Hodags sweep top three spots at Colby Pentathlon

The Rhinelander High School girls’ swim team has become accustomed to setting records and dominating the Colby/Abbotsford Pentathlon over the last 10 years. Last Wednesday’s edition was no exception. 

The Hodags swept the top three spots, had six swimmers in the top 10 overall and won the six-team meet in a landslide. Rhinelander finished the day with 546 points —more than double the rest of the field combined. Rice Lake was the runner-up with 73 points.

Abi Winnicki, Karis Francis and Celia Francis finished 1-2-3 overall in the meet in which each athlete swam a 50-yard race in each of the four core strokes, plus a 100-yard individual medley. The cumulative time of the five events is used to determine final individual results. 

“We pretty much dominated the meet, which was amazing to see,” Hodag coach Jenny Heck said. “Every last heat was full of Hodag swimmers from freshman all the way to the seniors. I think all the girls are really proud of themselves. It’s a good way to kind of measure where you are (compared to) a year ago and the gains that they’ve made.” 

Winnicki and the Francis sisters all left the event with new records to their name. Winnicki won four of the five events, setting the senior class record in the 50 freestyle in the process (24.97) as took the overall pentathlon with a cumulative time of 2 minutes, 50.87 seconds. That was less than a second off the overall meet record set two years ago by Rhinelander’s Malia Francis. 

“That was her goal was to get that 50 free record,” Heck said of a mark that was previously held by Tomahawk’s Kylee Theiler. “She wanted to be under that 25 mark and I was happy she was able to accomplish that. When kids who are that fast can continue getting faster, it is really promising. Every tenth you can take off when you’re as fast as some of these girls, is a lot.”

Karis Francis broke both the senior class and overall meet record in the 50 breaststroke (30.79) that were set by her oldest sister, Kiah. Karis Francis was second in the butterfly, freestyle and IM on Wednesday, and third in the backstroke as she finished less than two seconds behind Winnicki overall (2:50.87).

“I think she had her eye on that and, hey, records are made to be broken,” coach Heck said. “That’s always fun to go after a sibling’s record, too. I think we was proud of herself and had a great race.” 

Meanwhile, Celia Francis set freshman class records in three events — the 50 backstroke (28.52), 50 breaststroke (32.85) and the 100 IM (1:03.54) — and became the first freshman to crack the 3-minute mark overall (2:59.38).

“She got her name on the board and had some fast races. She’s young, swim-experienced and enjoys competing,” coach Heck said. “They’re pretty fast records, so any time we can get a record now, we’re really happy about that.”

The Hodags had plenty of success beyond those three. Lily Thorsen was the fastest junior (3:03.19) and placed fifth overall. Vivian Lamers was second among freshmen and sixth overall (3:03.94). Junior Ellyse Younker was eighth overall (3:07.41) and sophomore Millie Gruett was 10th (3:10.60).

The Hodags also claimed spots 11-14 with Emma Houg (3:13.64), Ella Heck (3:14.88), Kiley Pooch (3:15.37) and June Chiamulera (3:17.20).

Rhinelander swept the top five spots in the butterfly with Winnicki (26.63), Karis Francis, Younker, Thorsen and Lamers. Winnicki, Karis Francis and Celia Francis went 1-2-3 in the backstroke, with Lamers taking fifth. Karis Francis and Winnicki were 1-2 in the breaststroke with Thorsen fourth and Celia Francis fifth. Winnicki and Karis Francis took first and second in the freestyle with Lamers fifth. The Hodags captured five of the top six spots in the IM with Winnicki, Karis Francis and Celia Francis again finishing 1-2-3 followed by Thorsen in fifth and Lamers in sixth. 

“They really did well,” coach Heck said. “Even comparing their cumulative times from last year, it was really promising to see the improvement their making in their strokes and different areas.”

It was all done in less than ideal conditions as oppressive heat baked central Wisconsin in heat indices in excess of 100 degrees Wednesday. Though the Colby High School pool was somewhat cooler, coach Heck said the heat from outside was still noticeable.

“They did a nice job trying to keep it cool. They had additional fans and things in there, but the kids knew (it would be hot),” she said. “We’ve been hydrating for two days now knowing this was going to be a hot day. Conditions are not all perfect. You’ve got to play and perform whether the conditions are great or not ideal. I think it was a good lesson in that.”

Colby/Abbotsford finished third in the event and had only one swimmer, Madisyn Schraufnagel (seventh, 3:07.56) inside the top 10 overall. Ladysmith, the third GNC school in the field, finished sixth. Their fastest swimmer was junior Hannah Minton in 21st overall (3:25.24).

Rhinelander travels to Ladysmith this coming Thursday to open up conference dual meet play against the Tridents. 

“At least we have some times to go from now and that’s really nice,” coach Heck said. “But these are all different events than the dual meet format. It’s a great starting point but we’ll see more when we start our dual season.” 

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at jeremy@

rivernewsonline.com.