Eight is great

RICE LAKE — Despite graduating much of its top-end firepower from a season ago, the Rhinelander High School boys’ swim team found itself in a familiar position Saturday.

For the eighth straight season, the Hodags reigned supreme at the sectional level of the WIAA Division 2 tournament held at the Rice Lake Natatorium.

This title was far more dramatic than some during Rhinelander’s dynastic run. The Hodags didn’t take the lead until the penultimate event, the 100-yard breaststroke, and capped things off with a runner-up finish in the 400 freestyle relay to edge Ashwaubenon by 15 points for the title. 

Rhinelander won only two events on the day, and is sending only nine entries to the state meet — down from 15 a season ago. Instead, Saturday’s win was a testament to the Hodags’ depth. Through the relays, the Hodags have four first-time state qualifiers and all 13 swimmers who competed Saturday finished in the top eight in at least once.

“Talk about a group effort, and that just makes me happy,” Hodag coach Jenny Heck said. “This probably was one of the most fun wins I think I’ve ever had — and we’ve had some really good wins along the way. When you have the whole team jumping in like that and helping everybody and pushing each other toward that common goal, there’s nothing better.”

“It started in November, at the start of season. We worked all season for this,” said junior captain Judson O’Malley. “We knew it would be really tough to beat (Ashwaubenon) this year. With the help of our coaches, and dedication to morning lifts and swims, we worked hard enough that we could pull it out here.”  

Breaststroke ended up deciding the meet for the Hodags. Rhinelander stacked its lineup in that event and the gamble worked. Dean Gillingham, Paul Denis, Kaleb Lehmann and Broden Wagner finished second, fourth, sixth and eighth, respectively, in the event while Ashwaubenon did not put any swimmers in the event. That resulted in a 56-point swing in the Hodags’ favor and gave Rhinelander a 329-308 lead over the Jaguars entering the 400 freestyle relay.

With only seven teams entered in that final event, all the Hodags had to do was finish the race legally to claim the title. The team did better than that as the squad of Judson O’Malley, Daniel Meier, Christopher Larson and Gillingham swam to a runner-up finish (3 minutes, 28.71 seconds) and at at-large berth to the state meet.

“You spend so much time trying to plan that perfect lineup, and, you know, sometimes we get it right, sometimes we don’t, but I thought we did it pretty well today,” Heck said. “We had breaststrokers who we knew could drop time. We have a strong team of breaststrokers. We kind of looked to see where these guys could make the most points, and we thought that would be it, and they came through.”

Individually the three swimmers with prior state meet experience for the Hodags — Judson O’Malley, Gillingham and junior Charlie Antonuk — made it back in all of their individual events and were on the three relays that made it through to this coming Friday’s D2 state meet in Waukesha. 

Gillingham, a sophomore, won the sectional title in the 200-yard individual medley (2:01.28) to earn an automatic berth there. Though he lost out to Notre Dame/Southern Door’s Jack Monfils in the breaststroke, Gillingham’s time of 1:00.18 was the fourth-best, statewide and more than fast enough to earn one of the 12 at-large berths in the event reserved for non-sectional winners. 

“My swims felt pretty good,” Gillingham said. “I knew that (the breaststroke) would be really close between me and Jack. I was really hoping to win the 100 breast, but he was tapered. I’m not. So next week, I’ll probably beat him, hopefully.”

Judson O’Malley and Antonuk were locked in a tight three-way race for the win in the 100 backstroke. Antonuk led most of the way, but was caught in the final 15 yards by Notre Dame’s Quinn Collison and O’Malley. Collison won the race to the wall by 0.22 seconds over O’Malley (55.66) and 0.50 seconds over Antonuk (55.94), but both Hodags had times fast enough to advance in that event. 

    Rhinelander’s Charlie Antonuk competes in the 100-yard butterfly during a WIAA Division 2 boys’ swim sectional in Rice Lake Saturday, Feb. 14. Antonuk finished second in the sectional, and qualified for the WIAA state meet in the event. (Jeremy Mayo/River News)
  

O’Malley claimed a third-place finish in the 200 individual medley (2:02.60) to lock-up his first four-event program at state while Antonuk claimed a runner-up swim in the 100 butterfly (54.45).

“With my two individual swims, both years I was close, and finally, to get in the offseason and work for it all year, finally, it came through, and I get to have four events,” O’Malley said.

“We’re not fully tapered. So it was a fight, and I really just wanted to get better times and really cut time in all my events, which I did. That was a big plus,” Antonuk added.

Antonuk and Gillingham were on the sectional champion 200 medley relay team with a pair of freshmen —Kellen O’Malley and Elias Simonsen (1:43.62). Simonsen held off Ashwaubenon’s Luke Mader in the freestyle leg to lead the Hodags to a 1.58-second win. 

Both freshmen were also on the runner-up 200 freestyle relay squad that advanced (1:33.54), with Antonuk and Judson O’Malley.

“We had some freshmen who really stepped up,” Heck said. “I mean, they’re being put in some very stressful situations. First time they’ve ever been to the sectional meet, and I thought they all handled the pressure really well. A lot of these guys had one event, and they came down here and they gave it their all — and every single one of them had a best time. I just thought, wow, that’s everything that you want.” 

Kellen O’Malley nearly added an individual event to his state program as he finished fifth in the 100 butterfly (57.66). His time ended up being 17th-fastest overall in the state, and he missed the cut by 0.54 seconds. O’Malley was also fifth in the 200 individual medley (2:08.39) and missed the cut there by 2.35 seconds in an unusually fast event. His time was more than three seconds than the cutline for the event in 2025.

Elsewhere, Simonsen took fifth in the 50 freestyle (24.36). Matthew Wood, Espen McMahon and Simonsen were fifth, sixth and seventh in the 100 freestyle. Finn Thorsen and Meier also scored podium finishes, taking sixth and seventh in the 500 freestyle.

“I thought they really took it to the next level, and they really stepped up,” Heck said. “I wasn’t sure if they’d be able to handle this maybe two weeks ago. They really have, in the last two weeks, come through and really showed that they wanted this win. 

“When you can do this all without one senior, that’s amazing. Those juniors had to take some leadership roles that usually, they don’t have to be thrust into until next year. That’s not easy. And I think they did an amazing job.”

The Hodags have turned their attention to the WIAA state meet. Though Rhinelander is not projected to be in contention for a team trophy, as it has the last three seasons, Heck said the goal will to be to perform as well as possible and gain valuable experience for a squad that is projected to bring back its entire roster next season.

“Our goal is to see how far we can take them next week,” she said. “That’s great, great experience. Hope to bring the whole team down, even if they’re not swimming to cheer them on, because I think they need to see what that’s like. It makes them understand they want to be a part of that and work hard in the off season, do those extra things that it takes to make it to the state tournament.”

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].