August 16, 2017 at 11:56 a.m.
Fall practice notebook
Season begins for RHS cross country, volleyball & boys' soccer
Fall practice notebook
Here's a look at how the first day of practice went for all three teams.
Boys' soccer: Start without me
A sight synonymous with Hodag boys' soccer for the past two decades was missing Monday as the team started practice as head coach Dan Millot left the coaching to his assistants.
The absence was planned as Millot drove his youngest son, Gunnar, to college. He could afford to take the day off thanks to a large coaching staff that includes paid assistants Richard Kotula, Pete Zambon and Sarah Lentini as well as volunteers Tony Sabani and Jason Lowry.
That's not a luxury Millot has had all the time in years past.
"I think that we're slowly getting more and more people involved," he said. "More and more people are becoming educated about the sport, for one, but you have a lot of people that have a vested interest in what happens. Fortunately for me, three of the assistants - as far as Richard, Pete and Sarah are concerned - are not parents with kids in the program. They're simply individuals that have soccer knowledge and want to help contribute to the program."
Millot may have picked a good day to skip out. Rain fell on and off during Monday afternoon's opening workout, dousing the players and coaches in attendance.
Numbers are a little bearish for the Hodags at the start of the season, with a turnout in the mid-to-upper 20s. Millot said he would like to recruit a few more players to solidify the junior varsity roster.
The Hodags, who drop to Division 3 for the WIAA playoffs this year, open the season against Ashland next Tuesday in what will be an important early-season game against a sectional opponent. Millot said there's plenty of work for the team to do in the interim.
"This week I'm going to be focusing on getting the rust off, a lot of ball work and trying to see where kids are going to basically fit based on the kids that we have, in terms of what kind of system we can play, and go from there," he said. "I want to see the younger kids challenge for positions and I think the competition is going to be pretty intense for some positions this year."
Cross country: Long runs and short time
The preseason is short and compact for the Rhinelander High School cross country team. Practice began Monday, the first meet of the season is next Tuesday and the Hodags' home invite takes place next Thursday morning.
"The first couple weeks are always tough. You have that first week when you get a lot of running and a lot of mileage," coach M.J. Laggis said. "We're going to do some biking and a little triathlon at the end of the week. The second week you're already in two meets. It just get hectic fast."
Laggis said the team will evaluate its athletes this week and try to cater to each runners needs but, in terms of performance, the first couple of meets will serve as clear indicators as to how much running each athlete did in the offseason.
"The kids that have gotten miles in and have taken care of themselves to get ready are going to be ahead of the game," he said. "Those who haven't are going to be struggling early. I think probably most teams go through that to be honest with you. That's where we'll be at, too. You've got to kind of meet everyone where they're at, try to get everyone on track and get everyone improving."
Laggis noted that numbers are solid for the team, but he would always like to have more.
"I'd always like to have 40," he said. "I'm sure I say that same exact thing every year. We're going to be mid-20s once we're at full staff and we get a few kids back that aren't here right away. We're always looking for a few more and if we can pick a few up as we go, we will. Every year we've done that, so we'll be actively looking for a few more."
Rhinelander's first race is next Tuesday in the Ted Voigt Invitational hosted by Lakeland at Minocqua Winter Park.
Volleyball: Building on summer momentum
Coach Kathy Wawrzynowicz and the Rhinelander High School volleyball team are back in the gym but, in a way, they never really left.
Wawrzynowicz held volleyball open gyms twice a week during the summer and a number of returning varsity players took part in a summer league in Weston.
"A lot of the kids have been playing all summer and they've been working hard," she said.
The Hodags have a lot of kids, roughly 50 according to Wawrzynowicz's count. The school is in the process of trying to hire a third junior varsity coach to help manage them all.
Wawrzynowicz said evaluating talent and getting the team into volleyball-playing shape will be the team's biggest priorities this week.
"I'm going to have to concentrate this week on what kids are going to be varsity material, what kids are not, who's going to help us out in certain spots," she said, adding that the varsity team will build around all-conference hitter Hope Wissbroecker, setter Ally Seefeldt and back row specialists Stephanie and Makayla Kuester, all of whom are seniors.
Rhinelander's varsity, JV and JV2 squads will scrimmage at Merrill Saturday and the Hodags will open the season next Tuesday with an invitational tournament at the Jim Miazga Community Gymnasium.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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