January 4, 2016 at 3:11 p.m.
Top local sports stories of 2015
Play at state tournaments leads list
2015 was another exciting year in Rhinelander sports, filled with highs and lows, joy, heartbreak and a little controversy.
Old faces found new homes, games went longer than expected and there were plenty of wild finishes.
Rhinelander High School saw nine of its sports teams represented this year at state tournaments and saw seven raise conference championship banners.
The following is a look back at the top 10 local sports stories of 2015, as selected by me.
1. RHS girls' soccer returns to state
Rhinelander's return to the WIAA state soccer tournament had all the makings of a storybook ending. The Hodags were dominant in their romp through the sectional and faced an underdog Green Bay Southwest team in the state semifinals.
Then the script flipped, turning a dream scenario into a nightmare.
The Hodags allowed a goal in the 45th minute and lost to the Trojans 1-0 at Uihlein Soccer Complex in Madison. But more than the late first-half goal, the game will be remembered for a series of calls in the second half that went against the Hodags.
Gabbe Millot, who led the state with 50 goals scored last spring, was ejected from the contest in the 73rd minute following her second yellow card.
"I just played the game that I normally do and I guess, today, it was too physical for this team or for the ref's liking," Millot said on the pitch after the match, fighting back tears. "He didn't give me much to go on. He just mostly made the calls and, at the end, he's like, 'That's because you went through too hard at the end.' That's just really frustrating because when you're kicking the ball, you can't really stop mid-air. It's just a little frustrating on that one."
The Drury University recruit could only watch as her team came up short in a last-ditch effort to send the game to overtime. To make matters worse, television replays appeared to show Southwest committed a handball inside their own penalty area following a 90th-minute corner kick. But a foul, which would have resulted in a potential game-tying penalty kick, was never called.
The Hodags had advanced to Milwaukee on the strength of a Division 2-best 28 playoff goals. They hung 10 goals on Merrill and Shawano in the regionals, beat Ashwaubenon 6-1 in the sectional semis and got two first-half goals from Anna Sturzl to defeat River Falls for the sectional title.
2. Snowboard's sensational three-peat
The Babcock twins cemented a dynasty at Rhinelander High School, but it was their teammate who stole the show last February at the WIARA Ski and Snowboard Championships in La Crosse.
The Hodag girls' snowboard team dominated the field on its way to a third consecutive state crown and junior Claire Hjelle became the fourth Hodag to win the individual state title, joining Amy Babcock (2009), Emily Babcock (2013) and Sarah Babcock (2014).
"It's been a goal for me," Hjelle said after clinching the title with a first-place run in boardercross. "It's really awesome that Emily and Sarah and now me have all gotten state champ titles. It's just so awesome. I can't describe it. It's just amazing."
Emily and Sarah Babcock finished third and fourth overall in La Crosse to cap off their high school snowboarding careers.
"It went by way too fast," Sarah Babcock said. "It's always what we wanted. We said that was our goal the whole season to finish on a podium in our last race. As a team it was always our goal to come out on top."
3. Francis makes waves for Hodag swimmers
The Rhinelander High School girls' swim team went from a bottom of the pack team in the Great Northern Conference to one of the top contenders in a matter of one year. More than anyone else, the Hodags can thank one swimmer for leading that turnaround.
Kiah Francis burst onto the high school swimming scene in 2015 and had a dominating year for the Hodags. The junior, who was exclusively homeschooled prior to this year and swam at the club level, had a year for the ages.
All Francis did was set four Rhinelander High School varsity records and win all but two individual races - and those came at the WIAA state meet.
Francis was the runner-up in both the 200-yard individual medley and the 100 breaststroke at state. She didn't add her name to the list of Rhinelander state champions, but the most decorated athlete in RHS girls' swimming history had a front-row seat for the action this year and was amazed by what she saw.
"We're talking about taking second at state, but she got varsity records on top of that," said former state champ and first-year RHS head girls' swim coach Lindsay Byrka. "We've got to keep that in mind. She's lowered the varsity record by seven seconds in the breaststroke this year, by 10 seconds almost (in the IM). It's crazy what she's been doing with that IM. It's really fun to watch."
Francis helped break Rhinelander's eight-year drought at the WIAA state meet. The Hodags hadn't been to the UW-Natatorium since Stefanie Edwards qualified in the 500 freestyle back in 2007. Additionally Francis, Marie Sandstrom, Grace Heck and Miranda Erdmann qualified for state and finished 13th in the 200 medley relay. It was the first Hodag relay to qualify for the state girls' swim meet since 2003.
4. Moore returns to sidelines at Crandon
Jim Moore's hiatus from the prep football sidelines lasted only one season.
