August 23, 2021 at 8:20 a.m.
Fun in the sun: Hodag swimmers open as Merrill Relay champs
Fun in the sun: Hodag swimmers open as Merrill Relay champs
The Hodags won four events, and placed second in two others, as they edged Stevens Point by two points for the championship in the Fun in the Sun Outdoor Relays hosted by Merrill High School at the Bierman Aquatic Center.
Returning state champs Malia Francis and Abi Winnicki were on all four of Rhinelander's winning relays. Trailing SPASH by four points going into the last race, Francis and Winnicki teamed with Genna Fugle and freshman Ellyse Younker to post a winning time of 3 minutes, 47.58 seconds in the 400-yard freestyle relay, 3.90 seconds ahead of SPASH. That six-point swing was enough for the Hodags to edge the Division 1 Panthers and come out on top of the 11-team invite.
"I'm just really proud of everybody. It was a little bit a surprise to beat SPASH, but there was a lot of great swimmers here," Hodag assistant coach Marna Winnicki said. "There was great competition and happy with the outcome."
Winnicki served as acting head coach on Thursday as Jenny Heck was away due to a family commitment.
Rhinelander ran its winning streak to 12 meets, following an undefeated romp all the way to the D2 state title last year. Overall, the Hodags have won 23 of their last 26 competitions, dating back to the start of the 2019 season.
Ironically, coach Winnicki said the meet victory was not necessarily Rhinelander's objective on Thursday. Rather it was a chance to get some baseline times on swimmers at the start of the season.
"We put kids in kids we wanted to see them in, things they didn't get to swim last year, not having as many meets," she said. "We got to see a lot of things that we normally don't get to see, and they got to see where they're at, where they're starting versus where they finished last year and where they want to be at the end of this year."
Early indications are that Rhinelander's returning state qualifiers are on form. All five swimmers returning who competed in Waukesha last November had a hand in at least one victory on Thursday.
Malia Francis and Abi Winnicki were both part of the Hodags' wins in the 500 crescendo freestyle relay (4:47.39), the 200 butterfly relay (1:49.33), the 200 backstroke relay (1:57.79) and the 400 freestyle relay.
Sophomore Karis Francis was part of the relay wins in the 500 freestyle and the 200 butterfly, Noelle St. Pierre was on the 500 freestyle relay and Fugle was on the 400 freestyle relay.
"Most of those girls, and most of our team, has been swimming the entire summer," Marna Winnicki said. "I know some of them take off during the school year to do other sports, but a lot of those girls that were on the state team last year swim all year round."
Younker appeared to fit right in with some of the team's top swimmers as she scored two wins in her high school debut. She was part of the win in the 200 butterfly and 400 freestyle relays. She was also part of a fourth-place finish for the team in the 200 breaststroke relay.
"Freshman Ellyse Younker stepped up," coach Winnicki said. "She did a really great job. She had a bunch of events at the end of the meet, so for her to still be able to go under a minute on that last relay was pretty awesome."
Senior Sierra Woodford and sophomore Margaret Lambert teamed with Abi Winnicki and Malia Francis to win the 200 backstroke relay. The Hodags won the fast heat of the 200 freestyle relay with Augusta Gruett, Woodford, Fugle and St. Pierre (1:47.18), but were edged out for the overall win in the event by D.C. Everest, which went 0.12 seconds faster in an earlier heat.
Woodford, Sam Sundby, Karis Francis and St. Pierre were the runners-up in the 200 medley relay. Sundby, Younker, Karis Francis and St. Pierre finished fourth in the 200 breaststroke relay (2:18.49).
Thursday's meet featured a mix of teams Rhinelander will see later in the season. The Hodags were the best of four Great Northern Conference teams in the field. Lakeland was sixth, the Ladysmith co-op was eighth and Tomahawk finished 11th.
Rhinelander also placed ahead of Rice Lake (third) and Merrill (fourth), who will likely be strong rivals come WIAA sectionals in early November.
Rhinelander travels to Colby on Wednesday for a nine-team pentathlon meet before opening the conference slate Sept. 2 at home against Tomahawk.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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