November 30, 2022 at 11:38 a.m.
Winnicki named girls' swim MVP
Winnicki named girls' swim MVP
Winnicki had a swimmer of the year-worthy season for Rhinelander. She posted the fastest time in every individual event in the Great Northern Conference the year. She was a four-event winner at both the GNC and WIAA Division 2 sectional meets. She also broke Karen Burton's long-standing Heck Family Community Pool record in the 500-yard freestyle.
The MVP award was decided by the coaching staff.
"In any event she could beat anyone in the conference, and I think that's pretty impressive," Hodag coach Jenny Heck said. "She was kind of the rock on all our relays. In the GNC she was No. 1 in every event. She was just a complete standout. You don't get swimmers like that all the time that can do everything and not to mention just a nice girl and great leader."
Winnicki swam to four, fourth-place finishes at the WIAA D2 state meet last month in Waukesha. She broke her own school records in the 100- and 200-yard freestyle races at state and was also on fourth-place teams in the 200 and 400 freestyle relays.
"She swam really hard events. She was in the hardest and fastest events at state this year, so her times were more impressive than fourth place," Heck noted. "There was a lot of competition in those events this year, but she wanted the challenge and wanted to go for those times. I was glad that she did."
Sisters Gussie and Millie Gruett tied for and shared the team's Hodag Award, which was voted on by their peers. Heck described the award as going to someone who the team, "felt was uplifting as a teammate, was a good supporter, had a good attitude, was a lot of fun and was just overall positive."
Gussie Gruett, a senior and team captain, was second-team All-GNC in the 200 medley relay and also swam two events for the Hodags at sectionals.
"She did a great job being captain," Heck said. "She was super optimistic, super happy, fun, kind, kind-hearted. I think all of those things are so important in a leader and she was a perfect captain."
Millie Gruett, a freshman, was all-conference in two relays and was on Rhinelander's sectional-winning 200 medley and 400 freestyle relay teams, qualifying for the WIAA state meet.
"She's a freshman, never swam at the state meet before. It's a huge venue and she's just smiling and having fun the whole time," Heck said. "Every time I look up, she has a smile on her face and doesn't look nervous. She kept everybody happy and smiling. That's a great quality to have."
Heck said the team purposely went light on awards this year. All 15 swimmers in attendance at the banquet earned varsity letters either through achieving an automatic letter time, their performance at the GNC and sectional meets and/or being a senior who completed four years within the program.
"I didn't do a lot of awards this year because sometimes I feel like I should be giving everyone an award, because everyone really deserves things," Heck said. "I just really think it would have been very difficult to choose because you are all such and important part of the team. To single one person out or another was just difficult to do because you're all of huge value and importance to the team. I appreciate all of your dedication to swimming."
Heck took a moment to honor the collective accomplishments of this year's seniors - Genna Fugle, Gussie Gruett, Ella Cordy, Abigale Johnson and Phoebe Moran. They were part of a team that never lost a GNC dual meet, won four conference titles, four sectional titles and placed in the top five at the WIAA D2 state meet four consecutive years.
"That's pretty cool," Heck said. "Whether you participated in the sectional meet or not, in swimming you're part of the team and deserve the recognition as much as anyone. You should be proud of that. That doesn't happen in many sports."
Rhinelander placed fifth at this year's WIAA D2 state meet, finishing only 15 points behind runner-up Whitefish Bay.
"I would have to say that it was probably one of my favorite seasons coaching," Heck said. "It was just a great group of girls. There wasn't any kind of issues. We had been dealing with COVID the last couple of years, couldn't do a lot of things. I don't know if they were just really happy, but one of our goals was to have fun and swim fast. I think we accomplished that."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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