May 10, 2017 at 2:38 p.m.
Light begins to turn on for young Hodag runners at Hatchet Invite
Light begins to turn on for young Hodag runners at Hatchet Invite
The Hodags had, perhaps, their best team showing of the season as both the boys' and girls' teams finished fifth.
The meet was highlighted by a trio of first place finishes, two for the boys' and one for the girls'.
Boys'
A.J. Kopplin won the high jump with a leap of 5-feet-6, earning the lone first-place finish for the squad in the meet.
The sprinters continue to be the backbone of the boys' team, as three Hodags placed in the top six of the 100-meter dash.
Sophomore Josh Francisco placed third with a time of 12.34 seconds, while freshmen Nick Kriesel and Chase Hunt placed fifth and sixth respectively.
The young trio would then combine with another freshman, Drake Martin, to win the 4x100 relay with a time of 47.39.
"The reason our kids that are doing the short distances are doing so well is they have really good competition in practice," RHS head coach Chris Ferge said. "They're pushing each other the right way. It's been fun at practice the last couple of days, the kids are excited and I think they're starting to see the hard work pay off."
Freshman Daniel Ritchie placed third in 1,600 meters with a time of 5:08.96, while classmate Peyton Erikson took third in the triple jump, with a personal-best leap of 37-feet-6.
Junior Alex Monk took third in the 110 meter hurdles, running 18.83 seconds.
"It's kind of a lot of the same as we saw at Merrill," Ferge said. "The younger guys are doing pretty well. We have guys that are competing and getting better. Good meet and then looking forward to conference."
Girls'
The Lady Hodags faced some stiff competition at the Otto Bacher, but were able to bounce back on Tuesday, highlighted by a win in the 4x800 relay.
The foursome of Payton Hartman, Gracie Quinn, Lisa White and Jade Forster ran 11:30.77, besting the hometown squad and second-place finisher, Tomahawk, by nearly 12 seconds.
"Winning always feels good," RHS girls' coach Brittany Haakenson said. "Just to see those girls' smiles after the 4x8, walking off with the big 'W' grin, feels great. It kind of set the tone for the night. All of the girls, in their events, followed with that positive attitude."
Quinn had a big meet for Rhinelander, placing second in the 1,600 meter run with a time of 6:21.91, third in the 3,200 meters with a time of 13:41.67 and then competing also competing in the 4x400 relay - along with White and Hartman - which placed third.
White, another freshman, finished third in the 800 with a time of 2:51.22.
Hartman also placed third in the 300-meter hurdles, running 56.49 seconds.
Lexie Rick finished fourth in the discus with a heave of 91-feet-4.
"The girls did really great tonight," Haakenson said. "It was good to see them bounce back. We didn't have the fastest times, obviously. It kind of slowed down a little bit from the Otto Bacher, but that's to be expected. We trained hard yesterday because we want to be in the best shape for conference. It was kind of more of a training day, too, because we're looking forward to that conference meet on Tuesday."
Rhinelander next competes in the Great Northern Conference Championships on Tuesday at Mosinee.
Nick Sabato may be reached at [email protected] or via Twitter @SabatoNick.
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