Swim meet moved to Monday due to ‘emergency maintenance issue’

The Rhinelander High School girls’ swim team’s final dual meet of the 2023 season was postponed by four days due to what was described as a temporary “emergency maintenance issue” that arose last Wednesday at the Heck Family Community Pool.

The Hodags’ home meet against Antigo, scheduled for Thursday, was pushed back to Monday as the Heck Pool remained closed due to the issue. RHS activities director Brian Paulson reported that the pool returned to normal operation on Friday. 

According to Paulson, an issue arose Wednesday during a physical education class that compromised the sanitation of the pool, forcing it to be shut down. The maintenance staff at the high school “shocked” the pool with a high dose of sanitizing chemicals in order to remedy the situation. The pool remain closed until chemical readings returned to normal following the shock.

“It had to be shocked and then we have to be sure all of our chemicals level after 28 hours are correct,” he explained. “We have an individual at our school that is trained on this. There are going to be people working a double shift today. We need to get our chemicals up and running correctly. Once we get the chemicals up and running correctly, then we’re able to enter the pool again.”

In the interim, the Hodag swim team practiced Wednesday and Thursday at the YMCA of the Northwoods, which has lanes for lap swimming but is not equipped to host a high school competition. Paulson noted the Y has stepped in as a temporary home for the Hodags in the past when the Heck Pool was down for other, planned, maintenance items. 

“We were lucky enough to have the opportunity to go train and get into the water at the YMCA,” he said. “Thank you to the YMCA. They’ve been extremely helpful when we’ve had situations that have arisen.”

Monday’s meet concluded after press time for today’s edition. Rhinelander was looking to finish the Great Northern Conference season 7-0, while winning every individual race in all seven of its dual meets. The Red Robins, struggling with low participation numbers, came into Monday’s meet 0-6 in the GNC. 

The Hodags will be in Antigo this coming Friday for the GNC championship meet. 

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].