Hodag swimmers take six events at Menomonie Relays

The Rhinelander High School girls’ swim team perhaps didn’t have the deepest squad last Saturday at the Menomonie Relays, but it’s hard to argue that the Hodags had the fastest team in the field.

The Hodags won six of the nine events but came home in a tie for second in the eight-team invite. That was thanks in large part to a unique scoring format that put an emphasis on depth over speed. There was only a two-point gap per position and B relays scored, unlike the season-opening Merrill Invite which followed a championship scoring system that put more weight on winning races and allowed only one scoring relay per team. 

Ultimately, a pair of B relay disqualifications kept Rhinelander from winning the team trophy as they finished eight points behind Rice Lake and tied Medford for the runner-up spot. However, coach Jenny Heck said she was pleased with how the team performed in the water.

“I just would say we were super strong. We were out there just swimming fast and we really showed how well-rounded we were in our diversity,” she said. “All these girls are able to swim all four strokes really fast. That was fun to watch and we tried to put them in some different events than they swim at the Merrill meet. We got some good split and some good times.”

When Rhinelander won races, it won by a sizeable margin. The Hodags took the 400-yard individual medley relay by more than 16 seconds, swam to a 13 1/2-second win the 200 backstroke relay and won by nearly 17 1/2 seconds in the 400 (8x50) freestyle relay.

Nine different Hodags found the winner’s circle on Saturday, led by Ella Heck, June Chiamulera, Millie Gruett and Rylee Mickevicius, who had four wins each. Emma Houg, Vivian Lamers and Kiley Pooch were on three winning relays.

Houg, Ella Heck, Lamers and Chiamulera opened the day with a win in the 200 medley relay (1:54.44). Gruett, Pooch, Mickevicius and Ella Heck followed with a win one 400 IM relay (4:20.06). Gruett, Chiamulera, freshman Aubree Edwardson and Mickevicius claimed the 200 butterfly relay (1:58.11); Mickevicius, Gruett, Houg and Lamers took the 200 backstroke relay (1:57.57). and Ella Heck, Pooch, freshman Lola Beach and Chiamulera won the 200 breaststroke relay (2:15.57). 

“The returning swimmers we’re trying to get them in to see their times and compare them to last year,” coach Heck said. “I thought they all did really well also. Overall, I was just pleased with our sprinting and that’s what we’re focusing on right now.”

Rhinelander perhaps saved its best for last with a commanding win in the 8x50 freestyle. The squad of Houg, Ella Heck, Edwardson, Lamers, Chiamulera, Gruett, Mickevicius and Pooch came home with a time of 3:31.03. That’s an average of 26.38 seconds per 50-yard split and three swimmers — Heck, Lamers and Pooch had sub-26 second splits.

“When you can get 25s at this early on in the season, I think that’s really good,” coach Heck said.

Rhinelander added a pair of runner-up finishes on the day. Edwardson, Kyleigh Kennedy, Kyree McMahon and Beach took second in the 200 freestyle relay. Beach, Houg, Lamers and Pooch were second in the 850 freestyle crescendo relay. 

Saturday’s meet was the second of three non-conference relay meets for the Hodags to start the season. The last was the Hodags Relays which took place Wednesday and concluded after press time for today’s edition. 

Coach Heck said the relays are a good way to get splits on swimmers in multiple different strokes while working on speed prior to the start of the conference duals.

“I think that’s good to get some early meets in get some sprints in. The relay meets are a fun way to do that,” she said.

Rhinelander opens GNC with a double dual at home against Antigo and Medford this coming Thursday at the Heck Family Community Pool. 

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].