STAR JOURNAL REPORT

The Rhinelander High School boys swimming team closed out its season Friday by placing 15th out of 35 teams in the WIAA Division 2 State Meet at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Natatorium.

Monona Grove won the team title with 333 points, followed by Edgewood (191) Ashwaubenon (174), Lakeland Union High School (143.5) and Elkhorn Area (136.5) rounding out the top five. RHS scored 53 points to finish 15th.

In the six events the Hodags competed, their best finish came in the 200-yard freestyle relay, in which freshman Joseph Heck, sophomore Devon Gaber and juniors Martin Hoger and Russell Benoy placed seventh in 1 minute, 31.5 seconds. Monona Grove won the event in 1:26.53.

RHS’s other top-10 finish came from Benoy placing 10th in the 50 freestyle (22.38). A new Division 2 state record was set in the event by Sturgeon Bay co-op senior Max McHugh in 20.34.

Benoy, who also placed 14th in the 100 freestyle (50.24), joined Hoger and sophomores Thaddeus Heck and David King for a 12th-place finish in the 200 medley relay (1:45.06).

Thaddeus and Joseph Heck both competed in the 100 breaststroke and placed 13th and 15th, respectively, in times of 1:04.81 and 1:04.9. McHugh set another Division 2 state record by winning in 51.62.

King added a 14th-place finish in the 100 butterfly (56.15). Brown Deer/University School of Milwaukee senior Ben Hayes won in 49.62.