January 27, 2021 at 1:30 p.m.
Hodag swimmers to gun for sectional three-peat at home
Hodag swimmers to gun for sectional three-peat at home
The Hodags will host a seven-team Division 2 sectional at the Heck Family Community Pool. Rhinelander will be looking to win its third consecutive team sectional title and send as many entries as possible to next Friday night's state competition in Waukesha.
Much like what occurred during the girls' swim season, sectionals are smaller due to COVID-19 concerns and Rhinelander was tabbed to host a sectional meet that usually takes place in Stevens Point and Wisconsin Rapids.
"There's nowhere we'd rather swim," Hodag coach Jenny Heck said. "These guys are confident here. They love the pool. They love going after records and I think they're going to just enjoy that as much, if not more, than any other part of the day.
"I think it's a great advantage. You're so used to the walls. You know what everything looks like. You're familiar with the blocks. It's that familiarity. You're just confident."
Based on the psych sheets for each of the WIAA Division 2 sectionals, released Tuesday afternoon, Rhinelander is projected to have a big day tomorrow. According to information compiled by the River News, Hodags are favored to win the team title by 83 points over Menomonie, based on the fastest times of the season for each of the sectional entrants.
The sectional champion and the next 12 fastest times among the seven Division 2 sectional and subsectional meets taking place across the state on Saturday will qualify for the state meet. According to the psych sheets, the Hodags are currently projected to qualify in 10 of the 11 events.
"Just from a quick look, everything is kind of what we expected," Heck said, after reviewing the seed times from the other sectional sites.
"It gives us a chance to look at the first step to look and see what we need to do to accomplish a couple of our goals - which are to win the meet and to advance as many swimmers on to state (as possible)," coach Heck added. "Everyone's going to be dropping time. Everyone's going to have the same goals to be rested and ready to swim fast. If you don't swim fast, you're finished after Saturday. We know that we can't just maintain. We need to be better."
Rhinelander will enter Saturday as the top seed in the sectional in both the 200-yard medley and 200 freestyle relays. The Hodags will also be favored to win the individual sectional titles with sophomores Daniel Gillingham and Jack Antonuk in the 200 freestyle and 200 individual medley, respectively.
Rhinelander's seeded second in the sectional and sixth in the state in the 400 freestyle relay. Other Hodag entries seeded in the top 16 of the state include Joseph Heck in both the 50 (ninth) and 100 freestyle (10th), Gillingham in the 100 butterfly (ninth), Antonuk in the breaststroke (seventh) and Carter Gaber in the backstroke (14th). Charlie Heck sits just outside the cutline in the 50 freestyle (18th) and Gavin Ostermann is just over a second off the 16th seed in the butterfly.
"We have chances for wins in a few of our events," coach Heck said. "That's what we're going to go for first, because that makes it the easiest (to qualify for state) and, if you can't get the win, go for a fast time."
Training has tapered off this week as Rhinelander, coming off its third straight Great Northern Conference title. Coach Heck said the trick will be backing off on the training enough for the team to swim fast on Saturday, while still having a little left in the tank for the state meet the following week.
"You've got to get there, but you've also got to perform the following week," she said. "I think we're in really good position to do so. I think we've learned a lot."
Saturday's meet will begin at 1 p.m. Spectators will not be allowed to attend, due to COVID-19 restrictions, but the meet will be live-streamed via the Rhinelander High School activities webpage.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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