March 20, 2017 at 12:54 p.m.
Team review: RHS Alpine skiing
Hodags show success, struggles in trying season
Team review: RHS Alpine skiing
For one, it was so warm at the Wisconsin Interscholastic Alpine Racing Association State meet that there was a delay in the action on the final day due to a thunderstorm.
But, more importantly, the team was not allowed to practice over the Christmas break - a time when it typically puts in the majority of its on-hill training - due to a pertussis outbreak that swept through Rhinelander schools.
"Definitely a difficult one for the coaches, the athletes, the school and for the parents to make all the adjustments we had to make," Olson said earlier this month during the team's banquet. "The whooping cough epidemic was definitely eventful and I was fit to be tied with 2 1/2 weeks, three weeks going through it over and over and over again. But I had a support group of coaches who were dealing with the same problem at the same time."
Still, despite the lack of practice and an overall lack of numbers, the Hodags were competitive in the Northern Conference this season.
Here are five things to know about the Hodags' 2017 campaign.
Pertussis problems
Above all else, whooping cough was the majory story for the Hodags prior to the start of competition.
"We had a low amount of development" as a result of the practice ban instituted by the school and the Oneida County Health Department over the Christmas holiday, Olson said. "We really only had about three or four practices during the season, so it was very difficult for us. It wasn't that we could just go into the gym at 9 o'clock at night and do our thing. We had limited ability to get up to the hill."
Skiing wrap
Despite the lack of training, the Hodags weren't hindered too badly in the results - finishing third in the conference in boys' skiing and tied for second in girls' skiing.
Senior Duncan Seidel and junior Breyden Luebke led what was an otherwise inexperienced group of boys' skiers. Seidel finished second in the Northern Conference standings, capping off the season with a win in his final race on the Hodags' home hill - Ski Brule in Iron River, Mich. Luebke recorded three top-10 finishes in five conference races - led by a pair of sixth-place showings at Mt. Christie and Indianhead Mountain - to finish ninth in the conference standings.
No other Hodag finished higher than 26th in the rankings and, though Rhinelander qualified as a team for the WIARA state meet, Olson elected to leave underclassmen Luke Fritz, Anthony Klabunde, John Krueger and Mitchell Ewan home due to their lack of overall experience.
The girls' ski team posted its best finish in the Northern Conference since winning the league title back in 2004. The team got a big boost at the top end of the lineup with the inclusion of junior McKenzie Imm, who transfered to the district from Tomahawk. She finished fourth in the league standings this year. Meanwhile the Hodags' four returning skiers - Cayla Fritz, Haley Seefeldt, Alexis Pyrchalla and Tori Roberts - all improved their finish from 2016.
Snowboarding wrap
A lack of numbers prevented the Hodags from factoring into the team results in snowboarding. The Hodags had only four boarders total this season - three boys and one girl. But there were some individual successes. Junior Kaiya Shrader won the Northern Conference girls' title by a point over Wausau West's Elizabeth Mikulich and Ashland's AnnaSage Roth.
On the boys' side, junior Colin White tied Ashland's Owen Czapiga for the title. The conference awarded the title to Czapiga on a tiebreaker though Rhinelander has appealed that decision, claiming that the tiebreaking procedures were incorrectly applied.
Brandon Carlson came on toward the end of the season for the Hodags, finishing fifth in the conference standings. Robert Masini was 18th.
State mishaps
This year's WIARA state meet in La Crosse marked the first time since 2012 that the Hodags did not come home with at least one team or individual state championship.
The Hodags' title chances suffered a blow a week before the start of the state meet when Shrader was injured in a crash during a run of boardercross in the conference finale at Ski Brule and was unable to compete in the state meet. On the boys' side, White's bid at a state title repeat met an early end when he fell in the first run of the weekend. He rebounded to take second in boarder slalom but finished 13th overall. Teammate Brandon Carlson finished 26th following a crash in boardercross.
In girls' skiing, a freak accident during inspection for the slalom race derailed Imm's weekend. She had finished 34th in Super G but limped to a 128th-place finish in slalom before withdrawing from the event with a knee injury.
Illness and crashes plagued the rest of the girls' team at state as they finished 20th in the 22-team field.
Luebke crashed in both Super G and slalom on the boys' side.
The only skier who had an uneventful weekend at state was Seidel, who posted three clean runs to finish 16th overall.
What's next
The focus will be on the girls' ski team next season with all six of its skiers from this season slated to return. Olson challenged the group to put in additional work in the offseason in hopes of attaining the team's first conference title in 15 years.
"The thing I saw in this team that I've seen on other teams I've had before - state championship teams - is that it bothered you enough that it brought tears to you," he said during the banquet. "I think every single lady cried this year in either frustration or injury from trying. Those are good things. I don't want the athletes that just blow it off and don't care and head back to the lodge."
While the majority of the boys' ski team returns, it will take a big hit off the top losing Seidel. The snowboard teams simply need numbers to compliment top performers White and Shrader, who will both be seniors next year.
"We've got to do some recruiting. We've got to fill some shoes. We've really got to do some recruiting for snowboarding and ski," Olson said. "Your first team is only as good as your second team. We need a second team right now. We need people to push people and we also need to be able to recruit from those people."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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