RHS Sports recap: Saturday, Dec. 13

Boys’ swim: Rhinelander 2nd/6, Hodag Relays

The trio of Judson O’Malley, Dean Gillingham and Charlie Antonuk set three meet records on Saturday as the RHS boys’ swim team took second in the Hodag Relays at the Heck Family Community Pool.

The three combined for all three of Rhinelander’s wins. They took the 300-yard butterfly relay, the 300 backstroke relay and the 150 mixer medley relay. 

Rhinelander added a runner-up finish in the 300 breaststroke relay with Kaleb Lehmann, Paul Denis and Broden Wagner and finished third in the six other events. 

Bay Port won seven events and beat Rhinelander by 26 points for the team title. 

The Hodags are back in action Tuesday night in a GNC dual at Lakeland.

Gymnastics: Rhinelander 3rd/7, Snowflake Invite

The Rhinelander High School gymnastics team had a strong season debut, scoring 125.65 points as it took third in the seven-team Snowflake Invite Saturday at the YMCA of the Northwoods in Rhinelander. 

The mark was nearly four points higher than the team’s best score from 2024-25 and its best since posting a 127.15 in a meet in Escanaba in 2012. 

Emeline Hintz led Rhinelander, taking eighth in the all-around with a career-high score of 32.075. Karly Gillingham was ninth with a 31.8 and Alexis Smith finished 10th with a 30.925.

Smith was Rhinelander’s top finisher in two events, taking fourth on vault (8.75) and sixth on floor exercise (8.475). Hintz tied for fifth on balance beam (8.4) and Gillingham led the Hodags with a 13th-place finish on uneven bars (7.0).

Rhinelander beat all the GNC Small Division teams in the field. Marshfield scored 136.475 to beat fellow GNC Large team Medford by just more than four points for the team title. 

The Hodags are back in action Thursday as they host Ashland and Lakeland in a non-conference triangular. 

Wrestling: RHS boys 18th/21, girls N/A, Rebel Invite

The Rhinelander High School boys’ wrestling team took 18th on Saturday in the 21-team Laona/Wabeno/Three Lakes Rebel Invite in Crandon. 

The Hodags had six varsity wrestlers on the day, only one of whom placed. That was Gage Anderson, who finished sixth at 157 pounds. Avrom Barr (144) and Ivan Loka (132) both one two matches or the day but were unable to make it to the placement rounds. The Hodags had six more wrestlers compete in the JV division, taking a pair of first there with Weston Kibler (138) and Noah Leisure (157).

No girls’ team scores were posted, however three of the five Hodags who competed won matches on Saturday. Cassidy Lindner went 4-0 on the day with three pins to take first in the 126 to 132-pound bracket. She nearly wrestled teammate Katie Hazelton in the final, but Hazleton lost in the semifinals before coming back to take the third place match. 

Skylar Leitl won two matches and took third in the 152-165 bracket. Nevaeh Anderson was fifth in the same bracket while Miranda Daab was third in a three-wrestler bracket at 235. 

The Hodag girls will be back in action Tuesday in a GNC/WVC challenge match at Wausau East while the Hodag boys will travel to Mosinee for a GNC dual on Thursday.

Full reports will be published in the Friday, Dec. 19 edition of the River News.