Hodag girls’ swim claims 5th straight GNC title

The Rhinelander High School girls’ swim team flexed its depth all season in the Great Northern Conference. Friday night’s championship meet in Antigo was no exception.

The Hodags won nine events and broke five GNC records as they cruised to victory in the conference meet at the McKenna Aquatic Center in Antigo. The result locked up Rhinelander’s fifth straight girls’ swimming conference title.

There wasn’t much drama in the final outcome. The Hodags cruised to a 210-point victory over runner-up Medford. In addition to the nine event victories, the Hodags added eight runner-up finishes and four third-place finishes. 

“These girls are just so strong and we have so many fast girls,” coach Jenny Heck said. “It was so fun watch because there are so many girls that have been working so hard and coming down in time.”

Seniors Abi Winnicki and Karis Francis both made their closing arguments in the conference swimmer of the year race, which was set to be decided in a vote by the conference coaches on Monday. They both won all four of their events and played a role in all five conference records broken on Friday. 

Winnicki also broke her own school record on the 400-meter/500-yard freestyle as part of a dominating night. Winnicki went 4 minutes, 28.53 seconds in the 400-meter freestyle on Friday, which translates to a 5:05.86 in the 500, based on the conversion factors used by the National Federation of High Schools. She also broke the conference mark in the 200 individual medley (2:24.04/2:09.65 converted). 

“Abi was happy with her time in the IM and got the record,” coach Heck said. “That 400, we didn’t know how it was going to go, but she swam a great race. She looked strong and solid and once again got the record.”

Meanwhile, Karis Francis took down the record in the 100 breaststroke (1:12.52/1:05.33). She also added a win in the 200 freestyle (2:10.30/1:57.60). 

“Karis had an amazing swim. She swam a great time that broke a conference record really solidly and swam really well,” coach Heck said.

Both were on conference-record breaking relays. The two teamed with Vivian Lamers and Celia Francis to win the 200 freestyle relay (1:49.89/1:38.47), and with Lamers and Ellyse Younker to win the 400 freestyle relay (4:00.80/3:36.17).

Because Antigo has the only meter pool in the GNC, both the new converted records and the old records set in short course yard pools will stand moving forward.

“It was all a little bit confusing,” coach Heck said. “We didn’t know where we were at, being in the meter pool. We tried to convert their splits, but the conversions aren’t really accurate and the kids come out of the pool looking to see what their splits are. When you’re swimming those events and you’re not rested, it’s tough. When you have another 15 meters or whatever it is you’re adding to a race, we could see it in the ends of some of our swimmers who weren’t rested. They really had to push through.”

Lamers added a win for the Hodags in the 100 freestyle (1:00.68/54.62) while Celia Francis took the 100 backstroke (1:06.41/59.77). 

The Hodags dominated the relay races, finishing 1-2 in all three of them. The team of Celia Francis, Lily Thorsen, Younker and Gussie Gruett took the 200 medley relay (2:04.21/1:51.40) over Emma Houg, Ella Heck, Rylee Mickevicius and Kiley Pooch. Pooch, Gruett, Ella Heck and Thorsen made up the runner-up team in the 200 free relay. June Chiamulera, Pooch, Houg and Gruett were the runners-up in the 400 freestyle relay.

Though only two relay entries per team counted for scoring purposes, the Hodags entered an exhibition C relay in all three races. Rhinelander’s C relays would have been third-fastest in both the 200 and 400 freestyle, and fifth-fastest in the 200 medley.

“To see 12 of our Rhinelander kids out there swimming and going 1-2-3 was pretty amazing. It just shows our true depth and how strong we are, not just with our top swimmers but all the way through,” coach Heck said. 

Rhinelander’s quest to win every event in the conference this season came to an end Friday as Tomahawk’s Paige Dekiep edged Lamers by 0.04 seconds in the 50 freestyle (27.47/24.55) and Younker in the 100 butterfly (1:05.86/59.12). Neither of those times were the fastest in the conference this season, however. Winnicki had a faster time in the 50 and Karis Francis went quicker in the 100 during the dual meet season. 

Thorsen scored runner-up finishes for Rhinelander in the 200 individual medley and the 100 breaststroke. Celia Francis finished second to Lamers by a mere 0.09 seconds in the 100 freestyle — part of a 1-2-3 finish in that event for the Hodags, with Chiamulera finishing third. 

Chiamulera added a third-place swim in the 200 while Houg took third in both the 400 freestyle and the 100 backstroke. The top three finishers in each event earned all-Great Northern Conference recognition. 

The Hodags also flexed their depth in a number of the specialty strokes. Rhinelander placed three in the top five in the 100 butterfly with Mickevicius fourth and Gruett fifth. Rhinelander had five in the top seven in the backstroke and four of the top five in the 100 breaststroke. Notably seniors Lambert and Sam Sundby were fifth in the 100 backstroke and 100 breaststroke, respectively while senior Claire Caselton took seventh in the 100 backstroke. 

The Hodags are idle from competition until Saturday, Nov. 4 when the WIAA Division 2 sectional meet takes place in Merrill.

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].