June 2, 2017 at 12:38 p.m.
34 Hodags receive All-GNC recognition
Franson named girls' soccer offensive POY
34 Hodags receive All-GNC recognition
The Hodag boys' tennis team led the way with all 10 of its varsity players receiving all-conference recognition. Girls' soccer was next with eight, followed by softball (6), baseball (5), golf (3) and track (2).
Rhinelander junior outside midfielder Alayna Franson was named the conference's girls' soccer offensive player of the year while Rhinelander's Bob Heideman shared GNC boys' tennis coach of the year honors with Medford's Jake Bucki.
Voting for all-conference baseball, softball and girls' soccer teams was conducted by the conference coaches Monday in Tomahawk. The all-conference lists in golf, track and boys' tennis were based off results from each sport's conference meet.
Girls' soccer
The conference coaches agreed that Rhinelander deserved more first-team players than any other school (four), but had a difficult time agreeing on which players should receive the nod.
Franson, senior forward Sydney Zettler, junior midfielder Anna Sturzl and senior defensive midfielder Albiona Sabani ended up as first-team honorees, but none were unanimous selections by the conference coaches.
"When people look at the website and they see that (none) of our players were unanimous. That might raise some eyebrows to some people," coach Dan Millot said "(But) I think it speaks volumes for what our program has done and the players we're producing."
Franson's selection as GNC offensive player of the year made it the sixth time in the last seven seasons that the honor has gone to a Hodag. Her case for the award was pretty clear-cut. Not only did her 23 goals lead the GNC this season, her 26 assists were more than twice that of the second-best player on the conference list - Zettler. With 72 total points, Franson finished nine points shy of Gabbe Millot's single-season conference scoring record.
"I think what Alayna did above everybody else was she played the field," Dan Millot said. "She played offense. She played defense. She was unselfish with the ball. Not only did she score, but she had a ton of assists. She led the conference in assists and goal. You can't say that about any of the other players, the amount of impact they had distributing the ball and being that catalyst. Alayna did that."
Zettler scored 20 goals and with second in overall points (52) this season. Sturzl had 13 goals and six assists in conference play, despite missing a few games at the beginning of the season.
Sabani was Rhinelander's only first-team honoree from a defense that conceded a league-best six goals this season. Seniors Lauren Fabich and Abby Oettinger both earned second-team honors. Fabich missed much of the first half of the season with a knee injury while Oettinger, a first-year keeper, led the GNC in goal against average (0.49) and was second in save percentage (.870).
Sophomore Brooke Mork received honorable mention in the Hodag backfield. While the defense was strong this year, Millot said Rhinelander's dominant offense took some of the spotlight away from the back four, at least in the conference coaches' eyes.
"Our defense is solid and they're playing really good as a group together and that helps. It's just they're not going to get the recognition that a lot of them deserve because people don't see them play," he said.
Freshman Izzy Haverkampf also received honorable mention for the Hodags. The midfielder had 11 goals and two assists on the season.
Baseball
The RHS baseball team joined its soccer counterparts with four first-team honorees.
The GNC runners-up placed Brad Comer, Brad Quade, Easton Senoraske and Jacob DeMeyer on the first team. Comer and Quade were unanimous selections as a pitcher and an outfielder, respectively. Senoraske made the first team as an infielder and DeMeyer as a utility player.
Comer led the GNC in wins (5), strikeouts (39) and earned run average (1.44). He also received honorable mention as an infielder.
"I think going into the year, I don't think even Brad expected to have that kind of success," Hodag coach Joe Waksmonski said. "You could just see the confidence growing with each start and each successful game that he had."
Yet Comer was second on the Rhinelander pitching staff behind DeMeyer, who drew the assignment against conference champ Antigo both times this season and went 2-2 with a 3.42 ERA. His 34 strikeouts ranked third in the GNC. At the plate, DeMeyer hit .394 with a home run and 10 RBIs. DeMeyer also received second-team honors as an outfielder and honorable mention as a pitcher.
"Statistically, JD maybe wasn't not quite as good as say Brad, but he was every bit as effective as Brad was in the conference season. The coaches saw that he was very important, not only on the mound, but then offensively too," Waksmonski said.
