Sectional perfection

MERRILL — As good as the Rhinelander High School girls’ swim team has been over the past five years, it’s hard to come up with a performance more dominant than the Hodags put forth on Saturday. 

Needing a big day to position themselves for a run at the WIAA state championship this Friday, the Hodags got just that, winning all 11 swimming events and sending 19 entries on to state in a WIAA Division 2 sectional in Merrill.

Technically, Rhinelander didn’t win every event at the sectional. Rice Lake’s Katie Buckwheat won the diving competition in which the Hodags had no participants. But, otherwise, the top step of the podium featured a constant parade of Kelly green and white. When it was all said and done the Hodags piled up 424 1/2 points —more than double that of runner-up Rice Lake — en route to their fifth straight sectional title . 

“I’ve never experienced anything like that before with this strength,” coach Jenny Heck said. “I guess we never really think about that because we have so many goals within the goal. To actually sit and think about that (winning every swimming event), it’s pretty amazing. I’m very proud of all of them. Every single one of them swam their heart out today. Whether they qualified or did not. They all swam something great today and had a great time or multiple great times.”

    Rhinelander’s Abi Winnicki competes in the 200-yard freestyle during a WIAA Division 2 sectional in Merrill Saturday, Nov. 4. Winnicki won the event in a time of 1 minute, 52.38 seconds. (Jeremy Mayo/River News)
  

Seniors Karis Francis and Abi Winnicki both put themselves in position for individual runs for the podium this Friday night in Waukesha, winning two individual events each with relative ease. Even the leaders of the squad, and the lone swimmers competing Saturday who were on Rhinelander’s 2020 D2 state championship team, couldn’t help but be impressed with what the team accomplished. 

“I didn’t even realize how good we were doing until it was the last three events and Abi’s like, ‘You know, we’ve won every event,’ and we were going to win the rest,” Karis Francis said. “I didn’t even think that was possible because we didn’t even do that at conference. It was just incredible that we got to do that.”

“We just went into this meet putting swimmers where they more so felt confident swimming,” Winnicki added. “Now that you’re able to come out of sectionals with every event it was crazy. I don’t think any of us expect that.”

Not that there weren’t a few close calls along the way. None was closer than the 50-yard freestyle where freshman Vivian Lamers ended up in a dead heat for the top spot with Tomahawk’s Paige Dekiep. Lamers got the best start off the blocks and led the first 25 yards. Dekiep closed at the end and the both hit the wall in 24.73 seconds, finishing 0.04 seconds ahead of Wittenberg-Birnamwood’s Faith Resch.

“The 50 free, I was like, ‘Oh man, they’re both going to swim fast.’ I couldn’t tell,” coach Heck said. “I had to look at the clock to see who won. That’s what it means when it comes down to the hundredths, it’s a slight turn, a little bit of a reach. All those little details mean so much. It was neat that they were able to tie and able to both continue on as a first. That’s special for both of them and I’m happy for Paige as well.”

With Rhinelander holding the fastest time in the state in the final four events of the day, the last challenge of the Hodags’ perfect day was the 500 freestyle. It proved to be a furious challenge at that. Leading comfortably by 2-3 seconds most of the way, sophomore Emma Houg withstood a frantic comeback bid by Olivia Pajtash of Merrill. Pajtash wiped out a two-length lead over the final 25 yards only for Houg to win the reach the wall by 0.05 seconds at 5:36.53.

“She was just winded. She kind of strayed from her plan a little bit,” coach Heck said. “We’ll work on some of those specifics, but just a great, solid swim and it’s her first time ever qualifying individually for state. (To do it) with a win, it’s amazing. She got the job done and that’s all that matters in the end.”

    Rhinelander’s Celia Francis swims the backstroke leg of the 200-yard medley relay during a WIAA Division 2 sectional in Merrill Saturday, Nov. 4. The Hodags won all three relays on Saturday in times that were the fastest, state-wide, in Division 2. (Jeremy Mayo/River News)
  

Otherwise, it was pretty smooth sailing for the Hodags, who won all three relays in dominating fashion. 

Celia Francis, Karis Francis, Ellyse Younker and Lily Thorsen rolled to a nearly eight-second win in the 200 freestyle relay (1:46.91). Lamers, Millie Gruett, Younker and Winnicki took the 200 freestyle relay (1:38.84). The Francis sisters, Lamers and Winnicki won by more than 19 seconds in the 400 freestyle relay, hitting the wall at 3:35.33. All three relay times were the fastest posted statewide in Division 2 on Saturday. 

