RHS Sports recap: Saturday, Feb. 15

Boys’ swimming: Rhinelander 1st/11, WIAA D2 sectionals

The Rhinelander High School boys’ swim team won its seventh straight sectional championship on Saturday, edging host Ashwaubenon by 23 points in a WIAA D2 sectional. 

The Hodags won six events at sectionals and advanced 15 entries overall to the WIAA state meet. 

Rhinelander won all three relays. Dolan O’Malley, Shawn Denis, Charlie Antonuk and Judson O’Malley won the 200 medley relay. Denis, Dean Gillingham, Samson Shinners and Mathias Fugle won the 200 freestyle relay and Shinners, Fugle and the O’Malley brothers won the 400 freestyle relay.

Shinners added a victory in the 200 freestyle, Antonuk took the 100 butterfly and Judson O’Malley claimed the 100 backstroke. 

In addition to the sectional winners, the following Hodags earned at-large entries to state: Fugle (50 freestyle, 100 freestyle), Dolan O’Malley (200 individual medley, 100 backstroke), Gillingham (200 individual medley, 100 backstroke),  Denis (50 freestyle, 100 breaststroke) and Shinners (100 freestyle).

The WIAA D2 state meet will take place this coming Friday in Waukesha.

Boys’ hockey: Medford 4, Rhinelander 3, 2OT

A third-period comeback was not enough for the RHS boys’ hockey team, which fell in double overtime to Medford 4-3 Saturday in the seventh-place game of the Great Northern Conference tournament at the Rhinelander Ice Arena. 

Dylan Shefveland scoring the tying goal with 1:55 left in regulation as the Hodags rallied from down 3-1 after two periods to force overtime. After neither team scored in the 5-on-5 session, Medford’s Tucker Phillips scored 27 seconds into 3-on-3 to win it for the Raiders. 

Carson Plehn and Drake Nelson also scored for Rhinelander, which outshot Medford 50-27 in the contest. Asher Rivord made 23 saves in the loss. 

Rhinelander (3-21-0, 0-9-0-1 Great Northern) will face Tomahawk Thursday in the first round of the WIAA tournament.

Wrestling: RHS boys 11th/13, WIAA Regionals

The Rhinelander High School wrestling team advances two wrestlers on to sectionals in an 11th-place performance Saturday in a WIAA Division 2 regional in Hayward. 

Logan Schwinger and Reid Schultz scored runner-up finishes at 190 and 285 pounds, respectively, to move on. They were the only of the 10 Hodags who wrestled to reach the podium.

Sectionals will take place next Saturday in Amery.

Gymnastics: RHS 6th/8, Ashland Invite

The Rhinelander High School gymnastics team posted its highest team score in seven years on Saturday, scoring a 120.55 as it came home sixth in the eight-team Valentines Invite in Ashland.

Rhinelander had four gymnasts grouped together in the all-around. Addison Fish led the Hodags, taking 16th with a 29.85. Alexis Smith and Sam Aschenbrenner tied for 17th (29.85) and Wendy Fronk took 19th (29.6).

Fronk had Rhinelander’s best score on balance beam and floor exercise, breaking into the 8s in both events as she took 13th and 18th, respectively, in those events. Smith (12th) led the Hodags on the vault and Emeline Hintz (22nd) paced the Hodags on uneven bars.

The Hodags will head to Stevens Point next Saturday for the Great Northern Conference meet. 

Snowboarding: RHS/NPHS boys 6th/10, WIARA State Meet

The RHS/Northland Pines boys’ snowboard team finished in the middle of the pack, coming home sixth at the WIARA State Meet Saturday in La Crosse. 

The Hodags had two individual top-10 finishes as Marshal Durkee took eighth overall and Soren Dumar, buoyed by a runner-up finish in boardercross, came home ninth. Kamden Kostrova honed 24th and Owen Sarkauskas was 39th.

Sydney Sarkauskas, the lone girls’ boarder on the squad, placed in the top 15 in all three events to take 11th overall.

The Hodag boys’ and girls’ ski teams will hit the slopes Sunday and Monday for their portion of the state meet.

Full reports will be published in Tuesday’s River News.