Hodag swimmers place 5 in top 8 at Everest Pent

The Rhinelander High School boys’ swim team flashed its speed and versatility last Tuesday in its season opening meet. The Hodags placed five swimmers in the top eight, and seven in the top 13 overall, of the seven-team D.C. Everest Pentathlon.

No team scores were kept during the meet in what was a race for swimmers against the clock. Everyone in the field competed a 50-yard race in each of the four core strokes plus a 100-yard individual medley. The cumulative time for each swimmer in the five events was used to determine the final standings. 

A number of the seniors returning for Rhinelander fared well in the event. Shawn Denis led the way for the Hodags. He was the second fastest 12th grader in the field, and third fastest overall, as he completed the five events in 2 minutes, 42.76 seconds. 

Samson Shinners was the fourth-fastest senior and fifth overall (2:51.93), Brock Arrowood was fifth among seniors and seventh overall (2:52.96) and Dolan O’Malley placed sixth in class and eighth overall (2:53.32).

“Shawn Denis had a really good meet and fast swims. He loves to sprint and it showed tonight. He was quick in all of his strokes and all of the events. That was fun,” coach Jenny Heck noted. “Samson and Brock had great meets and great racing. Samson had a great finish in his 100 IM to out-touch the guy next to him. That was fun and that’s kind of what we’re looking for, that desire to race and I saw that tonight in him.”

Freshman Dean Gillingham had an impressive debut for Rhinelander. He was the top ninth-grader in the field and placed sixth overall with a time of 2:52.22. Judson O’Malley and Charlie Antonuk finished 1-2 among the sophomores and were 12th and 13th overall. O’Malley’s cumulative time was 2:56.08 and Antonuk’s was 2:57.28.

“That was exciting for Dean to get the win for the freshman and then Judson and Charlie for the sophomores,” Heck said. 

D.C. Everest’s Keaton Barwick won four of the individual events as he took the overall title with a time of 2:35.37. Denis scored Rhinelander’s top individual race finish, taking second in the 50 breaststroke (29.46), 0.01 seconds behind Barwick. Denis was also Rhinelander’s top finisher in the backstroke (26.64) and the IM (57.97), taking third in both of those events. He was fourth in the freestyle and fifth in the butterfly. 

Shinners was the third fastest overall in the 50 freestyle (23.47) and was fifth in the IM. Arrowood led the Hodags in the 100 butterfly with a fourth-place finish (25.14) and was fifth in the backstroke. Dolan O’Malley was fifth overall in the backstroke and Gillingham was fifth-fastest in the breaststroke. 

Overall, the Hodags had six of the top 10 swimmers in the backstroke, five of the top 10 in the breaststroke and IM, and four of the top 10 in the backstroke and freestyle. 

In addition to Gillingham, three other freshmen made their debut for Rhinelander on Tuesday. Daniel Meier and Broden Wagner were fifth and sixth in class, taking 37th and 38th overall. Matthew Wood was the ninth-fastest freshman and 48th overall. 

“We had just a great showing for the freshman class. Paul Denis was out sick, so he wasn’t able to be there but I think it was a great meet for those freshmen to kind of get started and get a feel for racing with the big guys,” Heck said. “They’re not used to that. They’re used to swimming their own age and now, all of a sudden, they’re swimming with seniors who are a foot taller and 50 pounds heavier than them. It’s always a shock, but I thought they handled it really well.”

Senior Mathias Fugle, another one of Rhinelander’s returning state swimmers, was out of the lineup Tuesday due to a lingering knee injury from the football season. Sophomore Chris Larson was 34th overall and Heck noted that first-year high school swimmer Michael Schiek showed flashes in the freestyle and breaststroke. 

Rhinelander was by far the fastest of the three GNC schools in the field. Antigo’s top swimmer was senior Ezra Santiago in 17th. Freshman Jonah Kuba lead Shawano/Seymour in 29th. 

The Hodags kick off GNC play this week with a pair of home dual meets at the Heck Family Community Pool. Rhinelander will host Medford this evening and Lakeland on Thursday. 

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].