April 12, 2017 at 2:11 p.m.
Team preview: RHS golf
Hodags look to ride sectional momentum into 2017 season
Team preview: RHS golf
The Hodags won the last two legs of the Great Northern Conference tournament, finished third in the conference standings and pulled off a surprising third-place finish at a WIAA Division 1 regional in Stevens Point to advance to the sectional round as a team for the first time since 2011.
Rhinelander wants to build on that momentum this year, with three of its starting five golfers from last year's squad returning to the links.
"We've got a bunch of kids back," Schmidt said. "That's good. I'm looking forward to good things. The kids are really excited."
The Hodags will take a couple of big hits off the top of their lineup, with the graduation of seniors Logan Johnson and Alex Gaber. Johnson finished third individually in the GNC last spring and shared medalist honors at the WIAA regional tournament with a 2-over-par 74 at Stevens Point Country Club. Gaber finished 10th in the final GNC standings a year ago.
"We had a couple of good seniors last year and losing them, those boys will be missed," Schmidt said.
That doesn't mean the Hodags will be short on varsity experience this season, which is scheduled to begin Thursday with an invitational at Chequamegon Bay Golf Course in Ashland. Senior Matt Reinthaler returns after finishing ninth in the GNC last year. Junior Zach Olds and sophomore Nick Twite are also back after scoring one top-10 finish each in conference play a season ago.
Who will fill out the remaining two spots on varsity remains to be seen, but juniors Will England and Joseph Schmitz are in the running after playing on varsity two seasons ago.
"Will played a lot of golf this summer so we're looking forward to what he can do," Schmidt said. "Then the other top five spot will be up to whoever. I don't know who it's going to be."
Despite an altered lineup, the Hodags are looking for a hot start on the links this spring, using last year's momentum as a springboard.
"Definitely having experience in competition (helps)," Schmidt said. "They're definitely more comfortable ... Having that experience of competition play and having that pressure of other people watching them is definitely going to pay off.
"The ones that put in the time are really starting to reap those benefits and that's definitely really nice to see the kids, their hard work pay off."
The Hodags gave Medford and Antigo a run for their money in the Great Northern Conference race last season and, with several of last year's top golfers graduating, Schmidt feels his team has a chance to be in the mix for its first conference title since 2011.
"I think we should be able to do well in conference," he said. "We really always start out slow, but if we can kind of build on what we had last year and start out a little bit faster, I think we'll be in really good shape for conference."
Returning to sectionals is another goal for the Hodags, following last year's showing.
"Now it's like, 'Hey, we can make it to sectionals.' I think that's a big confidence boost to even have them talking about there's no reason why we shouldn't make it to sectionals this year," Schmidt said. "Their confidence up and they think it's an attainable goal and it is."
The Hodags will have an ace in their pocket as they look to reach sectionals for the second year in a row - Rhinelander's Northwood Golf Course will host the regional tournament for the first time since 2002.
"That's going to be pretty awesome. It's definitely going to be an advantage," Schmidt said. "We play that course day in and day out. It's definitely going to be nice. We typically don't perform absolutely amazing at home, but last year we had some lower rounds. This year, a lot of the guys that are coming back have played Northwood a lot."
The regional tournament will be one of three home events for the varsity golfers this year. Northwood will host the Hodag Invite Friday, April 28 and the fifth leg of the GNC tournament Friday, May 12.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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