Hodag swimmers take 3rd at state

WAUKESHA — The Rhinelander High School girls’ swim team relinquished the WIAA Division 2 state crown Friday night, but the Hodags made sure they went down with a fight.

Rhinelander came home third at the D2 state meet in Waukesha, finishing behind the two teams it beat for last year’s D2 title — Whitefish Bay and Madison Edgewood. 

Despite the team result, there was plenty for the Hodags to be proud of on Friday night. Projected to finish 53 points behind Edgewood for the runner-up spot, based on seeding going into the meet, the Hodags made serious inroads and trimmed the final margin to only 19 points. Rhinelander finished the night with 251 points, 28 more than their projected total. The Hodags were best in the field in that metric. 

Individually, sophomore Celia Francis repeated what she did last year at state — winning the championship in the 200-yard individual medley and taking second in the 100 backstroke. The Hodags placed in the top three in all three relays and had 10 podium finishes among their 18 entries in the meet. 

“This team this year has felt like family. We may not have done what we wanted to today, but we swam like a family today,” senior co-captain Lily Thorsen said afterward. “Everyone was swimming for each other. I couldn’t be more proud of us for sticking together.”

“That’s all we could do,” coach Jenny Heck added. “When you have each girl giving it their all every step of the way, doing it for each other, these girls are so happy. There were tears and the tears weren’t of sadness. Of course, we wanted that trophy, but they were tears of happiness. They enjoyed this year together. It was such a united team and that’s something no trophy can display. That’s something they’ll never take away from these girls.” 

    Rhinelander’s Celia Francis competes in the breaststroke leg of the 200-yard individual medley during the WIAA Division 2 state girls’ swim meet in Waukesha Friday, Nov. 15. Francis defended her state championship in the event, posting a winning time of 2 minutes, 5.34 seconds. (Jeremy Mayo/River News)
  

Francis, seeded second in the IM entering the night, led the event wire-to-wire as she posted a time of 2 minutes, 5.34 seconds to beat out top-seeded Cheyenne Borroughs of Stoughton by 2.01 seconds. Francis went 3.8 seconds faster than she did last year when she won the IM as a freshman. 

“I knew she was a back-end swimmer, so I really didn’t know until the last 50 really,” Francis said of her race against Borroughs, who won the 100 breaststroke later in the program. “Even in the last 25 I was like, ‘Don’t let her catch you.’ It was fun.”

“She went after it and she was in control the whole way,” coach Heck said. “She’s had ups and downs throughout the season, like all of us, and she really came on strong. Her breast and freestyle looked fantastic. That was a fun race to watch and it’s a hard race to do. She did extremely well and it was a fantastic time for her.”

Francis went on to drop nearly a half second in the backstroke later in the evening, but it was not enough to catch Whitefish Bay freshman Maggie Dickinson, who smashed the D2 state record in the event with a time of 53.28 seconds. That eclipsed the previous mark of 54.39 held by Francis’s older sister, Malia. Celia Francis’s finish of 55.39 was the seventh-fastest all-time in D2 at the state meet.

“Maggie had an incredibly fast time. When you’re swimming against that, she swam amazing,” coach Heck said. “When you can post a time like that, that’s amazing. Then she got out and swam a fantastic first leg of the 400 free relay.”

Rhinelander’s other chance to win came at the start of the night in the 200 medley relay, but Whitefish Bay rallied over the final 100 yards to win. Francis started that relay and fell 0.78 seconds behind Dickinson in the backstroke leg. Sophomore Ella Heck gave Rhinelander the lead in the breaststroke leg but senior Ellyse Younker was passed by eventual 100 butterfly state champ Aibhy King as Whitefish Bay took a 0.14-second lead to the anchor leg. Freshman Julia Burrall outdueled Thorsen as the Blue Dukes won by 0.41 seconds (1:46.75).

Rhinelander was also runner-up to Whitefish Bay in the 400 freestyle relay, but the Dukes led wire-to-wire there, winning by 5.50 seconds over the Hodag quartet of Francis, sophomore June Chiamulera, Younker and Lamers. The Hodags were third in the 200 freestyle relay (1:38.57) with the team of Ella Heck, Millie Gruett, Thorsen and Lamers. 

“Those relays did everything I could of asked them to do,” coach Heck said. “Everyone thinks that could have done better if they would have done this or if they would have done that. You can always say that, but it’s a team and it’s putting it all together. Not everything is perfect, but they sure put up a hell of a fight. In my eyes, that’s almost the best we could do.”

