THE PERFECT ENDING

Note: The original version of this story cited incorrect results via the WIAA website that listed Lily Thorsen swimming the 200-yard medley relay, and Millie Gruett swimming the 200 freestyle relay. Gruett swam the 200 medley relay and Thorsen swam the 200 freestyle relay. The story has been corrected below.

WAUKESHA — All season long the Rhinelander High School girls’ swim team believed it had an exceptionally strong hand — a team with enough depth and firepower to put an end to Edgewood’s run of dominance in Division 2. 

When it came time to lay the cards on the table Friday night, the Hodags went all-in and nobody could stop them. 

As it turns out, it’s hard to beat a hand that features six aces. 

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2023 WIAA Division 2 girls' swim state championship

Rhinelander won six of the 12 events Friday night, including all three relay races, as they ran away to a dominating victory in the WIAA Division 2 state meet in Waukesha. Mathematically, the Hodags had the title clinched with two events remaining and swam to an 87-point victory over Whitefish Bay. 

Edgewood, the Madison-based private school that boasted eight straight state-championship seasons, finished third. 

“I feel on top of the world right now,” said Hodag senior Karis Francis, who was part of four of Rhinelander’s wins on Friday. “It’s like everything, it worked out how we expected it to and hoped that it would.”

Karis Francis and fellow senior Abi Winnicki were on Rhinelander’s state championship team in 2020, when Edgewood opted out of the traditional fall season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Crusaders would go on to win the alternate season championship the following spring and then beat the Hodags for the state title in 2021. 

Winnicki scored a pair of top-three finishes individually and anchored the Hodags’ championship-winning 200-yard freestyle and 400 freestyle relay teams.  

“Getting to share that opportunity and experience with a bunch of swimmers that are going to come back next year, it’s really exciting,” she said. “The fact that we sealed the deal was a great way to go out.” 

It was just one more star on a dazzling resume for the Hodag swim program over the past five years. The Hodag girls have not finished outside the top five at state since 2018 and the Hodag boys swam to the D2 state title back in February.

Rhinelander became just the sixth school in WIAA history to hold the state title in both boys’ and girls’ swimming in the same calendar year. Jenny Heck became just the third coach to guide two different teams to a state title in the same year. 

“These kids are the ones that deserve all the recognition,” Heck said. “I surround myself with a lot of people who are very invested with these kids — coaches, parents. It takes a lot for it all to come together and I’ve been fortunate and blessed enough to surround myself with a lot of people who really care.”

The Hodags entered the night as 87 1/2-point favorites to win the title, based on how they qualified into the meet via sectionals. Rhinelander scored 308 points, actually beating its projected total by 11 1/2 points. Though Whitefish Bay also exceeded projections, the Hodags were comfortably out in front most of the way. 

Rhinelander took the lead after freshman Celia Francis won the fourth event of the night, the 200 individual medley, and the rest was history. 

“It worked out. Everything just worked out. Everything wasn’t perfect, but it was all really good —good enough to get the win and that’s what we were looking for,” Heck said.

The Hodags had to win some nail-biters along the way, none closer than 100 breaststroke where Karis Francis edged Stoughton’s Cheyenne Borroughs to the wall by 0.01 seconds. Francis led most of the way in the event, and still seemed comfortably ahead with five yards remaining, but was caught between strokes going into the wall while Borroughs made a well-timed surge. 

“I thought I was way out ahead and I didn’t realize how close she was,” Francis said. “I knew I was going to have a wonky finish, so I just put my head down. When I looked up, it took me like 20 seconds to realize how close it was.”

Francis’s time of 1:03.99 broke the school record of 1:04.09 set by her older sister, Kiah, at the 2015 state meet. The finish was reminiscent as well, as the elder Francis finished in a dead heat for the state title that year. 

Karis Francis took down another sibling’s school record in the 100 butterfly, usurping Malia Francis’s mark of 56.23 set in 2019. Karis Francis went 56.05 on Friday night, beating Sauk Prairie’s Savannah Acker for the title by 0.40 seconds.

“That was a fight. I knew I was out ahead on the first 50, but the last 50 they were coming after me,” she said. “I definitely had to give it my all. I don’t think I’ve ever given it that hard in a race before.”

