August 31, 2020 at 8:47 a.m.
Team preview: RHS cross country
Hodag harriers to face plenty of unknowns
Team preview: RHS cross country
Unexpected attrition has undermined the depth of the boys' squad. Meanwhile, the coronavirus pandemic put a damper on off-season training and will make this year's racing schedule different than any the Hodags have had in previous seasons.
"We'll have to go out there and have fun," Laggis said looking forward to the season which is set to get underway today with a modified Mosinee Invite at Nine-Mile Forest in Wausau. "It's something new and we get to compete, so that's always the positive thing."
The boys' squad was a competitive fifth in last year's GNC standings, and was expected to take a leap up with all of its varsity roster due back. However, varsity runners David and Nathan Gibbs have since transferred out of the district and Jacob Weddle, the team's No. 1 runner most of last season, opted not to run this year, as did JC Adams, cutting the team's number of returning starters down to three.
Junior Cal Laggis now becomes the most decorated runner back on the boys' side. He was Rhinelander's No. 2 or 3 runner most of last season before a breakout run at the Great Northern Conference meet in Antigo that saw him place fourth overall and take first-team all-conference honors. Fellow junior Jaden Beske and senior Daniel Goldsworthy are the only other holdovers from last year's varsity squad.
"Now you've got Cal, you've got Daniel and Jaden Beske that you're really counting on," coach Laggis said. "We thought we had those other four that were going to be in that mix and that's difficult. We're just not going to be what we thought we were.
"It will be on those three top boys to carry the torch and the other boys to step up."
The girls' squad, which also placed fifth at last year's conference meet, is set to bring back more experience, with six returning varsity runners.
The group is led by a pair of seniors, Abbey Henrichs and Ali DeNamur, who spent time trading the team's No. 1 spot last season. Henrichs finished 19th at conference and 27th at sectionals, while DeNamur was 23rd at conference and 30th at sectionals.
"With Allie DeNamur and Abbey Henrichs, you know what you have, your Nos. 1 and 2 runners," Laggis said. "They're just two kids that work hard at it. They put miles in, in the summer. With Abbey, I think you have a girl that should be right there and pretty fast. With Allie, you have a girl that's just tough of nails and has battled injuries."
Also returning from last year's squad are sisters Ella and Audrey Schiek along with Emma Germain and Sage Flory. Ella Schiek is a senior, while Audrey Schiek, Flory and Germain are all juniors. Laggis said he's hoping this group emerges and starts challenging Henrichs and DeNamur for the team's top spot.
"Our strength is experience. We've got some really good, nice kids there. You can pretty much predict who the top five, six girls are based on who's returning," he said.
Laggis noted that, as soon as social distancing restrictions eased to the point where team members could resume working out, some of the team's seniors organized a running group that was able to establish a mileage base heading into the season.
"They had a core of seven or eight kids that started running together," Laggis said, noting the number of miles runners logged or did not log in the offseason has been evident so far in practice. "It ended on a high note that way, and that's something we need to have happen the entire offseason. Obviously, COVID-19 threw a wrench into all of that. We're at where we're at and we've just got to keep getting better."
COVID-19 has also thrown a wrench into the team's schedule - canceling some events, modifying others and adding a few new stops before the conference meet Oct. 17 at Edgewater Country Club in Tomahawk. For example, the Bill Smiley Invitational in Wausau, a staple for scores of cross country teams on the third Saturday in September, has been canceled. Rhinelander also lost non-conference jaunts to Wittenberg-Birnamwood, Stratford and Waupaca.
Seven of the eight races on Rhinelander's schedule are hosted by Great Northern Conference schools. The lone exception is the Three Lakes Invite, slated for Sept. 24. GNC schools will also make up the vast majority of the competition in Rhinelander's scheduled events.
Today, for example, Rhinelander will join Antigo, Lakeland and Medford for Mosinee's invite at Nine-Mile. Rhinelander will host all of the GNC, with the exception of Tomahawk, Sept. 10 and has races at Lakeland, Antigo and Northland Pines also on the schedule.
The Hodags will have two home races this year, Sept. 10 and a quadrangular meet Oct. 1 against Ashland, Three Lakes and Tomahawk. Due to the construction of a JV baseball field in front of Rhinelander High School, and the need for courses to have fewer intersecting points due to social distancing guidelines, Rhinelander's races this year will be held at the Cedric A. Vig Outdoor Classroom.
"We don't get to travel and do some of the fun things that we've done, like a Smiley," M.J. Laggis said. "There are some other meets that are ways away that we like going to. A huge positive is that we're getting the opportunity to compete, so we're very, very thankful for that. Another big positive is that we get to see all these conference opponents all the time so, when you do boil it down to the GNC meet, this year more than ever, you have a really good idea of what you need to do and how you stack up with each team, because you've actually run against them far more than we have any other year."
So far, the GNC championship meet in Tomahawk is the last event on the Hodags' schedule. Any sort of culminating event or tournament series would be determined by the WIAA next month.
The GNC has several strong cross country programs, led by Lakeland, Medford and Tomahawk. Coach Laggis said he knows his team will have an uphill climb to compete at that level, and that improvement will be the No. 1 goal for the season.
"I just think we're very inexperienced. We're in the lower to mid part of the pack there. I think that's our starting point and we just have to keep trying to get better," he said. "That's not impossible because we have some really good kids, kids that are starting to get miles on and one of the things we seem to be able to prove is, is maybe we come in with not enough miles on, but we seem to improve rapidly. We'll see how much we improve and try to climb that ladder."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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