March 16, 2018 at 7:05 p.m.
Youth, relays standout for Hodags in opening meet
Youth, relays standout for Hodags in opening meet
A few events were omitted from the relatively low-key meet but a few patterns emerged, including an insurgence of underclassmen who are looking to make a significant impact on this year's Hodag team.
Freshman Rebecca Lawrence burst on to the scene winning the girls' high jump in her varsity debut. Sophomore Daniel Ritchie dusted the field in the boys' 400 meters and sophomores Aryssa Zasada and Morgan Johnson scored a 1-2 sweep for the Hodags in the 50-meter hurdles.
"We have some speed. We have some athletes that are really trying the best they can to get better every single day in practice, and you can see it when they come out here for their first meet. I'm impressed with what we did," Hodag track coach Aaron Kraemer said.
There were a couple of victories scored by the old guard, as well. Senior Lexie Rick was the only girl to break 30 feet as she took the shot put (31 feet, 9 inches) and senior Alex Monk was part of the Hodags' winning boys' 4x400-meter relay team.
In all, the relays on the boys' side impressed Thursday. Rhinelander won the four-lap relay with the quartet of Josh Francisco, AJ Kopplin, Drake Martin and Nick Kriesel (1 minute, 9.04 seconds); Ritchie, Kriesel and Calvin Schneider joined Monk to win the 4x400 (4:13.49) and the team of Martin, Isaiah Piosalan, Seth Stafford and Kriesel finished second in the 4x200 (1:52.86).
"We expected to have some good relays," Kraemer said. "We still have a lot to work on with our exchanges. We can still lose a lot of time there and getting the mold right there is going to be the trick."
Individually, the performances of Lawrence and Ritchie stood out. Lawrence cleared 4 feet, 10 inches in her high jump debut - a mark that would have tied for second at last year's Great Northern Conference meet.
"To come out here an jump a nice 4-10 for us, she's got a lot of potential as a freshman, to do those things," Kraemer said.
Ritchie, meanwhile, was the only competitor to break a minute in the 400, clocking in at 58.96 seconds.
"That's impressive, especially indoors with how many turns they have to run," Kraemer said. "Impressive time by him and the sky's the limit for him. He's just going to continue to get better."
Wisconsin Rapids won both divisions in its home meet, scoring 76 points on the boys' side and 67 points on the girls' side. Reedsburg was second in both divisions. Rhinelander scored 33 points in the boys' division, and edged Port Edwards 23-22 for third in the girls' division.
On the girls' side, the Hodags fared well in the hurdles with Zasada (10.07) edging teammate Johnson by 0.18 seconds for the win. Freshman Delaney Chillemi placed fifth in the event.
Senior Ellen Padgett finished third in the 50-meter dash (7.37 seconds) while teammate Isabelle Anderson was fifth. The quartet of Mattia Beske, Anderson, Samantha Siefert and Lawrence took fourth in the 4x200. Abigale Gechas was fifth in the 800 meters and the Hodags also took fifth in the four-lap relay.
On the boys' side, Kopplin and Schneider each cleared 5-8 in the high jump, placing third and fourth, respectively. Kriesel finished third in the 50-meter dash (6.66 seconds), Monk was fourth in the 50-meter hurdles, freshman Tristan Fuss placed fifth in the 800 and Martin cracked 40 feet in the shot put, taking fifth with a throw of 41-7 3/4.
While the results established a baseline for the Hodags, Kraemer said the meet was more of an opportunity to give his athletes extra repetitions in events - especially in a competition setting.
"You never say that it's worthless and that it doesn't mean anything but, I tell you, to be able to get in here on an indoor track, when we don't have that type of facility at our benefit, it really helps us to see where we're at," he said. "We have great facilities, but we don't have something where we can mark it out and compete against other people."
The Hodags are back in action Tuesday at the Lakeland Indoor Invite.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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