Quade led the GNC with 17 RBIs. He finished just outside the top seven in the conference with a .421 batting average.
"For the most part, he hit No. 5 or 4 in our lineup throughout the year," Waksmonski said. "He had lots of RBI opportunities and he took advantage of that. To go along with that he played center and right field and he covers a lot of ground. He can be pretty accurate too when he throws the ball."
Senoraske finished fifth in the GNC, batting .450 this spring from the leadoff position and was a stalwart for the Hodags at shortstop.
"Very productive from Easton. He was our defensive leader in the infield. Very deserving from him," Waksmonski noted.
Rhinelander's fifth all-conference recipient was senior Alec Modrow, who received honorable mention as an outfielder. He hit .355 with a home run and seven RBIs in league play.
Mo was a pleasant surprise," Waksmonski said. He obviously had that big home run up in Lakeland and in the outfield he probably made the most strides defensively as far as tracking down balls. He made a couple big plays, if I recall, throwing out runners at the plate. It was a nice season and a nice reward for Alec."
Antigo's A.J. Kirsch was the conference player of the year and Red Robin coach Scott Farmer was the coach of the year.
Softball
The Hodag softball team had two first-team, two second-team and two honorable mention recipients this spring.
Senior Ivy Packard and junior Makayla Kuester were both first-team selections. Senior Ali Schickert and junior Stephanie Kuester made the second team. Senior Lindsay Juedes and sophomore Mikayla Evenstad received honorable mention.
Packard, Rhinelander's slap-hitting leadoff hitter, batted .386 this spring and led the conference with 15 stolen bases. Makayla Kuester won the conference's triple crown, leading the GNC in average (.541), home runs (4) and RBIs (20).
"I really thought that Ivy had a good season and Makayla had a great season," Hodag coach D.J. DeMeyer said. "I really thought Makayla would be player of the year, but it didn't work out that way."
Tomahawk's Rachel Dallman beat out Kuester for player of the year. The Tomahawk pitcher led the GNC in wins and strikeouts.
"She had a good case too, but Makayla might have gotten punished for not being a pitcher. Overall, her body of work on the field, on the offensive side, there was no one in the conference who could argue her case," DeMeyer said.
Schickert, despite appearing in only half of the Hodags' conference games due to a knee injury, was second in the conference in ERA (1.39) and third in strikeouts (51).
"Ali stats for second-team probably weren't there. That's more of a respect move by the other coaches understanding that she was hurt," DeMeyer said.
Stephanie Kuester, who was pressed into pitching duty following Schickert's injury, was 4-2 in league play with a 2.15 ERA. She also had a .306 average at the plate. Juedes hit .242 in the conference while Evenstad batted .290 with nine RBIs.
Tomahawk's John Larson was the conference coach of the year.
Boys' tennis
Rhinelander's record-breaking season in the GNC led to an impressive showing on the all-GNC team. All 10 of the Hodags varsity players wound up on the first or second team based on results of the conference tournament May 13 in Rhinelander.
The Hodags' seven conference champions received first-team honors: Markus Johnson (No. 2 singles), Matt O'Melia (No. 3 singles), Russell Benoy (No. 4 singles), Connor Young/Jared Haug (No. 2 doubles) and Marshall Bessette/Logan Oestreich (No. 3 doubles).
Rhinelander was the conference runner-up in both No. 1 flights. Logan Wild earned second-team all conference in singles, while Grant Gilbert and Jared Fabich were second-team in doubles as a result.
Golf
Three Hodags - Nick Twite, Zach Olds and Matt Reinthaler - made the 2017 all-conference golf team, which was determined based on the results of the seven-round Great Northern Conference tournament.
Players accumulated points for top-10 finishes in each leg of the tournament. The top five point getters at the end of the season made the first team, the next five were on the second team and five more after that received honorable mention.
Twite and Olds finished eighth and ninth, respectively in the conference standings to earn second-team honors. Reinthaler finished 12th and received honorable mention.
Track and field
The top three finishers in each event at the GNC outdoor meet May 16 in Mosinee received all-conference recognition. Rhinelander finished with only two honorees.
A.J. Kopplin received honorable mention for finishing third in the boys' high jump. Lexie Rick received honorable mention for finishing third in girls' discus.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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