RHS fifth at D2 Sectional

STAR JOUNAL REPORT

The Rhinelander High School girls swimming team advanced one relay and one individual to the WIAA State Meet after the Hodags placed fifth in Saturday’s Division 2 Sectional at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point Aquatics Center.

Though RHS didn’t have any first-place finishers, who automatically qualify for state, two of the Hodags’ three top-three finishes were among the 12 fastest individuals/relay teams (not including the sectional winners) from all four Division 2 sectionals to qualify.

The Hodags’ Marissa Martin swims the breaststroke in Saturday’s WIAA Division 2 Sectional at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point Aquatics Center.

RHS’s 200-yard medley relay comprised of freshmen Lisa Kennedy, Marissa Martin and Makenna Winnicki and junior Grace Heck placed third in 1 minute, 55.08 seconds – 1.02 seconds ahead of the cutoff time to qualify for state. Of the 16 qualifiers in Division 2, RHS enters the state meet with the 13th fastest time. The top time of 1:46.09 was recorded by Edgewood.

Winnicki recorded a pair of second-place individual sectional finishes. Her runner-up finish in the 500 freestyle (5:22.27) was more than 10 seconds faster than the cutoff time to qualify for state. Her qualifying time is also the 10th fastest in Division 2. The top time of 5:06.24 was recorded by New Berlin Eisenhower senior Bella Passamani.

However, Winnicki’s runner-up finish in the 200 freestyle (2:01.49) was 1.38 seconds slower than the state-qualifying cutoff time.

Tomahawk, which placed first in five of the 11 swimming events, won the sectional team title with 345 points, followed by Rice Lake (269), River Falls (224), Medford (218) and RHS (211) rounding out the top five out of the 15 teams scoring points.

The Division 2 State Meet takes place Friday at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Natatorium.