Winnicki knocked down the fastest time in the state en route to the win in the 100 freestyle (51.67) and her mark of 1:52.38 in the 200 freestyle was second in the state, only a fraction behind Whitefish Bay’s Anne Dickinson. 

Noting that a number of the swimmers on the team have not yet backed down on their training, Winnicki admitted to feeling “not great” in the water, but was still plenty fast enough to get the job done. 

“I tried not to think about it early,” said Winnicki who finished a perfect 16 for 16 in individual sectional championships in her high school career. “I felt decent in the actual swims, but not how you want to feel. But this wasn’t supposed to be my week. I have my time coming.”

The same was true for Karis Francis, who saw a marginal time drop in the 100 butterfly (57.16) and actually added a few hundredths in the 100 breaststroke (1:05.29) to go into state seeded second overall in both events. She said she feels she still has plenty left to give. 

“I’m super excited going into state knowing that we’ll be more rested,” she said. “It will be a lot more high energy. All of that combined, I know we’re going to see a lot fast swims.”

Celia Francis picked up the win for Rhinelander in the 200 individual medley (2:12.53) and the 100 backstroke (57.05) in times that were third- and second-fastest in the state, respectively. 

In addition to the 11 automatic bids to state claimed by virtue of winning events at sectionals, the Hodags earned eight more at-large positions going to the 12 fastest non-sectional champions in the state in each event.

Lamers was the runner-up to Winnicki in the 100 freestyle (54.62) but easily made it with the fifth-best time overall. Ellyse Younker (2:15.19) took third and Lily Thorsen (2:15.62) was fifth in the 200 individual medley, but were among the top nine overall in the state. 

Younker also made it in, comfortably, in the butterfly, finishing third in the sectional (59.50) with the eighth-best time in the state. Though Thorsen finished fourth in the 100 breaststroke (1:09.72), her time was fast enough to advance by more than a second. 

“Those girls, they really performed,” coach Heck said. “They had to be safe with everything they did and just get the qualifying position. I’m sure they’re very solid in there.”

The Hodags entered the meet with five entries around the qualifying bubble — with two inside the top 16 and three out of a transfer spot. Rhinelander got three of those entries through. Gruett, who came in 19th in the butterfly, dropped 2.24 seconds on Saturday to finish fifth in the sectional and take the 15th out of 16 qualifying spots overall. Freshman Ella Heck also started the day on the outside looking in, sitting 19th the 100 breaststroke, but took fifth in the sectional with a 1:10.86, which was good enough for the 16th and final qualifying spot by 0.06 seconds. 

After dropping only 0.10 seconds in the 100 on Saturday, freshman June Chiamulera had to wait out the cut, but made it in with the 15th-best time statewide (56.54), 0.52 seconds ahead of 17th. 

On the other side of the coin, the Hodags had two entries narrowly miss in the 100 backstroke. Freshman Kiley Pooch dropped 1.74 seconds to take fifth in the sectional, but her 1:03.03 time missed the top 16 by 0.17 seconds. Houg, who entered the event with the 16th-fastest time, posted a 1:04.30 on Saturday, which was 22nd fastest overall.

“I said, at the end of the day, if you swam your hardest and you did your best, that’s a success. These girls will be very close and if they don’t make it, they still swam amazing,” coach Heck said. “That’s all you can ask. I know that’s their goal. They want to be swimming next Friday. That’s the ultimate goal for them, especially freshmen. They’ve been watching these girls do this for years and they want to be part of it.”

Rhinelander’s 19 entries will be the most in the Division 2 field for Friday night’s D2 state meet — three more than Madison Edgewood and Whitefish Bay, both of whom figure to be the Hodags’ top rivals in a quest for a state title. Edgewood has won six straight WIAA titles. The Crusaders won the alternate season state championship in 2020-21 after opting out of the traditional fall state championship, which the Hodags won, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Whitefish Bay was the state runner-up a season ago.

“I think our results look good,” coach Heck said. “I haven’t had time to reflect, so I’ll have a little reflection time (on Sunday), figure out what the next step is. But these are exciting times to see how fast we swam today and know we have more in the tank is promising.” 

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].