March 19, 2018 at 12:05 p.m.
Team review: RHS Nordic skiing
Hodags continued to make strides in 2017-18
Team review: RHS Nordic skiing
The numbers within the program continue to build and the results have started to pick up. Rhinelander still has a lot of work to do to return to the level of 2003, when the squad won a double state championship, but the 2017-18 season was another incremental gain in that process.
"They did everything I asked them to do, every last skier," coach Charil Reis said of this year's team. "Numbers don't lie. Just about everybody showed improvement and, for those who didn't, they have something to change for next year."
Here are five storylines from the recently completed season.
Meeting the goal
A little over one year ago, at the team's banquet to close out the 2016-17 season, Reis laid down a daunting goal for her team - to have one skier crack the top 25 and another crack the top 50 at the Wisconsin Nordic Ski League state championship meet.
The Hodags did not obtain the first part of Reis' goal, but they got the second as sophomore Jenna Younker finished 50th on the number in the girls' state pursuit last month.
"I can't ask for more from that from Jenna," Reis said the day after the state meet. "Had I not dangled the carrot, would she have gotten there? Maybe not. When you set the bar and you put a name to it, they have something concrete to shoot for.
"The victory here for Jenna is that she really didn't know what it was going to take to break the top 50. She just knew she needed to ski her heart out. For that to pay off for her is spades like that, is amazing. It's such a shot in the arm for her and it's really for her and the rest of the team. It bolsters your sense of development in the sport."
In addition to that goal, Reis pointed out several other accomplishments by her team during this year's banquet - including the most team members and state meet participants in her four years at the helm. Additionally, Reis noted that several skiers had perfect attendance at practice this year and nearly half of the squad kept racing following the end of the high school season - participating in the Kortelopet race late last month, as part of the American Birkebeiner race weekend.
Girls' team
Despite Younker's finish, the Hodag girls still finished last in the 12-team field at state - hampered by illnesses that prevented junior Emma Hjelle and freshman Gwyneth Lowry from competing in the second day of the state meet.
Sophomore Carleene Morien was second across the line for the Hodag girls at state 81st out of 110. Freshman Abbie Henrichs was 84th (59:20.2), First-year skier Valerie Dalka was 85th (59:45.3), Emma Roberts finished 86th (1:00:04.6), Jaylen Janssen was 98th (1:07:55.3) and Malie Llanos was 103rd (1:20:46.9).
Boys' team
Freshman Zach Goodrich was consistently the team's No. 1 skier over the course of the season and led the Hodags by playing 77th of 129 skiers in the boys' field at state.
Nicholas St. Pierre was the fastest for Rhinelander in Sunday's freestyle event, as he finished 81st in the overall standings (44:39.8). Levi Smith was 90th (47:11.5), followed by Breckin Younker (99th, 48:02.2), Alec Lowry (103rd, 49:08.2) and Daniel Goldsworthy (108th, 50:31.4).
Rhinelander finished 13th out of 16 teams in the boys' state competition.
Aside from Lowry, all of the high school participants were underclassmen.
CAVOC coming along
The Hodags moved out to the Cedric A. Vig Outdoor Classroom as the venue for the majority of their training this season. The hilly trail system at CAVOC better prepared the Hodags for challenging terrain at other courses on the high school ski circuit, including Minocqua Winter Park, Wausau's Nine Mile Forest and the Birkebeiner trailhead in Cable, which has hosted the state meet since 2014.
CAVOC again successfully hosted the two-day Hodag Nordic Challenge this January, showcasing a number of improvements to the trail system, including a new start/finish area and widened skiing corridors. The Northwoods Nordic Ski Club, which serves as a booster program for the Rhinelander high school and middle school teams, is proud of what's been done to the school forest trails and are looking to continue to refine the trail system in efforts to lure high profile events to the venue.
"We've done a lot of work, but the work is not done," club member Ron Teclaw said during the team banquet.
What's next
Reis said she's following a blueprint created by USSA and the United States ski team in order to help rebuild the Rhinelander program.
That blueprint includes three phases - getting kids to love and appreciate the outdoors, establishing a culture of training and establishing a culture of performance.
After four years, the first two phases are complete and now it is time for the team to work in earnest to establish a culture of performance, Reis said at the banquet.
"From this point on, we'll always have all three stages in mind, with the focus of the stages pointed toward the appropriate individuals," she said. "Our new focus will be on strength and offseason training. We all need better technique, but many of the intricacies of the technique are corrected by a specific increase in strength."
Looking ahead to the 2018-19 season, the Hodags should have a strong core on which to build. Alec Lowry is the only senior graduating from this year's team and the team is expected to gain as many as 12 incoming freshmen who competed at the middle school level this year.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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