Hodag swimmers win double dual, take 2nd in Appleton

The Rhinelander High School boys’ swim team had back-to-back days of successful swimming, sweeping both ends of a Great Northern Conference double dual at Lakeland on Thursday before finishing second in the eight-team Lightning Invite in Appleton on Friday.

The Hodags took all 11 events Thursday as they defeated Antigo 131-35 and Lakeland 137-22 and then went on to claim five events Friday as they finished only 18 points behind Division-1 Oregon for the top spot.

“It was such a fun meet. Although we came in second, we didn’t put our top lineup in,” coach Jenny Heck said after Friday’s competition. “We wanted to go after some different events than we did in Ashwaubenon. We also have small school state next week, so we’re trying to see where the kids can really race to get better times and I think that’s exactly what they did tonight.” 

Senior Mathias Fugle played a role in three of the Hodags’ five wins on Friday. Individually, he took the 200-yard freestyle (1 minute, 49.90 seconds), the 50 freestyle (22.67) and was on the team’s winning 200 freestyle relay with Samson Shinners, Judson O’Malley and Shawn Denis (1:30.08). 

“Bubba (Fugle) just had a fantastic meet,” Heck said. “He hasn’t swam 200 free really all season and then just it looked as if coming out of nowhere. He really swam it smart to go 1:49.”

Shinners, meanwhile, claimed the 100 freestyle for Rhinelander (49.35) and was the runner-up in the 200 individual medley (2:05.42). He made up three seconds over the final 50 yards in that race to finish only 0.24 seconds behind winner Rylen Phillips of Green Bay United. 

“Samson came back really strong, came from behind. The top three guys were neck and neck and he almost got in it. You know not the win, but second place with a fantastic 2:05 time, I was happy with Samson. He looked really strong, especially the second half of that IM,” coach Heck said. “Samson’s 100 free was really good at a 49.3. He was happy with that. He was strong and powerful the whole way and you know he’s really good at that event.”

Dolan O’Malley recorded Rhinelander’s final victory on Friday, taking the 100 backstroke (56.21) as he held off Appleton West/Kimberly’s Tyler VanGompel by 0.12 seconds at the wall.

“Dolan had a really good backstroke. He was in control the whole way,” Heck said. “The last 25, the second place guy almost caught up to him, but Dolan had a fantastic finish and just really fought hard for that win.”

The finish wasn’t close in the 200 freestyle relay. Both Shawn Denis and Fugle posted sub-22 second splits in the back half of that race to pull off a nearly four-second win over runner-up Ashwaubenon. It was one of three top-threes for the Hodags in the relays on Friday. The O’Malley brothers, Denis and Fugle came home second in the 400 freestyle relay (3:22.09). Fugle made up 3.11 seconds in the anchor leg as his rally came up 0.39 seconds short against Appleton West/Kimberly. Rhinelander took third in the 200 medley relay with Dolan O’Malley, Gillingham, Charlie Antonuk and Shinners (1:44.82).

Gillingham added a runner-up swim for the Hodags in the 500 freestyle (5:12.78) and placed fourth in the 100 breaststroke (1:03.42); Shawn Denis was third in the 100 freestyle (50.29) and fourth in the 200 freestyle (1:52.39) and Dolan O’Malley took fifth in the 100 butterfly (58.14). 

Oregon, with a deeper squad, was able to rack up points in the back half of the top 16 to win the meet, despite claiming only one event. The Hodags finished 32 points ahead of Ashwaubenon, one of its chief rivals when sectionals take place next month.

“Oregon won. Their B relays were stronger than our B relays, which made up a lot of points, but they had a good team but we’re happy for them,” Heck said. “They were excited for the win, but wish we would’ve beat them, but you know Ashwaubenon was ahead of us at the break. So you know we’re always pushing you know gets another two teams in there it’s going to be you know tough when it comes to sectionals so we have to keep working.”

Lakeland double dual

Nobody was catching Rhinelander on Thursday night as the Hodags claimed all 11 events in a double dual in Minocqua. The Hodags went 1-2 in eight of the 11 events, including all three relays. 

“We tried to get them in some different events too that they hadn’t swam in a while so we saw some good drops since the beginning of the year and that was fun,” Heck said. “I think we calculated that everyone had a season-best time. Whether it be a relay letter or individual event, when you can say that you know you’re doing well.”

    Rhinelander’s Samson Shinners competes in the 100-yard breaststroke during a GNC double dual against Lakeland and Antigo in Minocqua Thursday, Jan. 16. Shinners won all four of his races Thursday as the Hodags won both ends of the double dual. (Brett LaBore/Lakeland Times)
  

Rhinelander spread the wealth around in the meet as 11 different swimmers played a role in at least one victory. Shinners was Rhinelander’s only four-event winner. He took the 50 freestyle (23.16), the 100 breaststroke (1:07.31) and was on the Hodags’ winning 200 and 400 relay teams. 

Gillingham and Judson O’Malley claimed two individual wins each, with Gillingham taking the 200 freestyle (1:59.17) and the 100 freestyle (53.09) and O’Malley winning the 200 IM (2:13.98) and the 100 backstroke (1:00.03).

Shawn Denis added a win in the 100 butterfly (56.18) and Dolan O’Malley claimed the 500 (5:33.14).

Dolan O’Malley, Fugle, Antonuk and Daniel Meier made up the winning squad in the 200 medley relay (1:49.04); Shinners, Matthew Wood, Paul Denis and Fugle won the 200 freestyle relay (1:41.40); Broden Wagner, Meier, Shinners and Gillingham took the 400 freestyle relay (3:49.65). 

The Hodags also had individual runner-up finishes from Fugle in the 50 and 100 butterfly; Antonuk in the 200 IM, Denis in the backstroke and Dolan O’Malley in the breaststroke. 

Rhinelander returns home on Thursday to face Lakeland and Tomahawk in a GNC double dual.

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].