Notebook: Hodag swimmers entering season in stride

The Rhinelander High School girls’ swim team was 13 strong on Tuesday as practice opened for the 2025 season.

For virtually the entire squad, however, practice was a continuation of work put in during the summer as the team looks to continue a dynastic run that has included six straight GNC titles, six straight sectional titles and five straight top-four finishes at the WIAA D2 state meet. 

Coach Jenny Heck said that dedication by the swimmers has been the secret to the team’s success.

“I mean, you look at the success we had and it’s not from swimming three months a year,” she said. “These kids really know that they need to work on specific things off of high school season — meaning technical work, strength and the weight room — and they really hit it hard, all of them. 

“They know that if you want to be good, you can do so much, but if you want to be great, you have to do extra. It’s kind of been our motto, ‘How good do you want to be?’ We have such a talented group of girls that are really motivated. When you have a situation like that, you got to take it and roll with it.”

This summer was not much different from the last few years for a squad, aside from who was leading the training. A change in the WIAA constitution this past spring allowed Heck to have contact with the team virtually all summer as opposed to five contact days in the past.  

“Typically they swam through Rhinelander Swim Club, or through a club team, and now they were able to swim without contact issues with me being there. So it wasn’t really any different,” she said. 

Either way, the Hodags looked sharp in day one of practice.

“This was probably the most seamless transition in from summer swim that I’ve had since started coaching,” she said. “I mean, a lot of times I’m teaching drills at this point and going over a lot of specifics, and all 13 of these girls were swimming all summer long, swimming together, we’re on the same page.”

While the Hodags still have very high expectations this season, they will be down one key piece of the lineup. Heck said Celia Francis and her family have relocated out of the state. Francis, a junior, was the two-time defending WIAA D2 state champion in the 200-yard individual medley and the state runner-up each of the last two years in the 100 backstroke. 

“Celia was so great in every event, and  had great success at, the higher levels — sectionals, state. So that’s and for our relays, you know, too. So you know, that’s a huge loss,” Heck said.

However, with six returning swimmers on the roster who have state meet experience, Heck was quick to point out, while Francis’s loss leaves a void, it’s one many are eager to fill.

“They know that there’s positions open, and now it’s going to be who’s going to work hardest to fill those roles and those points? Because it’s not going to be one person. It’s gonna take the whole team to up their game, to fill such big roles,” she said.

Heck noted that while the 13 swimmers on the roster currently have previous swim experience, the team is open and welcoming to new swimmers.

“You can also join this team and be a valuable part without experience,” she said. “(Assistant coach) Brent (Olson) and I have a lot of experience in teaching ... We encourage kids who are new to the sport  to join as well as more experienced swimmers.” 

The Hodags begin competition this coming Thursday with Fun in the Sun Relays in Merrill.

Hodag tennis doubling up to start practice

    Willow Mutter, left, and Jordan Manske work on a drill at the net during Rhinelander High School girls’ tennis practice at the RHS tennis courts Tuesday, Aug. 12. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

Matt Nichols is beginning his sixth season at the helm of the RHS girls’ tennis team by doing something he has never done before. 

Rhinelander has run two-a-day practices this week in an effort to get a jump on the season. 

The morning and evening sessions serve two specific purposes. The morning sessions have been primarily skill-focused while the evenings have focused on competition and trying to sort out the starting lineup going into next week’s season-opening matches. 

“This is the first time we’ve done that. I think it’ll be a great balance between practicing skills, developing fundamentals, but getting that match play in, which I don’t think we’ve always had,” Nichols said after Tuesday morning’s opening practice. “You can be a good hitter, but a bad player, so we’re really focusing on that.”

In reality the Hodags need the extra time to both work on skills and solidify a lineup after graduating six seniors, who held down the Nos. 1 and 2 flights in both singles and doubles. However, with 23 players at Tuesday’s opening practice, Nichols said there is no shortage of players looking to fill those roles. 

“I think there’s a lot of excitement and I think there are a lot of people who are also, they’re itching to get into (position) playoffs,” He said. “They want to know where they’re going to sit. There’s a lot of people who have put in time in the offseason. There’s a couple, I would say sophomores, namely, that were JV last year that are going to be probably competing for a varsity, if not some of the top varsity flights. So it’s going to be an exciting week to see not only where practice goes, but also where this lineup shakes out.”

Nichols said the WIAA’s contact changes over the summer didn’t not affect his program greatly. A number of players took part in a six-week camp during the summer but, otherwise, Nichols said it was a matter of trying to find balance. 

“I can appreciate the change because I think it kind of levels the playing field for all the schools, but I struggle with trying to find the balance between kids still having their summer and having tennis,” he said. “So we really didn’t do anything required. We had some more opportunities for practice playoffs. We had match play. and then the camp, but nothing beyond that.”

The Hodags will scrimmage Wausau West Saturday at the RHS tennis courts and then travel to Bay Port Monday and Tuesday for a two-day invite to open the season. 

This week marked the second wave of fall practices starting. The Hodag girls’ golf team also held its inaugural practice on Tuesday (see related story). With football already underway, only three fall sports have yet to begin. Cross country, boys’ soccer and girls’ volleyball will all begin practice this coming Monday.  

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].