Hodag swimmers mix things up, win double dual in Tomahawk

The Rhinelander High School girls’ swim team put swimmers in different events Thursday, but the end result was still the same for the Hodags in a Great Northern Conference double dual.

Rhinelander won all 11 events and also took second in seven of them as it cruised past Tomahawk 128-38 and Colby/Abbotsford 126-42 in Tomahawk.

Nine different Hodags were part of at least one victory, and many of them were swimming in events that aren’t, on paper, their strongest. That was by design, coach Jenny Heck said, given that it was the team’s third meet in eight days. 

“It was a well-needed time to swim some different events. It came at a perfect opportunity for us to try to get all the girls swimming something different than they’ve done this season. And they did a really nice job at that,” she said. “I think it’s good for the mental preparation as well. If you start focusing on so much on one event, it, starts to get tiring and gruesome. So it’s good to kind of think about something else. And I think it was really a mental kind of break tonight and a lot of fun, too.”

Ella Heck, coach Heck’s daughter, was a four-event winner for the Hodags. She took the shortest race of the night, the 50-yard freestyle (26.03) and the longest, the 500 freestyle (5:56.10). She also added victories as part of the Hodags’ 200 medley and 400 freestyle relay teams. 

Ella Heck was part of 1-2 finishes in all of her wins. In the 50, she edged teammate Emma Houg by 1.68 seconds and she beat Kiley Pooch in the 500 by 2.99 seconds.

Coach Heck said both Ella Heck and Kiley Pooch breaking 6 minutes in the 500 was significant in an event they don’t usually race. 

“Ella, Kiley and Hailey (Novak) did a good job pacing a difficult event, which they don’t swim very often,” she said. “The goal for the first two were to get under 6 minutes, or they would get the opportunity to swim it again.”

Vivian Lamers led a 1-2-3 finish for the Hodags in the 200 freestyle (2:09.07) with Pooch and Millie Gruett. Lamers also took the win in the 100 backstroke (1:05.09). Rylee Mickevicius claimed the win in the 200 individual medley (2:24.26), June Chiamulera won the 100 butterfly (1:07.24), Houg claimed the 100 freestyle (59.73) and Gruett edged Colby/Abbotsford’s Madisyn Schraufnagel by one second even for the win in the 100 breaststroke (1:18.58).

“Emma Houg did a fantastic job in the sprint events, and that was nice to see as those are not usually her events,” coach Heck noted. “I thought Vivian had a great 100 backstroke time. She doesn’t always got a chance to swim that. it was fun to see Millie Gruett get the win in the 100 breaststroke. That was kind of a close event.”

Rhinelander went 1-2 in all three relay races. Houg, Pooch, Ella Heck and Lola Beach won the 200 medley (2:00.79) by just more than a second over Mickevicius, Gruett, Lamers and Aubree Edwardson. Kyree McMahon, Gruett, Beach and Mickevicius won the 200 freestyle relay (1:51.66), beating out Edwardson, Chiamulera, Novak and Houg by 2.77 seconds. Ella Heck, Chiamulera, Pooch and Lamers won the 400 freestyle relay (3:53.55). Beach, McMahon, Kyleigh Kennedy and Maria Craig were the runners-up in that event. 

Coach Heck credited assistant coach Brent Olson for putting together relay teams that were competitive against each other, but still faster than the opposition. 

“Brent always enjoys mixing those up a little bit and getting the girls the swim some other strokes then they’re typical for the medley,” she said. “And, you know, they enjoy it. We all enjoy it. It’s a nice break and we’re going to be hitting it hard on (the events) we think we could do best in on Saturday. So it was, it was a fun night.”

In addition to Pooch in the 200 and 500 freestyle, the Hodags got runner-up finishes from Chiamulera in the IM and Houg in the 50 freestyle. Beach added a third-place swim in the 100 butterfly, McMahon was third in the 100 freestyle and Mickevicius was third in the 100 breaststroke. 

“Kyleigh Kennedy it’s her 16th birthday and she also had great times and she’s been swimming best times every time she gets in the pool,” coach Heck noted. “So that’s been fun to watch. Kyree McMahon had overall best times in her freestyle events as well. 

“The girls swam really well. We were looking to see how they’ve compared themselves to years before for those returning swimmers.”

Rhinelander traveled to Brookfield for an invite on Saturday. Visit RiverNewsOnline.com for a brief recap of that event and read a full report in the Friday, Sept. 19 edition of the River News.

The Hodags will face Lakeland in a battle of 4-0 teams in the GNC Thursday at the Heck Family Community Pool. 

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].