August 17, 2018 at 12:58 p.m.
Team preview: RHS cross country
Hodag harriers young and hungry for 2018
Team preview: RHS cross country
While the Hodags enter the season with a number of question marks, they also enter the season with some underclassmen who may be ready to assert themselves on the varsity roster.
That has coach M.J. Laggis eager for Thursday's opening meet on the RHS cross country trails so he can begin to figure out where his runners stack up amongst each other and amongst the rest of the Great Northern Conference.
"I really wouldn't be able to give you a top seven right now because there so many new kids, and some real surprises for those who have come out for cross country that look like they have a lot of potential," Laggis said, referring to his varsity lineups. "I'm really curious as to how that's going to shake out."
The girls' roster took a big hit off the top with the graduation of Franson and Anna Sturzl. Franson was a three-time state qualifier and the GNC champion in 2016, while Sturzl made the all-conference podium two of the last three years.
The rest of last year's varsity starters at sectionals return, including senior Claire Bowman, juniors Jenna Younker and Valerie Dalka and sophomores Abbie Henrichs and Houston Mathwig. Senior Allie Fugle is also in the mix as she splits time between cross country and swimming this fall.
But Laggis said there are so many underclassmen running well so far at practice that he would have a hard time predicting his varsity lineup before they go out and earn their positions on the course.
"There's a pool of 12, 13 girls that's going to compete for that seven (spots in the varsity lineup)," he said. "It's difficult in practice to see who shakes out where, but I think we'll have a good sense a week from now where we're at.
"Anna Sturzl and Alayna, that's kind of how you gauged everything by and we just don't have that in practice to look at. I'm really curious to see how it looks like after a meet."
The top of the boys' roster gets a boost this year with the return of senior Bridger Flory who missed much of last season with a lower leg injury. He returned in time of conference and sectionals, but was not in peak running form.
Laggis said he's hoping to see the Flory from two seasons ago, who was consistently Rhinelander's top runner and finished 15th overall in a Division 2 sectional at Waupaca.
"He looks really, really good this year," Laggis said. "He's strong. He's been in the weight room and comes into the season with some miles under his belt. We look for him to be our leader and see what we can do at conference and at sectionals."
The boys' varsity squad will look much different this year. Daniel Ritchie, the Hodags' top performer at sectionals last year, plans to focus on soccer this year. Rhinelander's No. 2 runner, Markus Johnson, graduated. The Hodags also lost some runners from the back end of their top seven leaving Flory, and sophomores JC Adams and Jacob Weddle, as the team's lone returning varsity runners.
"JC Adams was a big varsity contributor and has looked good in practice," Laggis said. "We'll look for him to step up and contribute. Jacob Weddle's returning as a sophomore and that's the guy you expect to be right behind Bridger. Behind that, we have some other guys where we're not really sure where they're going to be, but we like them."
Some of those younger runners could include sophomore Daniel Goldsworthy, who Laggis said has shown tremendous improvement from last year. Cal Laggis, Jake Losch and Jaden Beske are also in the mix to vie for varsity positions.
When the Hodags open at home Thursday they will already have one eye toward the Great Northern Conference meet at the end of the season. That's because the GNC meet returns to Rhinelander this October for the first time since 2011. Laggis said Thursday's meet will be just as much about evaluating the race course as it will be evaluating the competition.
"We've been working on the course in front of the high school," he said. "We've been trimming it down. Chips have been added, holes have been filled and the course just looks a whole lot better there on the loops, and a whole lot nice. We're trying to get that into the best shape we can. We'll have a trail run in the home meet, then we'll talk about how we need to spice it up to make it better and then we'll run conference there."
Naturally, there is added emphasis to perform well at the conference meet this season, considering it's on home soil, Laggis said.
"There's a whole lot more emphasis because we want to do well in our home (conference) meet and compete," he said. "We know who the bigger teams in the conference historically are - Tomahawk, obviously Lakeland, and a host of others from Medford to Pines - but we want to do well and we want to show well there."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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