February 13, 2023 at 9:06 a.m.
Sectional supremacy
Hodag swimmers capture fifth straight sectional crown, send 19 entries to state
Sectional supremacy
Rhinelander won eight of the 11 events as it captured its fifth straight sectional title at the Ashwaubenon Community Pool. Those eight individual sectional winners, plus 11 more at-large qualifiers, will represent the Hodags down at the WIAA state meet in Waukesha this Friday.
The Hodags won the meet going away, beating host Ashwaubenon by 78 points for the sectional title.
Team members who figured to do well on Saturday were able to back up their seeds while a few swimmers on the state bubble made it in with some massive time drops.
"A lot of times things don't go as you plan but today it really did," Hodag coach Jenny Heck said. "The guys who were a little more rested that had to get in performed well and the guys that we thought would get in did and they've got more in them for next week."
Daniel Gillingham was a sectional champion in all four of his events. Eight of Rhinelander's 10 swimmers qualified for state in two individual events and the Hodags advanced their entry in all three relay races thanks to sectional wins.
"We wanted to try to advance as many as possible," coach Heck said. "The guys that didn't advance really swam their hearts out and swam great races. To have that many advance is just really, really amazing with a group of 10."
Gillingham had the strongest meet of the group. He edged Tomahawk's Zach Hanse for the win in the 200-yard individual medley (2 minutes, 0.18 seconds) and then swam to a nearly 3.8-second win in the 100 butterfly (53.71), with the third-best time in the state. Gillingham was also on Rhinelander's meet-opening 200 medley relay win and was part of a squad that set a new pool record en route to the win in the 200 freestyle relay.
"I'm really proud of what we did as a team and how I held myself together as an individual. It was a good meet," he said.
The day was underscored by some major time drops from underclassmen. Sophomore Mathias Fugle won the 100 freestyle (49.76) and also qualified with a third-place finish in the 200 freestyle. Junior Zacha King cut nearly 3.6 seconds off his backstroke to win that event going away with a time (52.63) that will have him seeded second overall for Friday's state meet. Sophomore Shawn Denis, who came into the day seeded outside the top 16 in the 100 breaststroke, dropped 5 1/2 seconds in the event, finished third and qualified comfortably for state in that event.
"Shawn was a bubble guy and he just had a solid, awesome swim. Same with Zacha. He was solid, but now he's one of the guys to watch," coach Heck said.
Rhinelander stacked its lineup in the 200 individual medley, putting five of their 18 individual entries into that event. The unorthodox move paid off as the Hodags took five of the top six places at sectionals and qualified all five entrants for state. Jack Antonuk (third, 2:03.26), King (fourth, 2:04.11), Denis (fifth, 2:05.85) and Dolan O'Malley (sixth, 2:06.53) all finished inside the top 16 statewide and will join Gillingham in the event down in Waukesha.
"We knew there could be an area where we could sneak some in and that would be it," coach Heck said. "These guys still had to swim really fast and they did. All five of those guys really swam amazing and deserve that chance to swim it again. I'm very pleased and proud of them all."
Senior Carter Gaber added a win for the Hodags in the 50 freestyle (22.34), edging teammate Charlie Heck in a Hodag 1-2 finish. Gaber also qualified with a runner-up finish in the backstroke while Heck finished third in the 100 freestyle and made the cut.
Antonuk added a fourth-place finish and qualified in the 100 breaststroke while Dolan O'Malley qualified with a fourth-place swim in the 100 backstroke.
Gaber, Antonuk, Gillingham and Charlie Heck made up an all-senior squad that won the 200 medley relay (1:38.69). King, Marcus O'Malley, Antonuk and Fugle won the 400 freestyle relay (3:25.08) and the Hodags beat a six-year-old pool record in the 200 freestyle relay as Gillingham, Gaber, Fugle and Charlie Heck went 1:28.27 in that event.
"The pool record was absolutely amazing. I had no idea we were even close to it, but that's amazing that we got it," Gillingham said.
The Hodags had a pair of seniors come up short in individual events. Marcus O'Malley finished fourth in the 100 butterfly, but his time of 58.50 missed the state cut by 0.94 seconds. Eli Lundt placed fifth in the 100 backstroke (1:00.89), missing the cut by roughly 2 1/2 seconds. Both dropped more than three seconds from their seed times in the event.
"They've got to be extremely proud of themselves," coach Heck said. "Eli's backstroke, he just kept dropping the last three weeks of season. He knew that's what he needed to do. Marcus, he's a big resting guy and he hasn't seen some of these times since two years ago. It was really fun to see him do really well."
Rhinelander's 19 entries will be the most of any team as they try to improve upon a third-place finish at last year's D2 state meet.
"I think we're in great position to continue to do well," coach Heck said. "A lot of the guys have their best swims in them yet. Some of these guys are going to just going to have to try to go a little bit faster, and that's good too. We'll take whatever we can get and keep our fingers crossed it all goes our way."
Added Gillingham, "I feel like we're all going to be perfectly rested for our relays and our individual events. I'm really excited to see what we can do at state."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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