Hodag swimmers cruise past short-handed Lakeland

With little opposition from its host, the Rhinelander High School boys’ swim team needed to find competition elsewhere Thursday, Jan. 8 when it traveled to Lakeland for a Great Northern Conference exhibition meet.

Rhinelander rolled over Lakeland, which was down to two swimmers due to attrition, 137-11. Despite not having many swimmers to compete against — the meet was originally slated to be a double-dual but was changed to a dual meet when Antigo canceled its boys’ swim season due to low numbers — coach Jenny Heck said it was still a useful night for her squad, which hadn’t swam competitively since Dec. 18.

“I told the guys on the way there that they have a couple objectives. They can always race against themselves, and they can always race against the clock, and I think that’s what they did tonight, and did it really well,” she said. “They’re all trying to drop some time, and they made some great gains tonight. We had 41 either time drop or season-best times … and big time drops too.

“We haven’t had a meet in what, three weeks? And it’s just exhausting when you think you’re just training and training, but now when you see these drops, I think it keeps, gives everyone a new push to continue to finish the season off strong.” 

Dean Gillingham and Judson O’Malley were both four-event winners for the Hodags. Gillingham won the 200-yard freestyle (1:55.00) and the 100 freestyle (50.74). He was also on the winning 200 freestyle and 400 freestyle relays. Judson O’Malley captured the 100 butterfly (57.99) and the 100 breaststroke (1:06.73) — dropping nearly five seconds from his previous best in the latter event. 

“His best time was a 1:11 last year. That’s really great. For his (individual medley), that shows now gives us a lot of hope,” Heck noted.

Charlie Antonuk added a pair of individual wins for Rhinelander, taking the 200 individual medley (2:19.53) and the 100 backstroke (1:01.66). Kellen O’Malley claimed the 50 freestyle (25.15) and freshman Elias Simonsen won the 500 freestyle (5:55.72). 

The O’Malley brothers, Paul Denis and Matthew Wood made up the winning quartet in the 200 medley relay (1:54.44), edging out teammates Antonuk, Kaleb Lehmann, Chris Larson and Daniel Meier by 0.53 seconds. Meier, Wood, Larson and Gillingham took the 200 freestyle relay (1:39.94). Gillingham, Antonuk and the O’Malley brothers claimed the 400 freestyle relay (3:33.90).

“Kellen O’Malley had some really impactful sprint free times, along with Chris Larson, some really fast sprint times,” Heck noted. “These guys, you know, they want to be on relays. So they’re really trying to push each other, and find a spot in those end of season relays.”

Lakeland’s best finish of the night was from Garrison Jacques, who took second in the backstroke — roughly 10 seconds behind Antonuk. Given the meet had no bearing on the conference standings, the Hodags lent the T-Birds a couple of swimmers, as well as assistant coach and 2025 RHS alum Dolan O’Malley, so they could field exhibition entries in a couple of relays. 

“That makes it more fun Lakeland as well. And it was fun for our guys too,” Heck said. “Otherwise, some of those guys are only swimming two events instead of four. It worked out well, and like I said, it’s always an opportunity to race the clock and race each other, and that’s what they did.” 

Rhinelander was back in action Saturday in the Ashwaubenon Invite, which concluded after deadline for today’s edition. Visit RiverNewsOnline.com for a recap of that meet and read a full report in Friday’s River News. 

The Hodags will travel to Shawano this coming Thursday for a GNC double dual that will also include Tomahawk. 

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].