Following a messy split with Rhinelander in January 2014, when his contract was not renewed after 10 years on the sideline of his alma mater, Moore returned to the game in 2015 as the head coach at Crandon High School.
"I just feel (football's) what I know and that's what I enjoy and I now have an opportunity to work with kids and share my story," Moore told the River News in an extensive sit-down interview last May shortly after he was hired at Crandon. "I'm really thankful that I get another opportunity to be a head coach and help move a program forward."
In his first year at Crandon Moore accomplished what he could only do once in 10 seasons in Rhinelander - qualify for the WIAA playoffs.
The Cardinals went 5-4 in the regular season, including 68-8 and 57-16 romps over Florence and Three Lakes/Phelps over the final two weeks to finish 4-3 in the Northern Lakes Conference and make the tournament field in Division 5. Crandon lost to Marawood Conference powerhouse Marathon 41-0 in Level 1.
5. Many happy returns: Boys' swim, girls' tennis end state tourney droughts
The RHS girls' swim team was not the only Hodag sports team to end a WIAA state tournament drought in 2015. The Hodag boys' swim team and girls' tennis team also returned to Madison last year following prolonged absences.
First, the Hodag boys' swim team, returned to Madison with four swimmers - Jake Zalewski, Ethan Brown, Kirby Kuehn and Alex Gaber. A trip to Madison used to be something close to a birthright for the RHS swim team but the Hodags had a nearly five-decade streak of state qualification end after Ben Lonsdorf made the podium in the 50 and 100 freestyle in 2009.
But Zalewski and Brown qualified on the cutline in the 100 breaststroke and 100 butterfly, respectively, and the Hodag foursome qualified 13th in the 200 freestyle relay.
"It's absolute relief," coach Lindsay Byrka said after learning the Hodags had in fact qualified for state. "We knew it was going to be close, just doing the quick math and knowing we were going to be on the bubble. I think when they swam I had a good feeling about it, but you never know from year to year. It could be a really fast year or it could be a slower year. The guys did what it took to get there and I think this is just going to be our jumping off point for years to come."
2015 also ended a five-year drought for the RHS girls' tennis team at the WIAA state meet. Eva O'Melia and Maddie Barnes qualified at No. 1 doubles while Ive Packard made it through the No. 1 singles bracket to make it state in a rain-plagued WIAA sectional last October in Chippewa Falls. They became the first Hodags to qualify for state since Priyanka Sikka and Alleigh Fralick made the D1 doubles semifinals in 2010.
"Today, I think, has brought the program to another level," RHS girls' tennis coach Bob Heideman said following the sectional meet.
Though Packard was knocked out in the first round at state, the unseeded Barnes and O'Melia made noise, upsetting the 12th-seeded team from Nicolet before bowing out in the round of 16.
"I definitely think we finished with our best tennis. I think we stepped up when we needed to and I thought me and Madeline had to hit a lot harder against these teams. So I'm proud of, overall, what we did," O'Melia said following the state meet.
Rhinelander had three other WIAA state qualifiers in 2015 - Jacob DeMeyer in wrestling, Alyssa Ellis in gymnastics and Bryce White in track and field.
6. Boys' hoops one-and-done and other playoff heartbreaks
The Rhinelander High School boys' basketball team was looking for its fourth straight trip to sectionals following its third straight Great Northern Conference title. The Hodags had not lost a home playoff game this century. Surely Rhinelander could brush off GNC rival Mosinee in the regional semifinals at the Jim Miazga Community Gymnasium.
The Indians, however, had other ideas. The Mosinee duo of Aaron Maas and Matt Bolanda combined for 37 points as the third-seeded Indians upset the second-seeded Hodags 52-49.
Rhinelander's fate was sealed by a slew of turnovers and missed shots down the stretch followed by a gaffe in which the Hodags let Jordan Budnik get loose behind the defense for an easy layup after the Hodags had cut the lead to one in the final seconds.
"They made plays down the stretch and we didn't," RHS boys' basketball coach Derek Lemmens said. "We missed a lot of really nice opportunities and that ended up being the determining factor."
The was the story of the 2014-15 season for the Hodags, who were 1-5 in games decided by three points or less.
The RHS boys' basketball team wasn't alone last year when it came to playoff heartbreak. Coach Dan Millot felt it twice during 2015, first with the loss at the girls' soccer state tournament mentioned earlier, then with the RHS boys' soccer team last October. Trailing 3-2 in the 73rd minute Gunnar Millot struck a shot that appeared to drive Marshfield keeper Mattias Holm into his own goal. The officials, two of whom worked the state semifinal game between Rhinelander and Green Bay Southwest last June, deemed the ball never crossed the goal line and the Hodags lost by a goal.
