May 19, 2017 at 4:57 p.m.
There's no place like home
Hodag tennis, golf set to hold WIAA tournament openers
There's no place like home
The Hodag netters will host a Division 2 subsectional meet Monday at the RHS tennis courts. The next morning, the Hodag golfers will tee it up at Northwood Golf Course as the host of a WIAA Division 1 regional. It means a little extra legwork for the RHS activities department, but landing WIAA tournament series events is a source of pride for activities director Brian Paulson.
"This is a great opportunity to showcase the great facilities that we have," he said.
Rhinelander's no stranger to hosting tournament series events in team sports, where seeding determine who hosts, at least through the regional round. Individual tournaments are different. Each year, the WIAA selects where regional and sectional events will be held and it's been awhile since that answer's been Rhinelander.
The Hodags last hosted the golf regionals in 2003. As for boys' tennis the last year Rhinelander hosted a WIAA tennis tournament, "does not come to mind," longtime head coach Bob Heideman said.
"After every season, we're able to request with the WIAA to host WIAA tournament series contests," Paulson explained. "A big thing I like to do for Rhinelander - and I've said this from day 1 - is to bring things for Rhinelander. I think we have beautiful facilities and opportunities for others to come participate."
Both Heideman and Paulson said Rhinelander's configuration - with eight tennis courts in front of the high school and another six located one block down the road - will help the meet run faster. Up to 45 matches will be played Monday to determine the 18 sectional qualifiers.
"The 14 courts we have is just a great facility," Heideman said during last Saturday's Great Northern Conference tournament, also hosted by Rhinelander. "It saved a lot of time (during the conference tournament). It's not uncommon during these conference matches you're playing at 6, 7 o'clock at night and except for (a three-set match for third at No. 3 singles), we would've been done a long time ago."
Rhinelander's drop to Division 2 this year for boys' tennis may have aided its cause in landing the subsectional round. When Rhinelander was in Division 1, subsectionals were typically held in the Wausau area - utilizing courts at both Wausau East and West if necessary - or in Stevens Point, where indoor courts are available in case of rain.
"That helped a little bit too, no doubt," Paulson said. "We went to Division 2, I put the request in and they chose Rhinelander. We've been hosting a lot of conference championships the last couple of years and I really believe the WIAA knows we'll put on a good (tournament). We'll be sure things run smooth."
Behind the scenes
It's not as simple as everyone showing up and playing at a venue. Plenty of legwork needs to be done before, during and after the meet to ensure a well-run event.
"We have to send out our itinerary ahead of time, host the coaches meeting. At the coaches' meeting we like to put a little food together at that time. That's a typical gesture if you're hosting," Paulson explained.
Additionally, the host school is responsible for reporting results to the WIAA and - in the case of golf - making sure the course is properly set up for a tournament event.
Paulson said he's leaning a lot on his secretary, Heather Lundt, along with Heideman and golf coach Adam Schmidt to make sure things go off with out a hitch.
"I lean on the coaches a lot to ask, 'what does a subsectional meet look like at other places?' Even though I think I know what one might look like from my coaching experiences, that knowledge helps," he said.
Looking live
A relatively new feature for both the tennis subsectional and the golf sectional is semi-live scoring.
During Monday's tennis meet, the brackets in each flight will be posted as soon as seeding is completed and scored will be updated several times each match. Tuesday, Rhinelander will have volunteers stationed at the clubhouse, along with holes 4, 7, 13 and 16 to update players scores every three holes during the round.
Paulson said the scores will be posted in a Google document that will be available for coaches, players and spectators to view. Links to these documents were not available at press time, but will be posted on River News Sports' social media channels when they become available.
"Last year we were lucky enough that Bay Port did that (for tennis subsectionals and sectionals), when were in Division 1," Paulson said. "A lot of families that couldn't make it over could see some updates and see how their children (were faring)."
If you go
Tennis - The WIAA Division 2 subsectional will begin at 10:30 a.m. at the Rhinelander High School and James Williams Middle School tennis courts. GNC rivals Antigo, Lakeland and Medford join Rhinelander in the nine-school field along with Appleton Xavier, Fox Valley Lutheran, Shawano, Stevens Point Pacelli and Wausau Newman.
Golf - The WIAA Division 1 regional will begin at 9 a.m. at Northwood Golf Course in Rhinelander. Golfers will go off in foursomes off the first tee. Rhinelander in joined in the eight-team meet by all seven members of the Wisconsin Valley Conference - D.C. Everest, Marshfield, Merrill, Stevens Point, Wausau East, Wausau West and Wisconsin Rapids.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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