Hodag swimmers set to face tight battle at sectionals

The Rhinelander High School boys’ swim team has its sights set on another WIAA state title next Friday night in Waukesha. First thing’s first, however, the Hodags are seeking their seventh straight sectional title — which may be easier said than done.

While Rhinelander is favored to win Saturday’s Division 2 sectional in Ashwaubenon, the result is far from a landslide with the hosting Jaguars right on the Hodags’ heels.

The Hodags enter as only 18-point favorites over the Jaguars, based on sectional psych sheets released Tuesday by the WIAA. 

Despite the close race at sectionals, the Hodags are still projected to fare well at the state level according to the psych sheets, which list who is swimming which events across each of the four Division 2 sectionals Saturday and their fastest time on the season. 

Based on that data, the Hodags are projected to qualify 16 of their 21 entries and trail defending D2 state champ McFarland by only five points entering sectional weekend. 

“I feel that we can only do what we can do. We can only control what we can control. We have to keep with our path and I think everything’s going to work out the way it’s supposed to,” Hodag coach Jenny Heck said. “I think we have a fantastic lineup, the best lineup that we could get, and now we just have to perform.”

The sectional champion in each event gets an automatic spot into next Friday’s WIAA D2 state meet in Waukesha. From there, the next 12 fastest times across all four D2 sectionals round out the field of 16 in each event. 

The Hodags are heavy favorites to win at sectionals in all three relays, seeded nearly six seconds ahead of Ashwaubenon in the 200-yard medley relay, 2.41 seconds ahead of the Jaguars in the 200 freestyle relay and more than eight seconds ahead of Ashwaubenon in the 400 freestyle relay. Rhinelander is seeded in the top two overall in the state in all three relays and has the top time in D2 entering sectionals in the 200 freestyle relay (1:29.53).

    Rhinelander’s Dolan O’Malley competes in the 100-yard backstroke during the GNC championship meet at the Heck Family Community Pool Friday, Feb. 7. O’Malley is the top seed in the Ashwaubenon sectional in the event, ahead of his younger brother, Judson, who is seeded second. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

Senior Samson Shinners is a heavy favorite in the 200 freestyle (1:47.00), seeded 7.6 seconds ahead of Ashwaubenon’s Parker Bohm in the sectional and third overall in the state. Brothers Dolan and Judson O’Malley are seeded 1-2 in the sectional in the 100 backstroke. Dolan O’Malley’s seed time (54.81) is third best in the state while Judson O’Malley’s is eighth (56.96).

Senior Shawn Denis (1:01.06) is projected to win the 100 breaststroke at sectionals, with the fifth-best time statewide, but he’ll have a race on his hands with Ashwaubenon’s Anthony Hendrickson only 0.31 seconds back. 

There will likely be very little bubble watching for the Hodags as, going into Saturday, virtually all of Rhinelander’s entries are either well inside the top 16 or on the outside looking in. 

Dean Gillingham and Dolan O’Malley are seeded second and third in the sectional in the 200 individual medley, but have the sixth- and seventh-best times in the state. It’s a similar story for Mathias Fugle and Denis in the 50 freestyle. Though they’re seeded behind River Falls’ Daniel Carns at sectionals, both have times among the five fastest in the state. 

Fugle and Shinners are also seeded behind Carns in the 100 freestyle, but are third and fourth fastest in the state while Gillingham is seeded eighth statewide in the 100 breaststroke. 

Sophomore Charlie Antonuk is closest to the bubble in his events. He’s seeded 11th overall in the 100 butterfly (57.21) but will need to make up ground in the 100 backstroke. He’s 25th overall in the state in that event (1:01.50), just over two seconds outside the projected top 16. 

“I think we’re in a really great position, but, you know, guys want to beat us. So we’re going to want to get to the wall first and just get ourselves ready and in great position, qualify as many as we can,” Heck said. “Those guys on the edge, we really want to get those guys in, and the rest of the guys just have to qualify and swim fantastic at the following Friday.”

Also on the outside looking in for Rhinelander are Matthew Wood in the 200 freestyle, Christopher Larson in the 100 butterfly, Daniel Meier in the 500 freestyle and Broden Wagner in the 100 breaststroke. All are extreme longshots to qualify, needing to drop nine seconds or more to get within range of the top 16. 

While Rhinelander has the top-end speed, Ashwaubenon’s depth figures to keep things close on Saturday. The Jaguars are particularly loaded in the distance freestyle events with three of the top five seeds in the sectional in the 200 freestyle and three of the top four in the 500 freestyle. Ashwaubenon also has a diver, Isaiah Clayton, who could score anywhere from 13 to 20 points for the Jaguars in an event where the Hodags have no entrant. None of the six divers in the sectional has a seeded performance listed on the WIAA psych sheets. 

The Jaguars provided some tough competition last year as well, finishing only 24 points behind the Hodags in the sectional standings. 

“There are some really fast guys at this meet and they’re going to have great competition, so nothing’s going to be easy at this meet,” Heck said. “I don’t think it’s much different than what we expected, so these guys are ready for them. We swam against all these guys before. There’s not a lot of new competition that we haven’t seen, so I think we’re just mentally prepared and now we’re physically prepared, we just have to do it.”

Saturday’s meet gets underway at noon at the Ashwaubenon High School natatorium.

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].