RHS swimmers down Ladysmith, win Hodag Relays

Swimming at home for the first time this season, the Rhinelander High School girls’ swim team continued its winning ways in a pair of meets late last week.

The Hodags won all 11 events — sweeping the top two spots in nine of them — to defeat the Ladysmith co-op 130-37 Thursday evening in a Great Northern Conference dual. Rhinelander then used nine victories in 10 events to overcome Wausau West’s superior depth and win the Hodag Relays Saturday at the Heck Family Community Pool.

With only five home meets on the schedule all season, coach Jenny Heck said it was good to be home as the campaign hits the one-third mark.

“All the kids had something very positive happen and they really were racing strong,” she said. “There were really a lot of people there, which made for a lot of fun, a lot of noise and excitement. We don’t always have that, so that was appreciated by all of us.”

Rhinelander spread the wealth around its 14-member team. Ten swimmers were part of at least one win in Thursday’s dual against the Tridents. The Hodags had 12 swimmers score a win on Saturday, and they needed each and every one of them to hold off the Warriors. 

With only three schools in Saturday’s field, and a tweak in the format that allowed teams to earn points with more than one relay per event, the Hodags struggled to pull away from a Wausau West squad that was able to field multiple entries in virtually every event. 

The outcome of the meet ultimately came down to a close finish in the penultimate event, the 200-yard freestyle relay. Freshman Kyleigh Kennedy edged a fast-closing Alison Moran to the wall by 0.24 seconds to make winners of a Hodag quartet that included Kiley Pooch, Rylee Mickevicius and Kyree McMahon. The win, which marked the closest finish of the day, was an eight-point swing for the Hodags in a meet they won by six. 

“I know in the last meet Kyleigh was beat a couple of times at the end and this time it was her race,” coach Heck said. “I think she’s learned and didn’t want anyone to beat her. She came off with a personal best.”

Rhinelander set two meet records on Saturday. The quartet of Ellyse Younker, Millie Gruett, Lily Thorsen and Celia Francis posted a time of 4 minutes, 16.67 seconds in the 400 individual medley relay to eclipse the old mark by more than five seconds. Francis, Thorsen, Younker and Vivian Lamers also established a new record in the 400 medley relay, winning that race in 4:08.01.

“Some of the girls went after some records today or were close on some,” coach Heck said. “That’s fun too, considering some of the amazing swimmers we had before us. If we can get any record, that’s really great.”

The Hodags had 10 swimmers win all three of their races on Saturday — Francis, Thorsen, Younker, Gruett, Lamers, June Chiamulera, Emma Houg, Ella Heck, Pooch and Mickevicius. Additionally the quartet of McMahon, Kennedy, Maria Craig and Jordyn Kecker took third in both the 200 medley and 500 decrescendo freestyle relays.

“I think everyone on the team had an opportunity to score, which is important,” coach Heck said. “Wausau had 24 swimmers and those B relays were a lot of points. For us to still have more points with 14 girls I think was really telling of our depth.”

Much of Thursday’s competition for Rhinelander came from within the squad. The Hodags recorded nine 1-2 finishes in the dual against the Tridents and swept the top three spots in five of the eight individual events. 

The racing was particularly strong in the freestyle races during the first half of the meet. Younker (2:05.46) edged out Chiamulera by 0.48 seconds to win the 200 freestyle. Pooch completed the top-three sweep there. Lamers (25.69), Ella Heck and Mickevicius went 1-2-3 in the 50 freestyle. Lamers and Heck were separated by 0.16 seconds and the gap between the top three was 0.83 seconds.

“That was a good race with June pushing Ellyse,” coach Heck said. “They had some good times in that 200 free. I think that made June a little faster an Ellyse too. They were kind of with each other the whole race. The 50 free was also strong.”

Later in the meet Francis (56.47), Chiamulera and Mickevicius went 1-2-3 in the 100 freestyle, Pooch (1:05.47), Thorsen and Gruett swept the top three in the 100 backstroke and Ella Heck (1:10.21) edged Francis by 0.32 seconds in the 100 breaststroke to lead a top-three sweep that included Lamers.

    Rhinelander’s Emma Houg competes in the 500-yard freestyle during a GNC dual meet against Ladysmith at the Heck Family Community Pool Thursday, Sept. 12. Houg won that event and the 200 individual medley in the Hodags’ 130-37 win. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

Houg won both the 200 individual medley (2:22.60) and 500 freestyle (5:46.97) for the Hodags on Thursday, leading a 1-2 finish with Thorsen in the IM. Younker (1:00.43) and Gruett went 1-2 in the 100 butterfly.

The Hodags took the top two spots in the final two relays on the card. The team of Gruett, Mickevicius, Ella Heck and Francis (1:44.13) edged Chiamulera, Pooch, Thorsen and Younker by 0.76 seconds to win the 200 freestyle relay. Chiamulera, Thorsen, Pooch and Lamers took the 400 freestyle relay (3:56.95) over the quartet of Houg, Mickevicius, Gruett and McMahon.

Rhinelander won the opening 200 medley relay (1:50.84) with the team of Francis, Ella Heck, Younker and Lamers.

On both Thursday and Saturday, coach Heck noted she was pleased to see time drops and personal bests from a number of swimmers, which may bode well for the team’s ultimate goals as they look to defend their WIAA Division 2 state crown in November. In particular, coach Heck noted a number of sophomores who either narrowly qualified for or narrowly missed the state meet last year — Chiamulera, Ella Heck, Mickevicius and Pooch — have seen a recent uptick in performance.

“When those girls are dropping time, getting personal bests at a meet midseason, that is exactly what we need,” she said. “They need to step up because it’s those kids, that maybe didn’t have a chance to perform last year that we’re depending on. They know it and they’re after it and they’re excited about the opportunity.”

The Hodags also were able to debut their new, full-color scoreboard for the first time in competition Thursday and Saturday. Despite working through a couple of teething issues early in Thursday’s meet, coach Heck said the scoreboard was a major improvement over the previous iteration.

“I appreciate it as a coach because it’s so much easier to get splits,” she said. “We’re really thankful for the school and the booster club to provide us with such a great board. We can put the records on top, so we can see those. We weren’t able to do that with our last board, and get the splits (displayed) longer.”

The Hodags are home again Thursday to face Medford at the Heck Pool. The Raiders and the Hodags are two of three remaining unbeatens through two weeks of conference action. Medford, last year’s GNC runner-up, finished only a couple of points behind Rhinelander last month in the Menomonie Relays. Though that meet, like the Hodag Relays, tended to favor depth over raw speed, coach Heck said the Raiders should provide a good test on Thursday.

“They have a lot of swimmers and a lot of depth. They’re going to have those B relays that can score points. They’re fast and they have depth,” she said.

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].