January 7, 2019 at 1:12 p.m.
Up to the challenge
Hodag Nordic picks up speed at home two-day race
Up to the challenge
The team dealt with a mild weekend and a thin trail base in stride, and mostly picked up speed Sunday in the second day of the two-day pursuit event, which mimics the format for the Wisconsin Nordic Ski League state championships coming up next month in Cable.
"From yesterday to today, we've seen all these times improve," coach Charil Reis said. "They've never really had the opportunity to ski the same course two days in a row using the same discipline. I told my high school boys that today was more of a time trial against yourself. Go out there and see what you can do to better your time from yesterday. And they did. I'd be surprised if every single one of them didn't better their time.
"I'm really impressed. This is a breakout year for the Hodags. It really is. I've seen them come across the line looking better. They look composed. They look spent, but they look composed. That means their technique is coming together, finally. Their racing strategies are coming together, finally, and they're only going to get faster."
A mild start of the winter forced Northwoods Nordic, the organizers of the race, to change the format of the event slightly, with the teams racing the 5-plus kilometer course in the freestyle technique both days. The trail base was too thin to set tracks for the classic technique, which was originally scheduled for Sunday's race.
A trio of juniors competed on varsity for the Hodag boys' squad. Levi Smith finished 38th in a field of 57 varsity racers, with a two-day combined time of 32 minutes, 41.6 seconds. Nicholas St. Pierre had a strong Sunday. After posting the 52nd fastest time Saturday, he was 37th Sunday and rose 12 spots to 40th in the overall pursuit (32:24.6). Breckin Younker was 43rd both days and finished 43rd overall (33.38.5).
"Levi has really shown a lot of composure this race, holding together and not flailing around when he tries to get faster and exert more energy, more power," Reis said. "As far as Breckin and Nicholas go, it's a bit of a back and forth with them. I know Nicholas had a bad day yesterday, didn't feel very well. Breckin did have a good day yesterday. I wouldn't say either of them had a bad day today. It's just a little back and forth and I love it because it keeps them hungry."
Senior Emma Hjelle has the best finish for the Hodag girls, placing 36th in a field of 46 varsity skiers with a combined time of 40:11.12. Junior Jenna Younker was 37th (40:25.7) and senior Emma Roberts was 39th (41;27.7). The three Hodag racers went off at the same time on Sunday and all finished at roughly the same time as well, with Younker barely beating Hjelle to the line.
"Today was a big coup for Jenna. She's been struggling with her breathing this season so for her to come across the line ahead of Emma Hjelle was a significant victory mentally for Jenna," Reis said.
Rhinelander again had some fast underclassmen in the junior varsity division. Sophomore Zach Goodrich finished sixth in the boys' JV pursuit. His time of 31:28.2 would have been good enough for 30th place in the varsity race. Anna Wood was 12th in the girls' JV pursuit (37:55.5) and would have also been 30th had her score counted in the varsity race.
"I know Zach was not far off the podium (top five) yesterday and Anna was 13th yesterday, so if she moved up in the pursuit, that's a win in my book," Reis said. "If anybody moved up today in the pursuit standings they should pat themselves on the back. That's the whole idea of a pursuit."
Kyle Morien was 15th (33.42.3) and Daniel Goldsworthy was 17th (34:04.9) in the boys' JV division. Liana Titer was 18th (39:31.0) and Callie Threlkeld was 26th (41:36.2) in the JV girls' race.
Ashwaubenon, Lakeland and Peak Nordic made up the top three teams in the boys' varsity race. Copper Country (Mich.), Lakeland and Wausau United were the top three finishers on the girls' side in a competition that featured one of the biggest fields of the season apart from the state meet.
"Almost the entire state is in Rhinelander. It's perfect for a state tune-up. It's not often you get to ski two days in a row. This is always the tune-up for state and everybody knows it," Reis said. "That's why they come. The come for the course, they come for the snow, they come for the fun. They come because Northwoods Nordic puts on a really darn good race and they complement us for it. I can't say enough about all the volunteers that help make this race a success. It's gotten better year after year after year and everyone around the state recognizes that."
Reis said those volunteers had to put in double time due to the mild weather. Much of the week leading up to the race was spent harvesting snow from other areas of the CAVOC property and transplanting it on to the race course to ensure the trail base was deep enough to put on the race.
"The course held up amazingly well, but it wasn't just due to Mother Nature. We had two different snow shoveling brigades out here. Northwoods Nordic volunteers, we put an all call out and we just said, 'If you love skiing and you love youth, get out there and shovel some snow with us.'"
The Hodags are scheduled to head to Wausau for the Snekkevik Classic Race this Saturday, though Reis said the status of that race was still up in the air due to trail conditions at Nine Mile Forest. Should the Snekkevik race not take place, Reis said she would take her team to the Seeley Hills Classic near Hayward on Saturday instead.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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