Hodags swimmers down Medford, Shawano in double dual

The Rhinelander High School boys’ swim team returned from the winter break in good form on Tuesday, claiming all 11 events as it defeated Shawano/Seymour 130-35 and Medford 128-37 in a Great Northern Conference double dual in Medford.

Though the Hodags have been idle from competition since Dec. 17, the word “break” may be a bit of a misnomer. The team put in some of its most intense training of the season in the three weeks between meets, and coach Jenny Heck said the results showed on Tuesday. 

“These guys really swam great,” she said. “I think everybody had at least one race that was season best and just really, really fantastic.”

Nine different Hodags were part of at least one victory on the evening, led by senior Dolan O’Malley. He won all four of his events, capturing the 200-yard freestyle (1 minute, 57.27 seconds) and the 100 freestyle (53.90) individually. He was also on the Hodags’ winning 200 and 400 freestyle relay teams. 

    Rhinelander’s Dean Gillingham swims the breaststroke leg of the 200-yard medley relay during a GNC double dual against Medford and Shawano/Seymour in Medford Tuesday, Jan. 7. (Matt Frey/Star News)
  

Two other Hodags won two individual events each. Freshman Dean Gillingham took the 100 butterfly (59.73) and the 100 backstroke (1:01.60), and senior Shawn Denis captured wins in both the 50 freestyle (22.76) and the 500 freestyle (5:14.44).

Samson Shinners added a win in the 200 individual medley (2:06.40) and Mathias Fugle won the 100 breaststroke (1:07.56).

“Dolan O’Malley was under the 2-minute mark in the 200 free and that was his goal. Samson had a really great 2:06 (time in the) 200 IM, looked really strong,” Heck noted. “Shawn Denis had an amazing 500 free. I’ve never seen him swim that fast long distance before. He’s like probably at the top of the (GNC) leaderboard right now so he had a fantastic night. That was probably the surprise of the night, really great.”

Denis’s time in the 500 does in fact top the GNC leaderboard, 0.29 seconds faster than Shinners posted in the conference opener against Medford Dec. 3. Conference double-dual meets to not count in the team standings, however times from those meets are factored into the conference leaderboard for individual events.

Rhinelander went 1-2 in all three relays as it tried to set the lineup for close intra-squad battles. The team of Judson O’Malley, Shawn Denis, Fugle and freshman Paul Denis took the 200 medley relay (1:51.14) by 3.68 seconds over Charlie Antonuk, Gillingham, Shinners and Daniel Meier. The O’Malley brothers, Paul Denis and Matthew Wood took the 200 freestyle relay (1:44.69) by 2.96 seconds over Christopher Larson, Broden Wagner, Meier and Fugle. Antonuk, Gillingham, Wood and Dolan O’Malley made up the winning quartet in the 400 freestyle relay (3:44.61), winning that race by 4.23 seconds over Shawn Denis, Larson, Wagner and Shinners. 

“We had have some really good splits. We mixed up to relays. We had all them racing each other so the kids had some good opportunities,” Heck said. 

The Hodags got individual runner-up finishes from Antonuk in the 50 freestyle and 500 freestyle, Judson O’Malley in the 200 freestyle and 100 breaststroke, Fugle in the 200 IM and Shinners in the 100 backstroke. 

Larson added third-place swims in the 200 freestyle and 100 freestyle while Meier was third in the 100 butterfly. 

“Some of our new guys just really went fast. Matthew Wood had a fantastic meet, dropping like 30 seconds in his 500 free, got automatic lettering time. I think they’re really seeing the benefits of the Christmas training. We’re seeing the results now, like all those freshman swam really fast,” Heck said. “Overall, I was really happy with their swims and makes me feel a little more optimistic for Saturday. We’re really going to be trying to swim some of our best events against some good competition.”

The Hodags travel to Ashwaubenon on Saturday for the 14-team Jaguar Invite. The field features Bay Port, which won the Hodag Relays, as well as Ashwaubenon, which figures to be one of the Hodags’ top rivals for WIAA sectional competition next month.

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].