October 20, 2021 at 10:41 a.m.
Hodag swimmers seek to claim third straight GNC crown tonight at home
Hodag swimmers seek to claim third straight GNC crown tonight at home
The Hodags are the overwhelming favorites to clinch a third straight Great Northern Conference championship tonight when the conference meet takes place. Furthermore, the Hodags have the opportunity to secure that title at home in the Heck Family Community Pool.
"It's great to be at our pool," coach Jenny Heck said. "I'm so excited. I told the girls tonight, it's so fun to swim a championship in your home pool. This only happens, you go through the cycle, every eight years ... so let's make it a good one."
The Hodags are 7-0 in conference play, which means a runner-up finish or better tonight will ensure Rhinelander of another conference championship. Winning the meet outright guarantees the Hodags the title all to themselves.
The biggest asset in Rhinelander's corner entering tonight is depth. The Hodags dominate the conference honor roll, which compiles the fastest times from the season during GNC dual meets. Rhinelander has the fastest time in the conference in all 11 events and holds at least the top two times in seven of the eight individual events. That includes the top five times on the season in the 200-yard individual medley and top four times in the 100 breaststroke.
All of that depth affords Rhinelander plenty of flexibility tonight as it puts together its lineup.
"We have great depth so we have the ability to choose kind of what they would like to go after and what we think would be a great opportunity to swim their last meet at our home pool," coach Heck said.
For some of Rhinelander's top swimmers, that might mean another crack at the RHS record board. Malia Francis narrowly missed chances at the 50 and 100 freestyle records in the Hodags' last home meet Oct. 12 against Mosinee.
The team will also be going after more conference records. Rhinelander set six records last October during the GNC meet, which was conducted virtually among four separate end-of-season duals due to COVID-19 limitations. Over the last two years Rhinelander has taken down eight conference records.
"Those numbers are always on our minds. This is the last chance to get it. I hope that we can change some of those records after this meet," coach Heck said. "We talked to the kids and we asked them what they want to go after. We have the ability to do that because we have such great depth and we're such a strong team. We don't have to figure out every little point. We figure we can do well and have some choice with it."
One factor that may work against the Hodags - and the rest of the GNC for that matter - when it comes to fast perfomances tonight is the timing of the meet. The conference meet takes place one week earlier than usual, meaning that fewer of the top athletes will have begun to taper ahead of sectionals Nov. 6 and the state meet Nov. 12.
Heck said it will be a mixed bag for her team with some girls competing for the last time, some trying to earn a spot on the sectional team and some pushing straight through in their training, with larger goals in mind in a few weeks' time.
"For us, we know what our end goals are for each of these girls, so we step back and say, 'How do well help these girls achieve these goals at the right time?'" Heck said. "I think we'll have a good handle on where everyone's at. It is a little tricky, but you have to think we still have a month of season left.
"The one thing we have in common is that we're all going for fast times and best seasonal times on Friday, wherever we are in the season."
The Hodags have seven different swimmers on the conference honor roll in the eight individual events, led by senior Malia Francis. She holds the conference's top time in every event except the 100 breaststroke - the only event she did not swim during the conference duals. Karis Francis, Malia's younger sister, holds the top time in that event. Abi Winnicki holds the second-best time in the conference in seven different events while Noelle St. Pierre, Ellyse Younker, Maria Heck and Sam Sundby's names also appear on the honor roll.
Medford (6-1) is second in the conference standings with 12 points. Followed by Ladysmith (5-2, 10 points), Lakeland (4-3, 8), Antigo (3-4, 6), Tomahawk (2-5, 4), Mosinee (1-6, 2) and Colby/Abbotsford (0-7, 0).
Should Rhinelander win tonight, it would mark the 11th conference title in program history.
"It would just be fantastic," Jenny Heck said. "The depth that we have with this team is so great and these girls have been swimming for so long. Our club program has been such a great asset. We see a lot of these kids come through, and these kids have put a lot into it for many years. We're just finally seeing that in the conference wins. It didn't happen over night. These girls have been working hard for the last 10 years. A conference title is icing on the cake."
The conference meet gets underway at 5 p.m. at the Heck Family Community Pool.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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