February 1, 2023 at 1:42 p.m.
Hodag swimmers claim final double dual of GNC season
Hodag swimmers claim final double dual of GNC season
The Hodags cruised Monday night, winning 10 of 11 events overall as they swam past Lakeland 121-15 and Tomahawk 117-31 in a GNC double dual in Minocqua.
Though the double duals do not count toward the conference standings, Rhinelander and Lakeland used the event to make up their head-to-head matchup that was snowed out Nov. 29. With the win, Rhinelander finished 5-0 in conference duals and moved two points head of Tomahawk (4-1) entering tonight's conference championship meet.
Though the final margins of victory were wide, coach Jenny Heck said the Hodags had to grind to get through their third meet in five days, which lasted a little more than an hour with all three teams sporting less than full lineups.
"Everyone was kind of feeling different ways depending on what they swam - some of them feeling a little better than others at this meet," she said. "We had to swim hard for an hour, four events fast. They were winded and gassed. That's part of where we're at in our training. I wasn't going to skip our weights this morning because we've got to keep on track. They weren't feeling the best but they got the job done and, sometimes, that what you have to do."
Despite that, all 10 Hodag swimmers played a role in at least one victory. Rhinelander swept the top two spots in nine events - including the top three in the 200-yard freestyle and the 50 freestyle.
Sophomore Shawn Denis captured victory in all four of his events. He won the 200 freestyle (2 minutes, 6.06 seconds), the 100 freestyle (53.82) and was on the winning 200 medley and 200 freestyle relays.
Carter Gaber also captured a pair of individual wins, taking the 50 (23.01) and the 500 freestyle (5:39.49). Jack Antonuk claimed the 200 individual medley (2:15.97), Zacha King won the 100 butterfly (58.77) and Daniel Gillingham won the 100 backstroke (59.87).
Dolan O'Malley, Denis, Antonuk and Gaber opened the night by winning the 200 medley relay (1:46.85) by 1.32 seconds over teammates King, Mathias Fugle, Gillingham and Eli Lundt. Marcus O'Malley, Charlie Heck, Denis and Lundt made up the winning quartet in the 200 freestyle relay (1:38.60). King, Fugle, Dolan O'Malley and Gillingham won the 400 freestyle relay (3:32.71).
For the most part, coach Heck said she let her swimmers choose their events in the final regular-season meet of the season.
"For some of them it was events that might have been the last of their career, or the year, or the wanted to get a lettering time," she said. "They did the races they had personal goals for. We're also trying to find who's in the best spots for our relay positions now for conference and sectionals coming up."
The Hodags had a few close intra-squad battles on the night. Gaber edged Gillingham by 0.03 seconds in the 50, with Fugle only 0.42 seconds back in third. Antonuk clipped Charlie Heck by 0.32 seconds in the IM, while King edged Antonuk by 0.18 seconds in the butterfly.
Denis led a 1-2-3 sweep in the 200 with both Dolan O'Malley and King less than four seconds behind.
The Hodags also got runner-up finishes from Marcus O'Malley in the 100 freestyle, Fugle in the backstroke and the 400 freestyle relay team of Gaber, Antonuk, Marcus O'Malley and Heck.
Tomahawk's Zach Hanse was the only swimmer not from Rhinelander to find the winner's circle. He won the 100 breaststroke (1:06.34), beating Heck by 4.3 seconds.
Hanse is the only outlier on a GNC honor roll that otherwise sees the Hodags hold the top five fastest times in every individual event. Hanse has the second-best time in the breaststroke, is third-fastest in the 100 freestyle and fifth in the butterfly.
He figures to be Rhinelander's main competition entering tonight's conference meet in Antigo. The Hodags are heavy favorites to claim the conference title at the lone short-course meter pool in the GNC.
"Basically, we'll just tell the kids to go out there and race and not worry about the time. We'll convert the times later, but use it as an opportunity," coach Heck said. "We had some leeway to let them choose events they wanted to go after, because we have so much depth in different areas. That's a fun way to get the kids excited and buy into what they're doing. You don't always have that but we were able to do that a lot this year, let the kids choose some events."
The GNC meet gets underway at 5 p.m. an Antigo's Clara R. McKenna Aquatic Center.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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