April 21, 2017 at 1:55 p.m.
RHS track battles weather in Antigo
Hodags Martin, Hartman win quadrathlon
RHS track battles weather in Antigo
The Hodags placed fifth in the girls' division and sixth in the boys' division of the seven-school meet, but the biggest opponent was Mother Nature with on and off precipitation during the meet and steady temperatures near 40 degrees. Rhinelander coaches Chris Ferge and Brittany Haakenson said a few other teams closed up shop and left early on account of the weather, but not the Hodags.
"It was wet and it was cold," Ferge said. "I was kind of happy with how our guys and girls, everyone just stuck in there and decided that we were going to finish the meet. Some of the other teams left. We had some people that had to fill in and do some other jobs in relays and things like that, that they wouldn't normally do, but they decided, 'Let's do it. We're here as a team.' We stayed and stuck it out."
"We had a lot of girls that just kind of stepped it up and it was good to see just our positive leadership from a few of the senior athletes tonight," Haakenson added.
Lexie Rick won the girls' shot put Thursday with a toss of 30 feet, 7 3/4 inches, placed second in the discus (85-8) and was a late addition to the girls 4x400 relay. Rhinelander won the 4x4 - the final event of the night - as the only entrant in the race.
"We had Lexie Rick, we were short some of our relays, and she jumped in there in the 4x4 right at the end and ran it," Haakenson said. "They all had really good, positive attitudes where a lot of the teams were kind of down in the dumps. It was good to see that."
A pair of Rhinelander athletes won the quadrathlon at the meet - a four-event competition consisting of the 100 meters, 800, long jump and shot put. Freshman Drake Martin beat out two other competitors to take the boys' quad, placing best among the three in three of the four events. Senior Payton Hartman won the girls' quad.
"That was kind of a pride thing, not for points, but I was glad that we had an athlete there that did really well and won it," Ferge said. "We realized that Drake throws the shot really well. He had a 35 (-foot toss)."
"(Hartman) was the only girl who competed in that and she did real well. I'm proud of her for giving that her all. She had fun with that," Haakenson added.
Cold and wet conditions are not normally conducive to optimal results, but both Ferge and Haakenson said they had a number of athletes establish personal records during the meet - a sign of the team's continued development as the season progresses.
"I think sometimes I lose sight of the fact that, you know as much as I want to win and I want to do really well, we basically have freshmen and sophomores for our guys," Ferge said. "That's what we have. They are PR'ing. They are getting better."
Josh Francisco recorded a third-place finish for the Hodags in the 100-meter dash (12.17 seconds) with teammate Chase Hunt fishing sixth in the event. Freshman Daniel Ritchie placed fifth in the 800 and sixth in the 1,600. Sophomore Brock Lieder led three Hodags in the points with a fourth-place finish in the high jump (5-4). Obadiah Kearney and Calvin Schneider tied for eighth. Peyton Erickson was fifth in the triple jump, Francisco placed sixth in the long jump and Konnor Kennedy was eight in the 800.
"We've got some guys that are starting to get some points and starting to get a little more competitive with some of the other guys but you have to realize that we're young and stay humble with that, keep trying to get better," Ferge said. "That's pretty much what all of our younger athletes are doing and we're happy with that."
On the girls' side, the Hodags had a trio of third-place finishes in the distance events: Lisa White in the 800 (3:05.43), Gracie Quinn in the 1,600 (6:28.30) and Allie Fugle in the 3,200 (15:27.81).
"We had a lot of girls compete in the 1,600 and 800, running their first time," Haakenson said. "Those girls, despite the weather just toughed it out. A lot of these girls ran three or four events tonight, even though the weather was crappy."
Rhinelander had five girls score points in the 800 alone. Quinn was fifth, Valerie Dalka finished sixth, Grace Shafer was seventh and Abigail Gechas placed eighth. Fugle added an eighth-place run in the 1,600.
Morgan Johnson and Aryssa Zasada both scored points for the Hodags in the hurdle events. Johnson was fifth in both the 100 and 300, while Zasada took seventh in the 100 and eighth in the 300. Haakenson said Rhinelander's hurdle crew suffered a setback when Danielle Doughty crashed out of the 100 and was scratched for the night with an injury.
Lindsay Gignac added a sixth-place finish for the Hodags in the shot put.
The Hodags return to action next Thursday in an invitational at Northland Pines High School in Eagle River. After the first two outdoor meets of the season, Ferge said the one thing he'd like to see above anything else is simply a little sunshine.
"I'd argue that we still really haven't had a good (weather) meet yet," he said. "We have good things, I think, coming up here with good weather and it will be really nice to get to a meet where it's at least dry. I don't mind if it would be cold, but a dry meet where we can see some even better results."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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