The RHS softball team came close to upsetting top-seeded Mosinee before the wheels fell off in a five-run sixth inning last May. Mosinee went on to win 8-3. The RHS baseball team was no-hit in a 2-0 shutout loss to Green Bay East/West in the opening round of the WIAA tournament, but perhaps the most heartbreaking postseason moment of all came when senior Alex Reas hesitated for a second after hearing a whistle from another match during a second-place bout at the WIAA Division 1 wrestling sectionals last February. In that moment, Reas went from winning a match that would have qualified him for the WIAA state tournament to getting pinned and seeing his high school career come to a close.
"It's one of them bad dreams that happen," RHS wrestling coach Paul Ellenbecker said. "To wrestle like he did all day, and wrestle well, was huge. It's just unfortunate. He had a great day overall and just couldn't finish it."
7. Northern Edge gets taste of elite status
The Rhinelander/Antigo/Three Lakes girls' hockey team experienced unprecedented success during the 2014-15 season, winning a program record 19 games. The highlights of the season included a victory over Northland Pines at the Rhinelander Ice Arena and a 5-3 upset win over then No. 5 Onalaska.
Led by All-State skaters Katie Detert and Lauren Smith, the Edge was ranked in the Wisconsin Prep Hockey coaches poll for the first time last season, climbing all the way up to No. 5 in the state.
None of that mattered at the end of the season, however. A pair of one-goal losses to Waupaca cost the Northern Edge a shot at their first ever Great Northern Conference crown and Northland Pines got the last laugh with a 5-2 win over the Edge in a WIAA sectional final game at the RIA.
8. The streaks go on
Several RHS sports teams continued their dominance of the Great Northern Conference in 2015.
Leading the list is the RHS girls' tennis team, which won its sixth consecutive conference title last September. The championship came with an asterisk, however, as Rhinelander's 35-match winning streak in the conference was snapped by Medford after the conference ruled the Hodags had made an improper substitution prior to the second match of a doubleheader Sept. 3. Medford was awarded a forfeit win in the match in question and won the dual 4-3 as a result.
The Hodag girls' soccer team, prior to its state tournament run, locked up its fourth straight GNC title. The RHS boys' basketball team won its third straight conference title in 2015, the RHS girls' snowboard team also made it three conference titles in a row.
RHS wrestling went back-to-back in the GNC, as did the RHS boys' soccer and boys' tennis teams. The RHS boys' snowboard team added a conference title, edging D.C. Everest in the Northern Conference.
9. Seven innings not enough
We should have seen it coming after the Rhinelander High School baseball team opened the 2015 season with a pair of extra-inning losses at Shawano.
The Hodags had a knack for making things exciting and playing more innings than the schedule makers intended. Each of Rhinelander's first six games were decided by a run and it wasn't until a walkoff hit in the eighth inning of their sixth game at Wisconsin Rapids that the Hodags broke into the win column.
A 4-3 loss at Lakeland was perhaps the most bizarre of the extra inning games last spring. Trailing 3-2 in the seventh, the Hodags tied it when Reeve Craig pushed across the tying run on an infield hit. Craig then extended the game in the eighth, making a leaping grab at the fence in left field to deny Lakeland's Nick Peterson a walkoff grand slam.
Lakeland eventually won the game in the 10th.
Rhinelander played six extra-inning games in all last spring, including a pair of wins over Tomahawk. The Hodags played a few other games that were decided by a single run, none more exciting than Kent Mathews' walkoff home run in the bottom of the seventh to give the Hodags a 12-11 win over Rice Lake in the second game of a doubleheader on Senior Day at Stafford Field.
The flair for the dramatic continued into the summer as many of the same characters played for the Rhinelander Rebel American Legion baseball team. The Rebels played five extra-inning games over the summer, including wild walkoff wins over Antigo and Rothschild-Schofield-Weston.
10. Hello world: Hodags take on England
Rounding out the top 10 is a Rhinelander story that unfolded on another continent.
A group of girls' soccer players - ranging from the U12 to U18 levels - from the Rhinelander Soccer Club organized, raised funds for and took a trip to England in early August to play a series of international friendlies against secondary schools there.
The Hodags went 2-2-0 in those matches, including a win over Wright Robinson University for the inaugural Anglo-American Cup.
Playing soccer was only part of the journey. The group toured Manchester, London and Liverpool, getting a 10-day crash course in British culture.
"It was definitely something that's unforgettable, something that we all shared together," said Gwen Frederickson, who was part of the 13-member team. "I can't really imagine sharing it with anybody else."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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