool record is really what we were going after," coach Heck said. "I was really happy, just barely, but a record's a record and I'm proud of those girls. It's nice to update that and get these girls that are working so hard and training hard, to get their names on the board."
Medford, which came into the night 2-1 in the GNC, was no match for the Hodags. Rhinelander swept the top three spots twice and went 1-2 in seven of the 11 events.
Makenna Winnicki posted wins individually in the 200 individual medley (2:24.69) and the 100 butterfly (1:03.77), Malia Francis took the 200 freestyle (2:20.75) and the 100 breaststroke (1:12.36) while Abi Winnicki swept the sprint freestyle races, winning the 50 (25.28) and the 100 (54.71).
Kennedy added a win in the 100 backstroke (1:03.36) while Maria Heck took the 500 freestyle (5:53.61).
Kennedy, St. Pierre, freshman Karis Francis and Winnicki started the night with a win in the 200 medley relay (1:58.11) while Abi Winnicki, Kennedy, St. Pierre and Malia Francis made up the winning quartet in the 400 freestyle relay. Their time of 3:49.71 in the event was roughly three seconds off pool record-pace.
"Our 400 free relay, I think that's going to be our next goal," Jenny Heck noted. "The girls have it, we just have to be ready and be able to swim four fast races. That's not always easy to do, but they have to dig deep and be able to get those fast splits to be able to get a pool record in that."
The Hodags swept the top three spots in the 200 freestyle with Malia Francis, St. Pierre and Genna Fugle. Abi Winnicki, Fugle and Sierra Woodford went 1-2-3 for the Hodags in the 100 freestyle.
Maria Heck added a runner-up finish for Rhinelander in the 200 IM, Kennedy was second in the 50 freestyle, Karis Francis took second in the 100 freestyle, Sam Sundby was second in the 100 breaststroke and Rhinelander's B entry in the 200 freestyle relay of Fugle, Karis Francis, Woodford and Maria Heck also finished second. In a number of those races, Rhinelander's second finisher beat out Medford's first finisher by only fractions of a second.
"I was pleased with those close races that we won," coach Heck said. "I was really pleased with Maria's 200 IM. That was five seconds faster than she went last year in her best 200 IM time. She hasn't swam that in a while. I was really impressed with the way she went after it."
Though the Hodags have two home meets remaining, they took an opportunity on Thursday to honor the three seniors on the squad - Kennedy, Makenna Winnicki and Julia Burke.
"It was great to celebrate the seniors and I thought the seniors all did a great job," coach Heck noted. "We tried to let them do some of their events on senior night and we were able to do a little bit of that and have fun with it too. I think they did that."
At 4-0, Rhinelander remains one dual ahead in the GNC standings over Lakeland and Ladysmith/Bruce/Flambeau. The Hodags already have a victory over Lakeland and will swim at Ladysmith this coming Thursday.
"Ladysmith, they have some fast girls on the leaderboard, too," coach Heck said. "They're going to give us some good races and they'll be ready to go after us. They know we have some fast sprinters as well. We look forward to it. We're just looking forward to swimming each week. We want to keep going, keep getting faster, keep proving that we're versatile and we can take anyone on."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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