Hodag swimmers tested in Waukesha

For the second straight weekend, the Rhinelander High School girls’ swim team traveled south to face some strong competition as it gets set for the second half of the season.

This past Saturday’s meet, coincidentally, brought the Hodags to where they hope to swim come the WIAA Division 2 state meet in mid-November as they competed in the Waukesha South Invite, finishing 13th of 20 teams. 

Much like the week prior in Brookfield, the majority of the Hodags’ competition consisted of Division 1 schools. Rhinelander was one of only three Division 2 programs in the field and placed highest in the team standings among those programs.

“It’s very tiring swimming two weekends in a row like this, but I think it’s also really good to do,” coach Jenny Heck said. “And I think we talked about with all the girls what the value is and seeing this tough competition and they all agree it’s eye-opening and it’s important to do. It makes you realize there’s a lot of fast swimming in the southern part of the state and we’re happy to be a part of it.”

Points were hard to come by in the meet, even with the top 16 finishers scoring in each event. Rhinelander had only two podium finishes on the day by virtue of cracking the top eight, and only four other performances earn points. 

Junior Ella Heck had the best individual finish, coming home sixth overall in the 100-yard breaststroke (1 minute, 8.39 seconds). That was less than a second and a half off of the time she swam last November in the Waukesha South Natatorium when she earned fifth in the event at the WIAA D2 state meet.

Ella Heck was also part of the Hodags’ other podium finish on the afternoon as she, Kiley Pooch, Mille Gruett and June Chiamulera came home seventh in the 200 medley relay (1:51.58).

“That was a goal of hers, to beat that 1:09 mark (in the breaststroke). And so that’s a relief. She took it out really fast,” coach Heck noted. “She also had a good split —she and Kiley both did — in the medley relay. We could tell they went swam fast, good splits. They each had good times also in their individual events too.” 

Vivian Lamers finished in the points twice in individual races, placing 14th in the 100 freestyle (55.51) and 15th in the 50 freestyle (25.51). The Hodags came home 12th in the 400 freestyle relay with the team of Chiamulera, Emma Houg, Gruett and Lamers (3:489.33). Ella Heck, Pooch, Houg and Lamers were 16th in the 200 freestyle relay (1:44.48).

For Lamers, her relay split in the 200 freestyle was 0.51 seconds faster than her time in the open 50 freestyle. It was a similar story for Chiamulera in the 400 freestyle relay, where her split (57.19) was nearly 1.7 seconds faster than her time in the 100 freestyle.

“Some of our splits in the relays are what we were looking for,” coach Heck noted. “Some of them also just some breakthroughs, mentally. When you have a maybe a event that’s not the greatest, how do you get past that and move on to the next one? It’s a really a tough thing to do. And I think our juniors and seniors are really figuring that out now.”

Other notables swims for Rhinelander included a 19th-place showing for Gruett in the 100 butterfly. Pooch was 21st in the 100 backstroke and 22nd in the 50 freestyle. Houg took 25th in the 200 individual medley and 28th in the 500 freestyle. Chiamulera was 29th in the 50 freestyle and Ella Heck was 29th in the 50 freestyle. 

Saturday’s meet completed a first month of competition that included nine meets in a span of 30 days. The schedule tapers off a bit entering October, as the Hodags do not have a meet this week and will not compete until Oct. 2, when they travel to Ladysmith for a Great Northern Conference dual meet. 

Coach Heck said the break comes at a good time for the Hodags, though “break” may be a bit of a misnomer when it comes to the team’s training schedule in the interim. 

“We’ll get to train extra hard this week, which I’m sure the girls are really looking forward to,” she said with a chuckle. “We need to just kind of settle in and get some work done, and this will give us time to do it. 

“We’re at almost at the beginning of October now and, you know, everything goes really fast. We have a lot of work to do. And I think now we know where we stand, as far as midseason goes, and now we know we still have a ton of work to do and we’re ready for it.” 

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].