October 8, 2018 at 12:45 p.m.
Hodag harriers post fast times at Hatchet Invite
Hodag harriers post fast times at Hatchet Invite
The Hodags posted several season and career-best times as they placed fifth in the boys' and girls' divisions of the 11-team meet at Edgewater Country Club.
Bridger Flory finished fourth overall on the boys' side and led a pack of five Rhinelander runners that crossed the finish line in less than 20 minutes. Ella Schiek used a strong finish to pace the Hodag girls in 26th place as Rhinelander's top five crossed the line exactly one minute apart.
"From our standpoint, we're watching the times meticulously," Hodag coach M.J. Laggis said. "We saw a number of our boys PR today. We're really fired up about that. The girls are definitely improving and we want to see them continue to drop time as well."
Flory got shuffled at the start, settling into the bottom half of the top 10 during the first 2,000 meters of the 5,000-meter race. He slowly started picking up positions over the final half of the race and crossed the line in a lifetime-best 17 minutes, 11.59 seconds - roughly 19 seconds off the pace set by race winner Drew Bolder of Tomahawk.
"Bridger ran a great race, so give credit to Bolder that he put it away like that," Laggis said. "Bridger was right there, not a ton behind. Over the course of the last two weeks, Bridger's just been really focused, running well. He's quiet and smooth when he's running. He's relaxed and it's fun to watch him right now."
Jacob Weddle came across the line in 24th for the Hodags (18:48.33), followed by Jaden Beske (33rd, 19:27.44), Daniel Goldsworthy (34th, 19:28.00) and Cal Laggis (39th, 19:40.53). It marked the first time all season that Rhinelander had five runners finish in less than 20 minutes.
Laggis and Goldsworthy, in particular, turned it on during Saturday's race. Both dropped more than a minute from their times five days prior at the Northland Pines Invite in Eagle River.
"(Cal) and I set a goal that he was going to drop under 20 and he pounded out a 19:41 today, and was stoked about it," said coach Laggis, Cal's father. "Daniel Goldsworthy, that's a model of what happens when you work hard. He's a talented kid, in a number of different (activities) and on days he can't practice, he gets his workout in to a T. He keeps dropping time because he works real hard."
JC Adams (46th, 20:16.55) and Levi Smith (51st, 21:07.00) rounded out the Hodag varsity.
On the girls' side, Ella Schiek raced with her younger sister, Audrey, much of the race but turned on the jets over the final minute. Positioned as Rhinelander's third or fourth runner over the first two thirds of the race, Schiek kicked it into high gear and edged Abbie Henrichs for the team's No. 1 spot at the line. They crossed the line in 26th and 27th at the 22:41 mark, separated by 0.54 seconds.
"She's a flat out competitor," Laggis said of Ella Schiek's finish. "When Abbie came by me with about 500 (meters) to go, I thought she had Ella. Ella had broken away from the other girl she was running next to and Ella got her at the end. What a phenomenal finish for Ella. She's really turning into a runner and she ran a heck of a race today. So did Abbie Henrichs."
The rest of Rhinelander's top five was not that far behind. Audrey Schiek was 34th (23:09.81), Ali DeNamur was 35th (23:12.40) and Megan Brown finished 39th (23:41.29).
"Audrey has jest been really solid and steadily improving," Laggis said. "Then DeNamur, what a fighter. She's been battling a lot of things with some breathing issues to hip pain and whatnot and she just continues to fight through it. Megan is a young runner with a lot of upside. She could really be a scorer for us the next couple years."
Emma Germain (53rd, 25:14.57) and Claire Bowman (54th, 25:26.28), both battling illness, rounded out the Hodag contingent.
Rhinelander was the lowest-placing Great Northern school team in the field aside from Antigo, which did not have enough runners to register a team score in either the boys' or girls' divisions. Tomahawk, Mosinee and Lakeland went 1-2-3 in the boys' race. Lakeland, Mosinee and Tomahawk took the top three spots on the girls' side.
The Hodags will host the GNC meet this Saturday and know it will have its work cut out for it going up against several talented conference foes.
"We're off the lead. We're not the leaders of the conference," Laggis said. "We're not there, but we're continuing to get better and we've got to take that into the conference meet."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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