Hodag swimmers down SPASH 100-70

STEVENS POINT — In a showdown of defending conference champions Wednesday night in Stevens Point the smaller, Division 2 school reigned supreme. 

Of course, the Rhinelander Hodags are no ordinary D2 program, coming off their second state title in four years. Pushed by the Wisconsin Valley Conference champion SPASH Panthers on Wednesday, the reigning GNC champion Hodags still claimed six events, added eight runner-up finishes and won 100-70 in a non-conference dual meet.

A number of races came down to the wire as the Panthers had the top-end speed to keep up with, and even beat, some of Rhinelander’s best. Ultimately, the Hodags’ depth ruled the day in what coach Jenny Heck called a great early-season matchup for her squad. 

“That was some great racing tonight. Everybody had someone to race. When you get opportunities like that, that’s what we’re looking for,” she said. “It makes us better. We’re looking for that. We’ve got to practice swimming four fast events, with not a lot of time (in between). When you have that competition, that gets the most out of you.”

    Rhinelander’s Ella Heck competes in the 100-yard breaststroke during a non-conference girls’ swimming dual meet in Stevens Point Wednesday, Aug. 28. Heck won the event with a time of 1 minute, 12.62 seconds. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

Rhinelander’s depth — especially in the sprint freestyle events and the breaststroke — proved to be the difference. The Hodags swept the top three spots in the 100-yard freestyle with Lily Thorsen (57.83 seconds), Kiley Pooch and June Chiamulera. Vivian Lamers (25.85) and Ella Heck went 1-2 in the 50 freestyle and then swapped roles to do the same in the 100 breaststroke, with Heck (1:12.62) getting the win in that event. 

Though Rhinelander did not win the night-ending 400 freestyle relay, the Hodags went 2-3 in the event and had six swimmers post sub-60 second splits. The other two had splits under 1:00.50.

“Those kids have really been pushing each other at practice,” coach Heck said. “They’re making each other better because they’re racing all the time. They know we need that depth and need fast freestylers for relays. They’re working hard.”

The showdown of the night pitted Rhinelander’s Celia Francis against SPASH’s Klare Pilger in all four of their events. Pilger, who finish fifth in last year’s D1 state meet in the 200 IM and ninth in the 100 backstroke, got the better of Francis, the D2 200 IM state champ and 100 backstroke runner-up, in three of the four races. 

Francis got Pilger by 0.16 seconds with a 27.13-second split in the backstroke leg to open the 200 medley relay at the start of the night. With Ella Heck, Ellyse Younker and Lamers, Rhinelander ended up winning that event (1:51.47) by 1.53 seconds. 

Otherwise, Pilger had the upper hand. She won the IM (2:11.28) by more than 5.6 seconds over Francis, rallied over the final 25 yards to out-touch Francis by 0.11 seconds for the win in the 100 backstroke (58.73) and then made up a nearly three-second gap on Francis in the anchor leg of the 400 freestyle relay to lead the Panthers to a win in that event (3:50.66). 

“It’s going to make Celia better. She knew what she had to do. She’ll learn from it,” coach Heck said. “You review it, see what you did good, what you can work on and that’s what it’s all about. She really fought for it. She had that 100 back until the finish. I was really proud.”

Younker (1:01.54) scored a win for the Hodags in the 100 butterfly while Rhinelander took the 200 freestyle relay with the quartet of Thorsen, Millie Gruett, Ella Heck and Lamers (1:44.06).

Thorsen nearly added a seventh win for Rhinelander, but was nipped at the wall by 0.06 seconds by Jordan Trezbiatowski in the 200 freestyle (2:07.14). Rylee Mickevicius added a runner-up swim in the 500 freestyle. Younker, Thorsen, Pooch and Francis made up the runner-up team in the 400 freestyle relay.

Emma Houg added a third-place swim in the 200, Younker was third in the IM, Gruett took third in the 100 butterfly and Pooch finished third in the backstroke. Rhinelander also took third with its B entries in the 200 medley (Pooch, Kyree McMahon, Mickevicus, Chimaulera) and 400 freestyle (Gruett, Mickevicus, Houg, Chiamulera) relays. 

“They all had a really good attitude about this meet. They knew it was going to be a lot of hard work and they were ready for a challenge,” coach Heck said. “For as sore as what they are — and I know because I do part of their workout, maybe a tenth of what they do and I can hardly walk today — I give them a lot of credit. That makes me really optimistic for the season.”

The Hodags will begin their Great Northern Conference title defense this coming Thursday on the road at Antigo. 

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].