February 14, 2022 at 7:27 a.m.
Sectional sensations
Hodag swimmers win nine events, qualify 17 entries for state in sectional romp
Sectional sensations
The Hodag boys' program added another set of accolades to the growing list off accomplishments Saturday as it waltzed its way to its fourth straight WIAA Division 2 sectional championship in Menomonie.
Along the way Rhinelander won nine of the 11 events, earning automatic bids to this Friday's WIAA state meet with each of the victories. Eight more entries were among the 16 fastest statewide in their events, giving Rhinelander a whopping 17 state qualifiers out of its 21 entries on Saturday.
"Since I've been coaching, we haven't had this many kids come through to the state meet," said Jenny Heck, who has also skippered the RHS girls' swim team to four straight sectional crowns. "I think it's awesome. These guys should be really proud because they worked really hard three mornings and five afternoons a week. You just hope it pays off and it seemed to today.
"I'm super proud of all the guys. Collectively, it was a great effort. Some of the guys had one event, some guys had four, but whatever they had, they went after each and every one. I know they gave it their all."
Charlie Heck was the team's lone four-event sectional champion. He swept the sprint freestyle events and was on a pair of winning relays. In all, the Hodags had eight different swimmers who were part of a sectional championship in at least one event, and 10 of the 11 swimmers who competed on Saturday qualified in at least one event.
"It was awesome and especially with our goal, looking forward to state and how dominate we know we can be there," Charlie Heck said. "To have people swimming as fast as they are here, without even being fully tapered, it's really a great sign."
Heck captured the 50-yard freestyle (22.51 seconds) and the 100 (49.93) on Saturday and was the only swimmer to make it out of the Menomonie sectional in both events. He was also the anchor leg for the Hodags in both the 200 medley and 200 freestyle relays.
"I knew I just had to hold on. A lot of guys were dropping a lot of time and I knew if I just swam my race, I'd come out on top," he said.
Jack Antonuk, Daniel Gillingham and Samson Shinners joined Heck as four-event qualifiers for Rhinelander.
Gillingham won one of the closest races of the day, edging Antonuk and River Falls' Taylor Matter for the win in the 200 individual medley (2:02.48). All three held the lead at some point in the race, with Gillingham inching ahead of Antonuk over the closing 50-yard freestyle leg. The top three were separated by 0.51 seconds at the wall.
"It was really about strength and getting out fast in the beginning. It was a really fun race. I'm looking forward to state," Gillingham said.
Added Antonuk, who earned an at-large berth with his runner-up finish, "It was a close race off the bat because Daniel and (Matter) in the lane next to me came off really strong in the fly. In the backstroke we all kind of evened out and the breaststroke is really strong for all three of us. When it came down to that freestyle, Daniel really pushed himself and just got ahead of everyone else."
Antonuk came back later in the day to win the 100 breaststroke (1:01.71).
"It was just another race I had to do," Antonuk said of his breaststroke. "Coming into it, high expectations, goals I had set for myself. I did pretty well. I got my ticket to state and that's pretty much all that matters at the moment."
Shinners, a freshman, dueled Menomonie's Kevin Leach in both distance freestyle races. Shinners got the better of Leach in the 200 freestyle, dropping nearly three seconds from his seed time to finish with a 1:48.06 and win by nearly 1.6 seconds.
"I was really tired but I got ahead in the second 100, dropped some time and went some really fast times in my split. I was happy with that," Shinners said.
Leach turned the tables in the 500, dropping nearly nine seconds from his seed time to defend his sectional title in that event. Shinners dropped nearly three seconds (5:00.72) and earned an at-large bid with his runner-up finish.
"That 500 isn't always easy to swim in combination with two or three other events," coach Heck noted. "Those were a lot of yards that Samson had today and, all the way through to the 400 free relay, just really swam well."
Carter Gaber (55.86) led a 1-2 finish in the 100 backstroke with teammate Zacha King. They were the only two in the sectional to break a minute in the event and both qualified for state in the event.
"They both were strong, looked good, right where they need to be and, hopefully, have some more in them for next week," coach Heck said. "Smart races, swam them well and did what they needed to do."
The Hodags cruised to victory in all three relay races. Gaber, Antonuk, Gillingham and Heck swam to more than a five-second win in the 200 medley (1:39.27). Gillingham, Antonuk, Shinners and Heck won by 5.62 seconds in the 200 freestyle (1:30.55). Shinners, Brock Arrowood, King and Fugle made up the winning quartet in the 400 freestyle (3:26.27), taking the race by 9.20 seconds.
"We really set the tone right away with the medley and we made sure we didn't lose anything in any other events," Charlie Heck said. "Guys pulled through with the wins, even when they're tired."
Arrowood narrowly missed become Rhinelander's 10th entry to win a sectional title. Matter beat him to the wall by 0.14 seconds to win the 100 butterfly. Arrowood, Gillingham and Marcus O'Malley finished 2-3-4 for Rhinelander in the event. All three swam fast enough to make the top 16 and qualify for state.
Rhinelander also got three state qualifiers in the 200 IM with Antonuk, Gillingham and Dolan O'Malley (fifth, 2:11.10).
"If you can get even two, but if you can get three to advance in any event, that's just really spectacular, because we know how fast it is at the other sectionals," coach Heck said.
King also secured an at-large berth with a third-place swim in the 500.
Rhinelander placed in the top five with all 21 of its entries. Arrowood finished third in the 200, but missed the state cutline by 0.72 seconds. Gaber finished fourth in the 50, but missed the cut by just over a second in a fast event. Fugle was fifth in the 100 freestyle, roughly 1.6 seconds off the state cut. Shawn Denis was fifth in the 100 breaststroke, missing state by roughly four seconds.
Rhinelander scored 428 points on Saturday, beating runner-up River Falls by 110 1/2 points for the team title.
The next stop for Rhinelander is a trip to Waukesha for the WIAA Division 2 state meet on Friday. The Hodags' 17 entries at state are second most in D2, behind only Madison Edgewood (18). The Hodags finished ninth at state last year, but hope to be in contention for a top-three finish this year with a strong fleet of swimmers, who still may have more time to drop.
"Coach has been slowly decreasing our workload and it wasn't even completely down this week and we all performed fairly well," Antonuk said. "Next week, I think we're going to show everyone what we can do."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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