March 24, 2022 at 7:43 a.m.
Team review: RHS boys' swimming
Rhinelander back on the map as legitimate state swimming contender
Team review: RHS boys' swimming
The Hodags busted that narrative in a big way this year.
Rhinelander parlayed a meet-high 17 entries into a third-place team finish at the WIAA D2 championships in Waukesha last month, capping what was yet another banner year for the Hodag swimmers.
Rhinelander won its fourth straight Great Northern Conference championship in record-breaking fashion this winter and then cruised to its fourth straight sectional crown. By taking third at state, the team matched its 2019 performance as its best since a string of four straight runner-up finishes back in the 1960s.
It was a far cry from 2020 and 2021 when the Hodags won sectionals, but managed finishes of only 14th and ninth at state.
This year, featuring a state team that was chock full of underclassmen, the Hodags not only ended this season with a bang but set the stage for perhaps even bigger and better things in 2022-23.
"Collectively, these are just a bunch of hard-working people from northern Wisconsin that no one really expects much from and we seem to prove, time and time again, that it wasn't just a fluke for us to be here," coach Jenny Heck said following last month's state meet. "We belong here and we've got a lot of swimming talent in Rhinelander."
Here are five storylines from the recently completed season.
Conference domination
It was the perfect storm for the Hodags this year as they blitzed their way to another GNC crown.
Rhinelander's roster was fortified by a strong freshman class while many other schools in the conference struggled with low numbers.
The end result was utter domination.
The Hodags went 8-0 in conference duals, winning 86 out of a possible 88 races in dual meet action. From there, Rhinelander won every event at the GNC meet as it romped to the title.
The team scored a meet-record 497 points and scored top-three finishes with 28 of their 32 entries.
"It really can't get much better than that," coach Heck said. "The boys exceeded my expectations as far as how they would swim."
Junior Jack Antonuk broke the conference record in the 100-yard breaststroke as he earned GNC swimmer of the year honors. Antonuk, Charlie Heck and Samson Shinners were all four-event winners in the meet while Brock Arrowood took the 100 butterfly and Carter Gaber won the 100 backstroke.
Pushing each other
With the exception of the 100 breaststroke, Rhinelander had at least the top three times in the conference in every event during the dual meet season. That includes all three relay events. At the conference meet, the Hodags swept the top three spots in both the 200 medley and 400 freestyle relays.
That underscored how deep and dominant the Hodags were within the GNC. That also illustrated Rhinelander's mindset this season in conference competition where, in most instances, the team's toughest competition came from within its own ranks.
The Hodag coaching staff used that to its advantage, often setting its lineup to engender competition between its own athletes.
"I thought it was important that these kids weren't swimming eight meets just to win them, but to race and get better," coach Heck said during the team's banquet. "We used it as a training opportunity and we just asked a lot out of them.
"It was motivating for the kids and fun. It made the meets that weren't full of competition a lot more fun."
Non-conference competition
Rhinelander also pushed itself outside of the GNC as it nearly finished with back-to-back perfect regular seasons.
The Hodags won the Wisconsin Rapids Invite, the Appleton North Invite and the Hodag Relays. Rhinelander's only runner-up finish of the season was to Division 1 Bay Port at the Ashwaubenon Invite in early January.
"Those are a lot of fun to do together and just a fun opportunity to swim with people outside of our conference, which is very important," coach Heck said. "As we get down to state, we need to get that other competition. We look like we're amazing up here, but you go down south and there's a lot of fast swimmers. It's great to have the competition throughout the season with the invitationals."
Postseason push
A fourth straight sectional title proved to be another formality for the Hodags, which breezed past a number of Big Rivers Conference schools to win the title 110 1/2 points over runner-up River Falls.
All 21 of Rhinelander's entries for the meet placed in the top five of their events with 17 earning state meet bids. In addition to winning all three relays, Rhinelander got individual sectional titles from Charlie Heck (50 freestyle, 100 freestyle), Samson Shinners (200 freestyle), Daniel Gillingham (200 IM), Gaber (100 backstroke) and Antonuk (100 breaststroke).
Unlike previous seasons, when the Hodags felt they needed to be fully rested as sectionals in order to drop enough time to simply qualify for state, Rhinelander held some in reserve this year in an effort to fully peak at state. The move paid off beautifully as the Hodags ended with six podium finishes at state and third place in the team standings.
"A third place is so great to me, it feels like a win just because we did it with everybody," coach Heck said. "It took every person, every point and we had so many people qualify. To have a swimmer or two in every event was just amazing. It shows a total group effort. It's not just one kid, two kids. It's a whole team of really fast, hard-working guys."
The Hodags scored 21 points more than projected at state, highlighted by a runner-up swim in the 200 freestyle relay with Gillingham, Antonuk, Shinners and Charlie Heck. Antonuk took fourth and broke a school record in the 100 breaststroke. The Hodags were also fourth with their 200 medley relay team of Gaber, Antonuk, Gillingham and Charlie Heck. Gillingham was sixth in both the 200 IM and the 100 butterfly while Gaber finished sixth in the 100 backstroke.
What's next
Rhinelander bids farewell to two seniors - Ashton Cole and Jacob Schoppe - who can say they were a part of the Hodag swim program during one of its most successful four-year runs.
During Cole and Schoppe's careers, Rhinelander was a perfect 39-0 in dual meets and won six regular season invitationals to go along with four GNC and four sectional titles.
"These two are great. I just had so much fun with them," coach Heck noted. "These guys have never lost a conference championship or sectional championship. That's amazing. Not many people can say that."
The good news for Rhinelander - and scary news for everyone else - is that all 10 of Rhinelander's state qualifiers are slated to return. Half of them -Antonuk, Gaber, Gillingham, Charlie Heck and Marcus O'Malley - will be seniors. They'll be joined by five underclassmen - Arrowood, Shinners, Mathias Fugle, Dolan O'Malley and Zacha King - who will come back another year stronger.
"This team is going to be really strong next year," Gillingham said following the state meet. "We're going to have guys working offseason really hard. We're really going to push this next season, it's going to be great."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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