September 22, 2017 at 2:57 p.m.
Hodag girls' 2nd, boys 4th in Three Lakes Invite
Hodag girls' 2nd, boys 4th in Three Lakes Invite
Without No. 1 runner Alayna Franson, the Hodag girls still managed a runner-up finish in the six-team meet, finishing four points behind champion Peshtigo. The Hodags were without Daniel Ritchie on the boys' side and finished fourth out of seven teams.
Ritchie, a dual-sport athlete, was participating in an RHS boys' soccer game at Antigo Thursday while Franson plans to compete in the Roy Griak Invitational hosted by the University of Minnesota this Saturday. Coach M.J. Laggis noted that she's also making a college visit to Division III St. Thomas University this weekend.
"It's a really nice opportunity for Alayna," he said. "She's getting a college visit with St. Thomas on Friday. She's going to do the warmup Friday with St. Thomas, their collegiate team. They're pressing her. They want her to go there and I don't blame them."
Anna Sturzl led the Hodag girls in Franson's absence, placing fifth in the five-kilometer race with a time of 22 minutes, 39.4 seconds. Sophomore teammate Abbie Henrichs also cracked the top 10, placing ninth at 23:53.6.
"Those two girls really had nice runs," Laggis said. "I'm really happy with Anna. She was a total leader tonight at the race and had the girls ready to rock. She raced a really nice race. Then Abbie Henrichs, I knew she was going to keep getting better and she did tonight. She's just steadily getting faster. I'm really pleased with how she ran."
Allie Fugle (13th, 24:49.3), Valerie Dalka (16th, 25:42.8), Lexi Morrison (20th, 26:19.1), Jenna Younker (28th, 27:25.3) and Claire Bowman (29th, 27:43.4) rounded out the varsity scoring for the Hodag girls.
Senior Markus Johnson paced the RHS boys, taking ninth overall (19:08.5). As has been Johnson's trademark this year, Laggis said Johnson came on strong toward the end of the race.
"He ran a really good race," Laggis said. "He kind of fluctuated there a little bit. He had people ahead of him and then he kind of fell out of the top 10 for a minute. Then he was eighth and he settled in at ninth. He finishes strong. That's his trademark, he finishes strong. It was great to see him do that."
A pair of freshmen - Jacob Weddle (15th, 19:56.0) and JC Adams (19th, 20:27.7) - were the second and third finishers for the Hodags. Abe Laggis was 26th (20:54.6), followed by Levi Smith in 30th (21:33.0), Mathew Herman in 34th (22:25.4) and Konnor Kennedy in 35th (22:29.3).
"They're getting better as a group, but you always want them to get better faster," Laggis said. "You always wish they could get better a click faster. That's just part of coaching."
Peshtigo swept the team championships in the boys' and girls' divisions. Three Lakes' Kortnie Volk and Jared Zwettler won the individual titles.
The Hodags return to action next Thursday at Waupaca. That venue will host Rhinelander's Division 2 sectional race next month.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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