Hodag swimmers take 4th in Fond du Lac

The Rhinelander High School girls swim team placed in the top three in seven different events this past Saturday as it finished fourth in the 14-team Fond du Lac Invite.

Rhinelander was the top Division 2 school in the field, placing behind only D1 schools Bay Port, Appleton North and Hartford/Slinger. 

In addition to the top threes the Hodags had six other top-10 finishes and scored points in every event except the 500-yard freestyle. 

“We had a tough week of practice and lots of travel this week, and the girls performed very well,” Hodag assistant coach Brent Olson said. “We had a lot of lifetime-best swims, a lot of season-best swims. And we had a lot of (swims) close to what they’ve done this year.”

Rhinelander placed in the top three in all three relay races. The Hodags opened with a runner-up showing in the 200 medley relay with Kiley Pooch, Ella Heck, Millie Gruett and Rylee Mickevicius (1 minutes, 53.88 seconds) and also took second in the 200 freestyle relay with Heck, Gruett, Emma Houg and Vivian Lamers (1:43.11). 

Pooch, Mickevicius, Houg and Lamers swam to a third-place finish in the 400 freestyle relay (3:49.86). 

“All the relays, they just over-performed what everybody else was,” Olson said.

Houg, a senior, had a strong day overall for the Hodags. She had the team’s best individual finish of the day, coming home second in the 100 backstroke (1:03.72) and added a 10th-place showing in the 200 freestyle (2:07.61).

“Emma hit 26 in the relay for the first time, which she’s been trying (to achieve) for three years now,” Olson said. “She did a season best in the 200, she proceeded to have a season-best in the (200 free relay) and then they had a season-best in her 100 back. And then had, I think it was, her season-best in the 400 free relay. She was on high form today.”

Vivian Lamers scored a pair of third-place finishes in the sprint freestyle races, clocking in at 25.16 in the 50 freestyle and 54.93 in the 100 freestyle. 

“You could visibly tell that she was fading at the end of her races, even though her times were phenomenal. That goes to show she’s going to have a great end of season,” Olson noted. 

Heck came home third for the Hodags in the 100 breaststroke (1:08.78) and added a 10th-place swim in the 100 butterfly (1:04.25). Pooch was fourth in the 100 backstroke (1:04.22). Other top-10 finishes on the Hodags included a seventh from Gruett in the 50 freestyle (26.38), a ninth from Mickevicius in the 200 individual medley (2:22.49) and a ninth from Kyree McMahon, who turned in a lifetime-best in the 100 breaststroke (1:15.73).

“Kyree in the breaststroke, she was seeded 17th and proceeded to win her heat and the entire next heat,” Olson noted. 

Pooch was 12th for the Hodags in the 50 freestyle, Gruett was 13th in the 100 freestyle and freshman Lola Beach was 14th in the 200 IM.

Saturday marked Rhinelander’s last non-conference invite of the season. The Hodags were at Mosinee on Thursday looking to remain unbeaten in GNC play. Visit RiverNewsOnline.com for a recap of that meet and read a full report the Tuesday, Oct. 14 edition of the River News. 

Rhinelander will close out the dual meet portion of its schedule at home against Merrill Oct. 16. 

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].