October 24, 2022 at 10:26 a.m.
Hodag swimmers cruise to another GNC title
Hodag swimmers cruise to another GNC title
The Hodags put the finishing touches on their fourth straight conference title Friday night, winning seven of 11 events and cruising to victory in the GNC meet in Tomahawk.
The victory continued Rhinelander's dominant run in the conference, where they have not been outscored in a meet since 2018. The team's fourth straight conference title matched Tomahawk's run from 2015-2018 for the most consecutive GNC girls' swim titles. The feat also matched the program's longest run of dominance. Rhinelander won four straight Wisconsin Valley Conference titles between 1992-95.
"It's really special. That doesn't happen a lot. The last time that happened was early '90s," said senior Genna Fugle. "They were the last going this long. I know, next year, the team's going to be even stronger, even better. Everyone's gone so much faster."
"Really a shoutout to our seniors, they're a big group of girls who stepped up, finished strong," Hodag coach Jenny Heck said. "They're a good group of friends but also just great teammates, great leaders and it's really fun to see those girls finish on a high with four conference titles."
Rhinelander's championship was a team effort. Seven different swimmers had a hand in at least one victory on the night. The Hodags garnered 17 top-three finishes on the night an 13 different Hodags earned all-conference honors. Rhinelander scored 394 points and beat runner-up Medford by 147 points.
"The best thing about high school swimming is when you can do it all together like this," Heck said. "To have everyone on the team participate and to win together, there's nothing better."
Junior Abi Winnicki was the only swimmer in the conference to win all four events that she entered, and she nearly took down a number of records in the process. She broke her own conference record in the 500-yard freestyle, winning the event in 5 minutes, 11.75 seconds. That was only a few tenths off her best time in the event and roughly a second and a half slower than Karen Burton Reeder's 1979 school record. Winnicki also went after Malia Francis' conference and school record in the 50 freestyle, coming up 0.12 seconds short with a winning time of 24.45.
Winnicki was also on Rhinelander's winning 200 medley (1:55.25) and 400 freestyle (3:53.88) relay teams.
"She had great, personal-best times and just times overall," Heck said, noting that Winnicki nearly accomplished two records without entering a time-dropping taper in her training. "You can't sacrifice end of year for tonight. She had to keep up the training."
Fugle and Younker were both GNC champions in three events and placed in the top two in four events. Younker (56.69) edged Fugle in a 1-2 finish in the 100 freestyle. Fugle took the 200 freestyle (2:05.69) and both were on the 200 freestyle relay. Younker was also part of the winning 200 medley relay while Fugle was on the 400 freestyle relay.
"The 200 was kind of a new event for me this year and I got a best time by at least half of second," Fugle said. "That was something I was really stressed about, but I tried not to fixate on that too much, and I think it helped. Jenny really calmed my fears, made me feel a lot better about that race."
Lily Thorsen and Camilla Gruett joined Winnicki and Younker on the winning 200 medley relay; Younker, Fugle, Thorsen and Emma Houg took the 200 freestyle relay; Winnicki, Fugle, Houg and senior Abigale Johnson were the finning foursome in the 400 freestyle relay.
Thorsen was the runner-up in both the 100 butterfly and the 100 breaststroke while Younker took second in the 200 individual medley. Sam Sundby added a third-place swim in the breaststroke while Abbie Ames swam to a third-place finish in the 200.
Rhinelander added a runner-up finish with its second entry in the 200 medley relay of Margaret Lambert, Sundby, Camilla Gruett and Gussie Gruett. Lambert, Ames, Eva Heck, Camilla Gruett swam to a third-place finish as Rhinelander's B entry in the 400 free relay.
"These girls, they deserve it. They've been working really hard so to get on one of those all-conference relays is awesome," coach Heck said. "We look at those times and those splits, even though that doesn't officially count, it's awesome to be able to get their splits and see what they can do."
Tomahawk's Paige Dekiep (100 butterfly, 100 backstroke) and Lakeland's Olivia Mickle (200 IM, 100 breaststroke) each won two individual events. Rhinelander did not see a lot of time drops from its top swimmers on Friday, with the team's focus on the WIAA sectional and state meets coming up next month.
"They just have to swim their race," Heck said. "It's not everyone's final meet. It's kind of weird because you never know where everyone falls in place, who's rested and who's not, so swim what you can do and don't worry about anyone else."
Fugle and the rest of the Hodag senior class can already call itself four-time conference champs. They can add four-time sectional champions to the list if they can win Nov. 5 in Merrill.
"I'm pretty confident in my teammates' times. Everyone's so fast. Even though we did lose a bunch of good people last year, this year, we've still got it," Fugle said. "It's a really special team to be on. I know people say that a lot, but it really is really special. We all work really, really hard. It's really like a family now."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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