February 15, 2023 at 12:56 p.m.
A look at the field for tonight's WIAA D2 state swim meet
A look at the field for tonight's WIAA D2 state swim meet
Based on the qualifying performances from last week's WIAA Division 2 sectionals meets, Shorewood is the favorite to win the title by a narrow margin over Rhinelander. The Greyhounds are projected to score 254 points tonight to the Hodags' 252. McFarland (third, 236) and Whitefish Bay (fourth, 216) cannot be discounted either. But it appears to be a four-way race between those schools. Nicolet is projected to finish fifth at 152 points.
Here's a look at each event tonight, where Rhinelander is seeded and how it may impact the state title race.
Diving: This event will have the least impact on the championship race. Whitefish Bay is the only one of the top four contenders with an entrant in the event. Freshman Tyler Emory is seeded eighth with a sectional performance of 316.20 points.
200 Medley Relay: This will be an early showdown featuring state contenders who are all seeded in the top six overall. McFarland is the favorite with a seed time of 1 minute, 37.89 seconds, followed by Rhinelander in second (1:38.69), Whitefish Bay in third (1:38.74) and Shorewood in sixth (1:40.62). Rhinelander finished fourth in this event last year (1:38.01) with the same quartet - Carter Gaber, Jack Antonuk, Daniel Gillingham and Charlie Heck - that is projected to swim it tonight. Each of the other contenders is replacing at least one senior from last year's relay.
200 Freestyle: There are not a ton of points at stake here, with Shorewood (25) projected to score the most of any of the contenders. Rhinelander sophomore Mathias Fugle comes in seeded 10th overall (1:50.32). Nicolet's Jack Sullivan is the runaway favorite to repeat as the state champion in the event, with a qualifying time (1:40.11) nearly four seconds faster than anyone else.
200 Individual Medley: This event figures to be an interesting showdown of quality versus quantity for Shorewood and Rhinelander. The Greyhounds have the top two seeds in seniors Aiden Strath (1:53.01) and Thomson Yatso (1:59.52). Rhinelander has the depth with a whopping five entries - including Gillingham (third, 2:00.18), Antonuk (eighth, 2:03.26), Zacha King (ninth, 2:04.11), Shawn Denis (11th, 2:05.85) and Dolan O'Malley (13th, 2:06.53). "I've dropped a significant amount of time in the IM and I'm not even fully tapered yet. I'm really excited to see what I can do," Gillingham said. Gillingham finished sixth in this event last year. Antonuk, meanwhile, is aiming to finally reach the podium in the event after placing seventh in the IM at state each of the last two years.
50 Freestyle: Senior Adrian Bellido of Brookfield Academy won the 50 last year and is the favorite to repeat with a qualifying time of 20.97 seconds - nearly nine-tenths faster than second seeded Patrick Zabawa-Lodholz of McFarland. This event is the strongest for McFarland, which also boasts fifth-seeded Shane TeBeest (22.12). Gaber is seeded eighth (22.34) and Heck is seeded 10th for Rhinelander, but only 0.66 seconds separate Zabawa-Lodholz in second and Heck in 10th. "The individual 50 free, if I hit the small details, it's really close between a lot of guys in that top eight and the whole 50 free together. A perfect race will help me move up some spots," Gaber said.
100 Butterfly: Bellido is also the defending champ and top seed here. Rhinelander, McFarland and Shorewood each have one swimmer in the event and they're seeded right together, with Gillingham third for Rhinelander (53.71), TeBeest fourth for McFarland (53.72) and Yatso fifth for McFarland (53.79). Gillingham took sixth in this event last year.
100 Freestyle: This is another event that Shorewood has stacked heavily. Strath is the second seed to Nicolet's Sullivan and senior Will Phillips is seeded fifth (48.72). Rhinelander will be looking to apply pressure from the first heat, where Fugle is seeded 10th (49.76) and Heck is seeded 13th (50.13).
"I'd like to drop as much time as possible, beat out a lot of kids seeded better than me and, hopefully podium," Fugle said.
500 freestyle: The Hodags are helpless here, as it's the only event, other than diving, where they have no entries. Whitefish Bay's Finn Holdredge is seeded second in the event, but the key will likely rest with how Shorewood's two entries fare. Juniors Bennett Shanks and Johan Bannink are seeded fifth and seventh, respectively.
200 freestyle relay: Rhinelander (1:28.27) comes in as the top seed in this event, looking to win the title for the second time in five years. The Hodags set a school record of 1:27.76 when the won the event in 2019. Joseph Heck, Charlie's older brother, was a member of that winning relay. "We saw what time those guys went when they won state. We saw what it took for them and we're prepared to do that, but also go over and beyond," Charlie Heck said. "Whatever time it takes to win state is the time we're shooting for. If we end up breaking a couple of records while we do it, that's even better." Shorewood (second, 1:30.12), Whitefish Bay (third, 1:31.72) and McFarland (seventh, 1:33.73) are all in the fast heat.
100 Backstroke: This could be a potential swing event if the Hodags look to catch and pass Shorewood. The Greyhounds have only one swimmer qualified - 14th-seeded Julian Sherman. Rhinelander has three entries, including King, who posted a whopping time drop to win sectionals and comes in as the second overall seed (52.63), behind McFarland's Lyon Hall. "Going in seeded as one of the top guys in an individual event is a lot of pressure, but I think I'm just going to try to go in with the mentality of go my own race, swim the way I need to swim and try to stay where I am and, hopefully move up," King said. Gaber comes in seeded eighth in the event (56.26) after making the podium with a sixth-place finish last year. Dolan O'Malley is seeded 15th (57.96).
100 Breaststroke: The Hodags will have two swimmers in the final heat with Denis qualified seventh (1:01.26) and Antonuk qualified eighth (1:01.67). While Denis will be looking to maintain following a significant time drop at sectionals, Antonuk looks to better his fourth-place finish at state last year, when he set the school record at 1:00.03. Jack Gunderson of Whitefish Bay (third, 59.26) is the only other swimmer among the four contending schools in the final heat.
400 Freestyle Relay: Based on the projections, Rhinelander will have a 222-214 lead on Shorewood heading into the final event. But the Greyhounds are the top overall seed (3:15.95) by a wide margin over second-seeded McFarland (3:20.20). The Hodags are the fourth seed (3:22.05) and Whitefish Bay is seeded fifth (3:22.13). It's projected to be the one and only event for senior Marcus O'Malley, who did not qualify in any individual events for Rhinelander. He said he's taking a low-key approach, even though the state title may very well hang in the balance. "I don't feel a ton of pressure on myself," he said. "I'm the middle guy in a relay and I'm one who my best time was a 52(-second split in the event) before last week. Based on my past, I'm planning on dropping more time for sure. Zacha's going to give me, if not a lead, it's going to be close to it and I'm going to hold it as long as I can."
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