December 20, 2017 at 1:30 p.m.
Hodag Nordic opens season at Lakeland Invite
Hodag Nordic opens season at Lakeland Invite
The team's times were faster than in the same event a year ago and the Hodags finally had some skiers in the top 10, albeit in the junior varsity division.
"We're finally stepping out of that rebuilding phase and using skills we've been putting together the last three seasons. They're finally paying dividends this year," she said.
The Hodags finished third out of four teams on the girls' side and third out of three teams in the boys' division Tuesday in a contingent led by underclassmen.
Sophomores Jenna Younker and Carleene Morien led the RHS girls while sophomore Nicholas St. Pierre and freshman Zach Goodrich led the RHS boys.
"Without studying the times too much, and just the visual perception of the gaps, they're right in the mix," Reis noted. "This is where they need to prove that they can be to start moving up a couple levels."
Younker covered the roughly four-kilometer Winter Park skating course in 16 minutes, 4.1 seconds to place eighth overall in the JV girls' race. Morien was a little further back in 10th (16:20.3) followed by a pack of Roberts (12th, 16:59.7), freshman Gwyneth Lowry (13th, 17:10.7) and junior Emma Hjelle (17:29.9) to round out the scorers and displacers for the Hodags.
"Jenna actually fell and had two skiers pass her which she wasn't able to get back so close to the finish," Reis noted. "It's possible that Jenna could have finished sixth. That's dynamite. She got right back up and got back and finished as strong as I expected her to. Whatever happened on the trail today, she's still smiling and knows she gave it her best effort, as did everyone else."
St. Pierre crossed the line in 13:42.2 to place seventh for the Hodag boys. Goodrich was ninth (13:55.6), followed by sophomore Levi Smith (10th, 14:19.6), sophomore Breckin Younker (12th, 14:48.1) and freshman Daniel Goldsworthy (13th, 16:24.3).
Reis had the option to enter her skiers in the varsity or the JV races. She decide to put them all in JV against a small, but powerful field that included teams consistently at or near the top of the state high school ranks - Lakeland, Wausau, Hayward and Iola.
For reference, St. Pierre's time would have been 16th fastest in a 19-skier boys' race. Younker's time was 1:05 slower than the last varsity finisher in a field of 16.
"This is where their ability level is and throwing them into a varsity race, it's not going to work out for them. It's not going to work for their psyche," Reis said.
But the Hodags are starting to close that gap, which has Reis excited for the remainder of the season. The team will next compete Jan. 6 and 7 in the two-day Hodag Nordic Challenge at the Cedric A. Outdoor Classroom.
"The Hodag Challenge is really a challenge. It's named aptly," she said. "Today was a sampling of some of those hills. It's just going to be a little more preparation that's needed to get them to ski well at the Hodag Challenge."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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