March 19, 2018 at 12:11 p.m.
Team preview: RHS Track & Field
Hodag track young and eager for 2018
Team preview: RHS Track & Field
But the Hodags have a number of young athletes who are eager to make names for themselves this year.
"I think that people are going to kind of look by us," first-year Hodag track head coach Aaron Kraemer said last week following a tune-up meet in Wisconsin Rapids. "We're a young team and one that's going to get better every single week. I think that we expect maybe more than what other teams think of us."
The Hodags don't have many seniors, but the ones they do have will figure to make an impact - especially on the girls' side of the roster. Thrower Lexie Rick is back for her final season, as is sprinter Ellen Padgett.
Rick posted Rhinelander's lone top three finish on the girls' side in last year's Great Northern Conference meet, placing third in the discus. She was fourth in the shot put with a toss of 31 feet, 11 1/2 inches - a toss she nearly replicated (31-9) in winning last Thursday's Wisconsin Rapids Invite.
"Lexie's Lexie," Kraemer said. "She's a rock. We know what she's going to do and she's going to continue to get better. Thirty-one (feet), she's going to be better than that during the season and she should be pushing for a place in our conference I think."
As for Padgett, she placed fourth in the 100 meters last year at conference and eighth in the 200. She leads a sprinting crew on the girls' side that returns a majority of its starters from last season.
"She has big expectations for herself and I have big expectations for her, too," Kraemer said. "She's going to keep getting better. Some of our other sprinters - Isabella Anderson, Sam Siefert, Mattia Beske - a lot of them are impressive and they work together in our relays very well. I expect good things from them as well."
Hurdler Alex Monk is the most experienced senior of note for the Hodag boys, after placing fifth in the conference in the 110 hurdles last spring.
The Hodags had several other underclassmen show flashes last year and Kraemer hopes they will turn up the wick even more this year.
Junior AJ Kopplin was the only all-conference recipient on the boys' side last year, taking third in the high jump with a leap of 5-8. He matched that mark Thursday at the Wisconsin Rapids Invite. Sophomore Calvin Schneider also cleared 5-8 at Wisconsin Rapids, a six-inch improvement from his performance at last year's conference meet.
"You look at our jumpers - Calvin Schneider and AJ Kopplin - both of those guys are jumping in the high 5s and are getting close to 6 feet, which I know is a bar for them," Kraemer said.
Additionally, the Hodags will be looking for strong performances out of a trio of sophomores this year - Drake Martin, Peyton Erikson and Daniel Ritchie. Martin finished seventh at conference in the long jump last year, and threw the shot put more than 41 feet last Thursday in Rapids - a mark that would have put him in the top five of last year's conference meet. Erikson is back after finishing fourth in the triple jump last year. Ritchie placed eighth in both the 400 and the 1,600 last year, but looked strong Thursday as he broke a minute in the 400 on Wisconsin Rapids' 133-meter indoor track.
"He is a special athlete an he's going to continue to get better. Right now, he's just scratching the surface of what he can do," Kraemer said of Ritchie.
The Hodags figure they will be able to put some competitive sprint relays together with a deep sprinting crew that also includes juniors Nick Kriesel, Josh Francisco, sophomore Seth Stafford and others.
"When you look at what we've got with our relays and short sprints," Kraemer said. "We really have a lot of good athletes that are pushing each other. You look at Josh Francisco and Nick Kriesel, within milliseconds of each other (in the 50) and they were last year, too, that's a great partnership. We've got some really good 200 runners that are pushing each other. We have guys that are very, very closely knit, closely placed, which makes us competitive in practice."
Another young athlete to keep an eye on is freshman Rebecca Lawrence who cleared 4-10 to take first in the girls' high jump at last Thursday's meet in Rapids. That mark would have been good enough to take third at last year's GNC meet.
"She's got a lot of potential as a freshman to do those things," Kraemer said. "We've been waiting for a girls high jumper for a very long time, since I've been coaching. I'm very glad we have her on our team. She does great in the sprints, too."
The Hodags have a few more indoor meets on their schedule - including today's Lakeland Invite in Minocqua - before they head outside for the Medford Early Bird Invite April 12. Rhinelander's outdoor schedule remains mostly unchanged this year, with the exception of a home quadrangular added to the calendar April 17. Highlights on the outdoor calendar include the Dale Peterson Invite in Antigo April 19 and the Otto Bacher Invitational in Merrill May 4.
Track and field powerhouse Lakeland will hold this year's conference track meet May 15. Division 1 regionals will follow six days later for the Hodags at Wausau East. Last year Rhinelander failed to send any athletes on to sectionals in a playoff grouping that included all of the Wisconsin Valley Conference.
While the Hodags may fly under the radar this season, Kraemer said his hope is come conference and regionals - better known as "championship season" in track and field circles - his young athletes will be ready to turn some heads.
"You're always looking at Lakeland at the top of that list and we aspire to be great. That's a great team and if we can continue to push to get close to them, we're doing our job," he said.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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