“She just finished up really strong too,” Heck said. “She’s been so invaluable on the team and a great leader to the girls and very inspiring for them as well, not just here but in her training and the way she goes after things.” 

Not to be outdone in the close finish department, Celia Francis had tight races to the wall in both of her events, narrowly winning the touch in the IM while just getting edged in the 100 backstroke. 

Celia Francis closed with a 31.62-second split in the freestyle leg of the IM (2:09.14) and edged Jefferson/Cambridge’s Zoey Rank to the wall by 0.03 seconds. Acker got the better reach in the 100 backstroke, beating Francis (55.87) by 0.07 seconds. 

“I’m crazy excited about it. I thought I’d actually win the 100 back, but I’m so excited that I got this opportunity,” she said. “I never expected to win the 2IM. I kind of expected to be top three, but I saw her in the breaststroke and, I don’t know, I didn’t realize how close we were until the last 25 of the freestyle. I just put my head down and tried to finish hard.”

That was a finish that had her older sister in tears.

“When she finally finished and I looked and saw her crying, I just broke down,” Karis Francis said. “I couldn’t control myself. I was so happy for her. She’s just amazing. She works so hard and I knew that she had it in her. I was so happy she finally did it.”

Winnicki went in with hopes of potential state titles in the 200 freestyle and the 100 freestyle, but came up short in both. She took third in the 200 (1:52.17) and second in the 100 (51.56). Ashwaubenon’s Sienna Nitke won both of those races, but Winnicki was able to get some retribution, holding off Nitke in a tight finish in the 200-freestyle relay. The Hodags’ time of 1:38.18 was good enough to win by 0.18 seconds and make champions out of freshman Vivian Lamers, junior Lily Thorsen, junior Ellyse Younker and Winnicki. 

“Personally, it was disappointing, but I knew my places wouldn’t do any thing to really affect us at the end of the day,” Winnicki said. “Obviously, the gold trophy at the end was our main goal, so I just had to stay strong. Anchoring the relays was a big part. We had to seal the deal and win all the relays. I had to really stay in the game, I did and was able to finish off with wins.”

“Sometimes things don’t go perfectly, but she held it together and she’s critical,” Heck added. “Without her on those relays, we wouldn’t have had those wins. We needed her. She’s so valuable and has been since freshman year. When you have a swimmer like that continually gives, gives, gives, that’s what she does. I couldn’t be more proud of Abi.”

Rhinelander dominated the other two relays, setting school records in the process. Celia Francis, Karis Francis, Younker and sophomore Millie Gruett won the 200 medley relay (1:45.63) by 3.41 seconds over Whitefish Bay and broke the school record set back in 2021 by 0.09 seconds in the process. 

The Hodags closed the meet in style as they romped to a 6.78-second win over Whitefish Bay in the 400 freestyle relay with the team of Celia Francis, Lamers, Karis Francis and Winnicki. Their time of 3:30.61 shattered the old school record by 3.76 seconds. Winnicki entered the water with a nearly five-second lead went 51.11 over the final 100 in what amounted to a victory lap for the Hodags.

“We’ve never been ahead like that,” she said. “Normally, that’s always Edgewood, so getting to finally be that person with their relay out in front by so much was amazing and the best way to end my season.”

Lamers added individual two podium finishes in her state debut, taking third in the 50 freestyle (24.53) and fifth in the 100 (54.19). 

The Hodags had a meet-high 19 entries in the meet, the majority of them placing in the top 10. Younker was seventh in the 100 butterfly and ninth in the 200 individual medley, Thorsen took eighth in the IM and 14th in the 100 breaststroke, Gruett was 10th in the 100 butterfly, freshman June Chiamulera took 14th in the 100 freestyle, sophomore Emma Houg was 15th in the 500 freestyle and freshman Ella Heck took 16th in the 100 breaststroke. 

“That’s what you really need to have a successful night,” coach Heck said. “I was just really thrilled with how they attacked what they did. They stuck with the plan and it showed.” 

It all added up to another state title and a full-circle ending for Karis Francis and Winnicki.

“I think it’s so cool that me and Abi both get to come back this year and do the same thing,” Francis said. “It was so special our freshman year, but it feels extra meaningful this year because it’s the last one. 

Added Winnicki, “It’s just the perfect way to end our senior season.”

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].