January 8, 2018 at 1:36 p.m.
Hodag Nordic climbs the ranks at CAVOC
Hodag Nordic climbs the ranks at CAVOC
With roughly half the state's Nordic ski programs in attendance, and more than 320 racers overall, the Hodag boys finished fourth out of 10 teams and the Hodag girls placed fifth out of seven teams in the junior varsity division of the two-day event that concluded Sunday.
Hodag coach Charil Reis said she was encouraged by the results as her team is beginning to slowly climb the overall rankings. The squad performed well on its home trails, she said.
"They were really on their game," she said. "Really all of them knew, with this being the home course and with lots of people watching who would be able to pick them out of a crowd, that they were on stage, so to speak. So they put their best foot forward and really tried to ante up to this course and to the competition. It was evident that they made a good effort."
Youth was served once again as the majority of Rhinelander's top finishers were underclassmen. Freshman Zach Goodrich and sophomores Levi Smith and Breckin Younker were the team's top three finishers on the boys' side. Sophomore Jenna Younker, junior Emma Hjelle and freshman Gwyneth Lowry were Rhinelander's top three girls.
"We can't discount our underclassmen by any means. They are very hungry," Reis said.
Goodrich finished 15th out of 41 skiers in the junior varsity division with a two-day time of 39 minutes, 55 seconds. He was 14th after Saturday's five-kilometer freestyle race (19:01) and dropped one spot in the overall standings despite posting the 12th-best time in Sunday's five-kilometer classic (20:54).
Smith finished 20th overall (42:34), St. Pierre was 23rd (43:18), Breckin Younker was 28th (44:41), Alec Lowry finished 30th (45:13) and Daniel Goldsworthy was 33rd (48:11).
"Alec had a bad day yesterday, had trouble with his asthma and today he really made up some ground, quite a bit of ground," Reis noted.
On the girls' side, Jenna Younker was 15th in JV following Saturday's skate (19:01) and picked up one spot in the overall Sunday, despite posting the 18th-fastest classic time (20:54). Hjelle was the team's fastest skier in the classic technique, finishing 16th Sunday (25:43) and 17th overall (51:42).
"She's usually the highest-ranking Hodag girl when it comes to a classic race and she managed to keep her streak alive today. She did really good," Reis said of Hjelle.
Gwyneth Lowry finished 19th overall (51:56), Carleene Morien was 22nd (53:22), Emma Roberts was 23rd (54:27), Valerie Dalka was 29th (56:57), Abbie Henrichs was 30th (57:40), Jaylen Janssen finished 35th (1:10:49), Allison DeNamur was 38th (1:21:26) and Malie Llanos was 41st (1:31:59).
The teams had to battle vastly different conditions during the two-day event. The start of Saturday's race was delayed by approximately a half hour and went off with the mercury barely above zero degrees. Conditions were milder on Sunday for the classic race.
"That's really cold air to breath in, suck down into your lungs and turn that into some kind of power. A lot of them came in with aching throats at the end of it," Reis said of Saturday's conditions. "(Sunday) was just a better day all around for anyone who wanted to make up some time from yesterday. It was a good opportunity to do it. We had warmer temperatures and really good kick and glide."
Despite a shallow snow base that made setting classic tracks difficult for Sunday's race, Reis said the event drew mainly positive reviews from the other teams in attendance, many of whom were experiencing the last year's trail enhancements at CAVOC for the first time.
"They really pulled off a good race. A lot of people came up to thank us for a well-run event," Reis said. "Everything appeared to run very smoothly and they were very appreciative of that. That allows them to focus on their skiers."
The Hodags are scheduled to head to Wausau Saturday for the annual Snekkevik Classic Race, but Reis said that event is in doubt due to a lack of snow at the Nile-Mile Forest race venue.
If that race were to be canceled the team would not have an official competition until the Badger State Games in Wausau Jan. 27.
"I'm disappointed that this coming weekend is in limbo," Reis said. "We have a lot of momentum coming off these good results. Somehow we've got to keep our heads together to keep the momentum going and building before our next competition."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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