December 2, 2021 at 7:42 a.m.
Hodag swimmers roll over Lakeland 131-28 in GNC opener
Hodag swimmers roll over Lakeland 131-28 in GNC opener
Rhinelander won 10 of 11 events and rolled past an undermanned Lakeland squad 131-28 in Minocqua.
With a number of teams in the GNC struggling to put together a full lineup, and given the number of state-caliber swimmers the Hodags have on their roster, lopsided dual meets scores figure to be the rule this season for Rhinelander. The Hodags went 1-2 in all 10 events it won Tuesday and swept the top three places in four events.
"There was just a lot of racing opportunity with each other and I think that's going to happen for most of dual meets," coach Jenny Heck said of the team's intra-squad battles. "I had a talk with the guys. They love to race because they do it in practice all the time. They love the challenge, so we'll keep doing that in some of these dual meets. If they don't have guys from the other team to race, they can always race the clock and they can always race each other."
The Hodags spread the wealth around. Of the 13 swimmers Rhinelander had suited on Tuesday, 10 of them had a hand in at least one victory. Jack Antonuk, Daniel Gillingham, Zacha King and Samson Shinners were all three-event winners on the evening.
King won the 200-yard individual medley (2 minutes, 22.58 seconds) and the 500 freestyle for Rhinelander while Shinners, a freshman, captured the 50 freestyle (24.35) and the 100 backstroke (1:03.39). Antonuk won the 200 freestyle (2:01.17), Gillingham took the 100 butterfly (57.84) and Charlie Heck won the 100 freestyle (52.79).
The Hodags finished 1-2 in all three relay races. The quartet of Carter Gaber, Antonuk, Gillingham and Jacob Schoppe (1:48.40) beat King, Shinners, Brock Arrowood and Charlie Heck by just over two seconds for the win in the 200 medley relay. Antonuk, Dolan O'Malley, Mathias Fugle and Marcus O'Malley (1:40.99) took the 200 freestyle over Arrowood, Schoppe, Ashton Cole and Charlie Heck. Gillingham, Shinners, King and Charlie Heck (3:40.10) made up the winning foursome in the 400 freestyle relay, ahead of Cole, Dolan O'Malley, Lundt and Gaber.
"I was pleased with the splits. The shorter events were better than the longer events, but that's expected," coach Heck said. "I think it gets the freshman group a little more comfortable with how high school meets are run. The other guys just had a lot of fun together and enjoyed racing and getting some times set for the GNC."
Shinners, Gaber and Cole swept the top three spots in the 50 freestyle. Gillingham, Antonuk and Schoppe went 1-2-3 in the 100 butterfly. King, Eli Lundt and Cole swept the 500 and Shinners, Antonuk and Lundt scored maximum points for the team in the backstroke.
Rhinelander also was poised to have a sweep in the 200 IM, where Arrowood finished second to King. However, a clerical error in the official scoring put Dolan O'Malley as a non-scoring exhibition swimmer in the event. O'Malley's time of 2:21.99 would have been fast enough to win the event.
Gillingham added a runner-up finish for Rhinelander in the 200, Fugle was second in the 100 and Schoppe finished second in the 100 breaststroke, where Lakeland's Troy Rice beat him by 0.25 seconds for the Thunderbirds' lone win of the night.
Lakeland, with a new coaching staff and none of its state qualifying athletes from last year's roster returning, had only six swimmers on deck Tuesday. Fewer heats caused the meet to go by at a torrid pace.
"Overall, it was just a really fast meet," Jenny Heck said. "They started early. They finished early. They just got out of the medley relay and were already stepping them up on the blocks for the 200 free. We told them it was going to be a fast-run meet. They have to look at it almost like a training experience where they get used to having to swim four fast events. The challenge was to swim just as hard that fourth event as they were the first."
Rhinelander held its first home meet of the season last night against Tomahawk, which concluded after deadline for today's edition. The Hodags are back in the water Saturday in an invite at Wisconsin Rapids.
Given the lack of depth within the GNC this season, coach Heck said invites like Saturday's will be key to help the Hodags prepare for the type of competition they will see in the postseason.
"I think those opportunities will help us. We need to be swimming against other people, so we're really looking forward to those and will make that some of our focus of the season," she said.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
WEATHER SPONSORED BY
E-Editions
Latest News
E-Editions
Events
August
To Submit an Event Sign in first
Today's Events
No calendar events have been scheduled for today.
Comments:
You must login to comment.