April 5, 2017 at 1:33 p.m.
Hodag track shows improvement at GNC indoor
Hodag track shows improvement at GNC indoor
The Hodags competed in the GNC Indoor meet at Northland Pines High School in what is scheduled to be the final indoor meet of the season before heading outside.
Heading into the season, Rhinelander was looking to rebuild its program with a variety of new faces, and this was a good opportunity to see what they could do.
Girls
The girls fared well, considering the youth of the squad, as several athletes churned out personal records en route to a fifth-place finish.
Junior Ellen Padgett had a strong showing in the sprints, earning second in the 200-meter dash with a time of 29.94 seconds and a fifth place finish in the 55 with a time of 8.07 in the finals.
Sophomore Erika Jorgensen placed third in the 200 with a time of 30.24.
"Both of these athletes contributed greatly to the team individually and in relays," RHS girls' coach Brittany Haakenson said. "Their grueling speed will be something to watch for as the season progresses. These two also add competitiveness to the other athletes in practice and push all of our girls to keep improving."
Danielle Doughty also had a solid day in the hurdles, taking third in the 55-meter hurdles and fifth in the 200 hurdles.
The Rhinelander 4x200 relay team of Amanda Siefert, Padgett, Mattia Beske and Isabella Anderson placed third, as did the 4x800 relay team of Allie Fugle, Lisa White, Gracie Quinn and Payton Hartman.
Lexie Rick also continued her strong start to the season with a personal best in the shot put. Her heave of 31 feet, one inch earned third place.
"In my heart we did better than that fifth place," Haakenson said. "We have so many young girls and we're going to keep getting better. That's our goal here."
The Lady Hodags finished the night with 65 points.
Boys
The boys' team was missing some runners due to academic issues and injuries, resulting in placing last, but some of the young talent showed its potential.
Freshman Daniel Ritchie placed fourth in the 800 meters with a time of 2:19.08, while also taking sixth in the 1,600 at 5:10.38.
Sophomore Josh Francisco tied for fourth in the 55-meter dash with a personal best time of 7.22, while also placing fifth in the long jump with a leap of 18 feet, 3 inches.
Another sophomore, Anthony Kowalski, took sixth in the 400 with a time of 1:00.21.
"We missed some guys today that were ineligible or didn't come with that would have scored us points," RHS head coach Chris Ferge said. "So we didn't have our full team. We were missing guys in the hurdles, missing guys in the long distance, so it makes things harder. We're trying to make sure we get some more kids out to make sure we fill those spots and score some more points. There were some good things that did happen so that's all we can ask for our guys."
The Hodags head outdoors for the Medford Invitational next Thursday.
Nick Sabato may be reached at [email protected] or via Twitter @SabatoNick.
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