January 16, 2023 at 8:03 a.m.
Hodag swimmers edge Oregon to win Lightning Invite
Hodag swimmers edge Oregon to win Lightning Invite
The Hodags won five events and scored 17 top-five finishes overall as they won the eight-team Lightning Invite at Appleton North High School.
Rhinelander fended off Oregon which was bolstered by a Madison Edgewood transfer, sophomore Finnley Conklin, to win the meet by 41 points.
"There were a lot of great learning opportunities for the guys at this meet. We're trying to implement some of the changes we're making," coach Jenny Heck said. "Then to swim against Oregon, which had Finnley there. He was just really amazing and didn't even swim his main events. It was fun and that made it excited to the end. It was good races for everyone and a good opportunities.
Senior Daniel Gillingham had a big night for the Hodags, playing a role in three of the five victories while earning a runner-up finish in his fourth event.
Gillingham led a 1-2 finish for Rhinelander in the 200-yard individual medley. He hit the wall in 2 minutes, 5.51 seconds, edging out senior teammate Jack Antonuk by 0.15 seconds for the win.
"The 200 IM was a fun race with Daniel and Jack going 1-2, just a tenth apart. Good swims from those two," coach Heck noted.
Gillingham also won the 100 butterfly (56.88), beating Appleton West/Kimberly's Cole Mursau to the wall by 0.04 seconds. Gillingham was on Rhinelander's winning 200-yard freestyle relay with Carter Gaber, Mathias Fugle and Charlie Heck (1:30.99).
Antonuk added a win for Rhinelander in the 100 breaststroke (1:03.80) and scored runner-up finished for Rhinelander in a pair of relays. He was on the runner-up 400 freestyle relay with Fugle, Marcus O'Malley and Zacha King (3:31.04); and the second-place 200 medley relay with Gaber, Gillingham and Charlie Heck (1:39.66).
Meanwhile, King won the 100 backstroke for Rhinelander (56.22) and swam to a second-place finish in the 200 freestyle (1:54.02).
"Zacha had a really good meet," coach Heck noted. "I thought our times were really good, especially for the training we've had this week. We've had some really intense training and our mid-distance guys really swam some great times."
Charlie Heck added third-place finishes for Rhinelander in both the 50 (23.08) and the 100 (51.83). Carter Gaber was fourth in the 100 backstroke (59.27) and fifth in the 50 (23.30). Dolan O'Malley took fourth in the 500 freestyle (5:44.47), Fugle finished fifth in the 100 butterfly (59.36) and Shawn Denis took fifth in the 100 breaststroke (1:07.94).
Rhinelander added a fifth-place finish with Marcus O'Malley, Eli Lundt, Dolan O'Malley and Denis as its second entry in the 200 freestyle relay (1:40.71).
"Every event we had good representation and great times," coach Heck said. "Some of the guys were in their main events and some guys we switched around a little bit. To not put in our top lineup in and still do well and win, was really promising."
The Hodags are back in action tonight, facing Tomahawk and Lakeland in a double dual in Minocqua. Though the Great Northern Conference duals do not count toward the league standings, the Rhinelander-Lakeland result will serve as the make-up to a dual between the teams that was postponed Nov. 29.
With a win, Rhinelander would move to a perfect 5-0 in the GNC entering the conference meet in Antigo Feb. 3.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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