January 9, 2019 at 1:14 p.m.
Springer wins Northern Conference opener for RHS/NP skiers
Springer wins Northern Conference opener for RHS/NP skiers
The defending conference champ made a clean sweep Tuesday, winning the boys' downhill competition and helping the Rhinelander/Northland Pines squad to a runner-up finish in the Northern Conference opener at Granite Peak in Wausau.
Springer was the class of the field Tuesday, winning each of the three races by more than a second as he beat Ashwabay's Matt Kouba for the combined title.
The RHS/Northland Pines girls' team finished fourth in skiing on Tuesday. The Hodag did not have enough snowboarders to record a team score in that category.
Granite Peak is typically the toughest hill on the Northern Conference circuit and lived up to its reputation Tuesday with an assist from Mother Nature, as Monday's rain turned the slopes into an icy challenge.
"We had some really rough conditions," RHS/NP coach Rod Olson said. "It rained all day yesterday and, for some reason, Granite Peak chose to groom again this morning and they turned what was a hard, icy deck into just a giant snow cone. We call them death cookies, but it was like skiing on nothing but snowballs. The snow would just not set up until almost noon.
"It's good that Granite Peak was first. That one's always turbulent. The conditions today, the hill didn't do anybody any favors and we're glad to have that one away from us."
Olson said the treacherous trails seemed to affect his girls' ski squad more than the boys. Senior Haley Seefeldt was the only Hodag to crack the top 10. She bounced back from an 18th-place finish in the morning Super G session to take 10th in giant slalom and eighth in slalom to finish 10th overall. Alexis Pyrchalla was 16th overall, McKenna Nash was 17th and Kathryn Borski finished 21st.
"The Super G was very treacherous, difficult to ski," Olson said. "Our girls did not feel confident on it and they game back sitting in the back seat. Though we had three finishes, we were by no means racing that first race. Once we got to giant slalom and then slalom, they did better and competed more, got a little bit more athletic."
While Springer cleaned up in boys' skiing, none of his teammate joined him in the top 10. Fellow Northland Pines sophomore Patrick Stemper bounced back after missing a gate in Super G to finish seventh in giant slalom and fifth in slalom to take 13th overall. Luke Fritz was 16th, A.J. Gillespie was 17th, John Krueger finished 21st and Nych White was 25th.
"Ty was outstanding today. I'm pretty sure he won today," Olson said before knowing the official results. "Patrick skied good, he just missed those gates in Super G, but he had a really good slalom. Luke really helped us out today. He's coming on. We're pretty surprised by his improvement."
The Hodags had three snowboarders out due to injury or other reasons, leaving the boys' and girls' squads with only one rider each.
Kylee White recovered from a crash in the first of two runs of giant slalom to finish fifth overall on the day. She was third in the second run of GS and fourth in slalom.
"Kylee raced well. She fell on her first GS run, a really good hit," Olson said. "She did pretty good the next two runs, GS No. 2 and slalom. She did better there but that first run, she went and did a complete forward flip. She landed on the back of her neck first and then rolled and flipped again. It was a good one. She's fine. No concussion, no injuries but she'll be sore tomorrow."
Bailey Schwab was sixth in boys' snowboarding, highlighted by a fourth-place finishes in the slalom competition.
Rice Lake beat Rhinelander/Northland Pines 89-127 in the boys' ski division. Ashwabay was third with 150 points. D.C. Everest won the girls' ski division. Rice Lake took the boys' snowboard victory and Ashland was the only school with enough riders to post a score in girls' snowboard.
The second Northern Conference race of the season will take place this coming Monday at Christie Mountain in Bruce.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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