Winnicki captures 500 freestyle record, Hodags perfect against Mosinee

As far as mid-season performances go, it’s hard to fathom anything better than what the Rhinelander High School girls’ swim team displayed on Thursday night. 

The Hodags took down two pool records, the longest-standing varsity record and defeated Mosinee 140-23 in a Great Northern Conference dual meet at the Heck Family Community Pool.

After coming within 0.02 seconds of Karen Burton-Reeder’s 1979 school record in the 500-yard freestyle the previous Saturday, senior Abi Winnicki bettered the mark convincingly on Thursday, hitting the wall at 5 minutes, 7.99 seconds. 

Winnicki first took a shot at the record, with Burton-Reeder in attendance, two years ago. She had a couple of near misses last year and again last Saturday in Jefferson before finally breaking through on Thursday.

“I knew there were a lot of things I had to work on and I decided I might as well swim it right again, because obviously I had some things right on Saturday,” Winnicki said afterward. “I worked on a few things that didn’t go so well on Saturday and dropped some good time and finally brought down that old record.”

“I’m really proud of Abi getting that 500 free record,” coach Jenny Heck said. “It’s been on her mind for a few years now. To have that behind her and know that we still have another home meet and she doesn’t have to swim it unless she wants to, is probably a relief to here. Being so close to it last week, two one-hundredths, and then getting it, I’m really proud of her. When you can reach a goal like that, that’s been lingering over you head for so long, there’s nothing better.”

After posting a 5:10.29 and coming agonizingly close to the mark last weekend, Winnicki credited a few technical changes and a strong finish for her record-breaking swim. She went 1:01.31 over the final 100 yards to get the mark with room to spare. 

“Definitely my turns, kept them more snappy. I didn’t do any sneaky long breaths,” she said. “I think that definitely helped cut off time. Then my last two 50s, I really kicked it in and knew I had to sprint. I knew I’d be disappointed if I didn’t get it. If you’re going to swim the 500, you might as well do it well.”

The Hodags did everything well on Thursday. Rhinelander finished 1-2-3 in all eight individual events, 1-2 in all three relays and achieved a perfect dual meet score of 140 points. It marked the first time in GNC history — in either girls’ or boys’ swimming —that a team scored maximum points for an entire meet. 

Coach Heck called the feat “interesting” but said a perfect score was not the team’s objective on the night. 

“It shows our depth and all of our girls had a part of it,” she said. “We didn’t put the meet together like that in any way. We put it together trying to give these girls opportunities to meet their personal goals.”

One of those goals was to take down a two-year old pool record in the 400 freestyle relay. Rhinelander managed to do that by 0.15 seconds as the team of Karis Francis, Vivian Lamers, Celia Francis and Winnicki hit the wall in 3:38.10.

“Those girls, we knew that was a possibility tonight and they knew it was,” coach Heck said. “They knew they’d all have to swim fast to make it happen. When you have your last event of the night and you have to swim your best split, it isn’t easy but I think the motivation to do it together and be that close, they knew they could do it. They pulled together and got the job done.”

Winnicki added a win in the 50 freestyle for the Hodags (24.74) while Karis Francis was tops in both the 200 individual medley (2:10.37) and the 100 butterfly (58.51). 

    Rhinelander’s Emma Houg makes a turn during the 200-yard medley relay in a GNC dual meet against Mosinee at the Heck Family Community Pool Thursday, Sept. 28. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

Some of the best races of the night were battles between Rhinelander underclassmen. Celia Francis (2:03.99) edged Lamers by just more than two seconds for the win in the 200 freestyle; freshman June Chiamulera (56.92) beat out Lily Thorsen by 0.27 seconds to win the 100 freestyle; sophomore Emma Houg (1:04.16) took the 100 backstroke in which Rhinelander’s top three were separated by 2 1/2 seconds; Ella Heck (1:14.38) beat Ellyse Younker to the wall by 0.21 seconds to win the 100 breaststroke.

“June in the 100 free was a great time,” coach Heck said. “It was great to see her have some success in that. Ella won a close one in the breast and Vivian had a good, solid meet. Emma Houg had a really good backstroke, that was a personal-best time for her. Just a lot of great things I could look at.”

Winnicki, Thorsen, Younker and Millie Gruett opened the night for Rhinelander with a win in the 200 medley relay (1:54.10). Celia Francis, Younker, Karis Francis and Lamers made up the winning team in the 200 freestyle relay (1:40.30).

Fond du Lac Invite

The good times continued to roll Saturday as the Hodags racked up 14 top-five finishes, including four victories, as they took the 14-team Fond du Lac Invite. 

Rhinelander bested a couple of Division 1 schools for the title, finishing 106 points ahead of runner-up Bay Port. Appleton North was third followed by Ashwaubenon, the highest-placing D2 school besides Rhinelander.

“We had some really good, new competition that we haven’t seen yet this season — both D1 and D2,” coach Heck said. “It was good swimming against Ashwaubenon. We haven’t swam against them, plus those D1 schools gave us some good races too. That’s why we come down here, for the competition.”

Both Winnicki and Karis Francis finished in the top two in all four events they swam. Individually, Winnicki took the 200 individual medley (2:08.65) and was the runner-up in the 100 butterfly (1:00.24). Francis was second in both the 100 freestyle (53.70) and the 100 breaststroke (1:06.24). Both were on the winning 200 medley (1:48.83) and 200 freestyle (1:39.52) relay teams. Younker swam with the two in both relays with Celia Francis rounding out the 200 medley lineup and Lamers rounding out the 200 freestyle lineup. 

Celia Francis added a win in the 100 backstroke (58.72), Lamers was the runner-up in the 50 freestyle (25.13) and both were on the runner-up 400 freestyle relay team with Gruett and Thorsen (3:47.29).

Rhinelander flexed its depth, particularly in the specialty-stroke events. The Hodags had three in the top six in the 200 IM with Winning, Celia Francis (fifth) and Younker (sixth). Rhinelander placed five in the top nine in the butterfly with Karis Francis, Younker and Thorsen going 2-3-4 in the event followed by Gruett in seventh and Rylee Mickevicius in ninth. 

Kiley Pooch was third in the backstroke with Chiamulera fourth and Margaret Lambert 10th. Rhinelander placed four in the top 10 in the 100 breaststroke with Karis Francis, Thorsen (sixth), Lamers (seventh) and Ella Heck (10th).

“We didn’t go for our best lineup, we let the girls go after some events they wanted to get times in,” coach Heck said. “It shows what we can do. It’s very optimistic not just for this year but for the future to see that. We have a strong group of seniors but we have a lot of depth behind them too.”

Saturday’s meet completed a grueling eight-meet schedule in September where the Hodags followed four consecutive Thursday GNC dual meets with four consecutive Saturday invites. The schedule is much quieter in October, with a dual Thursday at Colby/Abbotsford and an Oct. 12 home dual against Antigo prior to the Great Northern Conference meet in Antigo Oct. 20.

“Now we really need to think about how we’re going to attack conference, sectionals and state, who’s going to be resting for what,” coach Heck said. “The goal is to have everyone swim their best at one of those three meets and figure out how to make that happen.”

Winnicki, for one, said she’s excited for what’s to come in the final half of the season, considering how the Hodags have started. 

“Everyone’s tired. Nobody’s feeling good. Nothing ever feels perfect and the fact that we’re able to go these times right now is super exciting with championship season coming up,” she said.

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].