Lamers had a big individual meet as she got back on the podium in both sprint freestyle races. Swimming out of the slower first heat based on her sectional qualifying times, Lamers won the opener in both events with times that held up to place in the top five. She came home fifth in the 50 freestyle (24.51) and fourth in the 100 freestyle (53.42) after taking third and fifth, respectively, in those events last year. 

“I’ve been working hard all season. (Despite) not seeing exactly the times I wanted at sectionals, I was confident coming in,” Lamers said. “I knew I put in the work. I was just ready to show what I had after working so hard. It was such a relief to be back to where I was, even a little faster.”

    Rhinelander’s Ellyse Younker competes in the 100-yard butterfly during the WIAA Division 2 state girls’ swim meet in Waukesha Friday, Nov. 15. Younker placed fifth in the event. (Jeremy Mayo/River News)
  

In her final meet as a Hodag, Younker reached the podium in an individual event for the first time, coming home fourth in the 100 butterfly (58.75). She barely missed the podium in that event last year, finishing seventh. 

“I was just very excited to finally do that for myself and for my team. I was glad I was able to do that for them,” she said.

Younker wasn’t Rhinelander’s only podium finisher in the butterfly, sophomore Rylee Mickevicius posted a big time as she won the first heat and her mark of 59.13 held up for fifth place. She dropped more than two seconds from her time at sectionals and, in a matter of a year, went from being left off the Hodags’ sectional lineup to a podium finisher at state. 

“I didn’t think it was real at first,” Mickevicius said. “When I learned I made it on the podium, I just started balling. I said I was going to make podium, but I didn’t know if it was actually going to happen. I’m just really happy with my race and the time I dropped.”

Ella Heck rounded out the podium finishes for Rhinelander, taking fifth in the 100 breaststroke (1:07.00). As was the theme for the night, Heck dropped more than a second from sectionals and matched her fifth-place qualifying spot after placing 16th in the event at state a year ago.

“She was last in it (at state) last year and now she’s on the podium and she had a full meet of four events,” coach Heck said. “That’s a lot of pressure, a lot to learn. I’m really proud of her, not just as her mom, but just to see her growth and confidence. She went from kind of a scared freshman to a confident sophomore. That’s what we’re going to need moving forward.”

Thorsen narrowly missed the podium in the breaststroke, coming home seventh at 1:08.31. That was 0.49 seconds outside the top six. Still, the time was a lifetime best for Thorsen, who has verbally committed to swim at UW-Green Bay. 

“The only thing that would have made it better was to have Lily on the podium in the breaststroke, being seventh,” coach Heck said. “Lily, she’s really been working on that breaststroke this year and she hasn’t swam that fast in a long time. She’s never taking it out that fast. She’s going to be swimming that in college. That’s going to give her a lot of confidence for the next four years of her career.”

Ella Heck added a 10th-place swim for the Hodags in the 50 freestyle, Thorsen took 11th in the 200 IM, Mickevicius was 12th in the 200 freestyle, Gruett was 13th in the 100 butterfly, junior Emma Houg was 14th in the 200 IM, sophomore Kiley Pooch was 14th in the 100 backstroke and Younker finished 15th in the IM.

    Rhinelander senior Lily Thorsen hugs teammate June Chiamulera following the conclusion of the WIAA Division 2 state girls’ swim meet in Waukesha Friday, Nov. 15. Mickevicius placed fifth in the event. (Jeremy Mayo/River News)
  

While the Hodags were satisfied with their performance on Friday, there were tears afterward as the squad’s demanding season of training and racing came to an end. Lamers, in particular, got emotional speaking about the impact the two seniors — Younker and Thorsen — had on the team. 

“Swimming with these girls growing up my entire life, having the best bond with the best team this year has meant so much to me,” she said while tears streamed down her face. “It going to be so hard to see these two seniors go who have played a huge role in my life and my swimming career. They’ve impacted me so much. It’s just hard to watch them go.”

Added Ella Heck, “I had my teammate Lily to push me throughout the last two years and I wouldn’t be the swimmer I am with out her. I want to thank her and Ellyse. I loved swimming with them. It was a great year with all the girls.”

The feeling was mutual for the seniors, who in their four years finished second, fourth, first and third at the state meet.

“These girls make swimming the sport that it is to me,” Thorsen said. “Hodag swimming has been so much more than the state trophies we’ve brought home. These girls, I couldn’t ask for any more.”

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].