February 3, 2020 at 12:32 p.m.
Hodag Alpine claims boys' ski, snowboard titles
Hodag Alpine claims boys' ski, snowboard titles
The Hodags won both the fourth and fifth races of the Northern Conference season for boys' skiing in a doubleheader finale Saturday at Ski Brule and, thanks to some attrition, rallied to win the conference championship in boys' snowboarding as well.
"We've got a good combo there. We knew it was something that was attainable and we're happy that it worked out," coach Rod Olson said. "Every guy got to contribute, so it was a cool season in that aspect."
The boys' skiing title was expected. The Hodags entered the day first in the standings after winning two of the first three rounds. Rhinelander did not have a perfect day, especially in slalom, on Saturday, but did enough to hold off Rice Lake in both rounds 4 and 5 to take the overall title.
The title in boys' snowboard, on the other hand, came as a bit of a surprise as Ashland had edged Rhinelander for first place in each of the first two conference races. However, Ashland had a boarder out of the lineup on Saturday, leaving it one athlete short of a full lineup with the third, fourth and fifth races of the conference season left to complete. That allowed the Hodags to take the final three rounds with ease and cruise to the title.
"I knew we were close but I didn't know we were in there until they announced it tonight that that's what happened. That was a great surprise," Olson said of winning the boys' snowboard title. "They had some guys go down. They had one guy sick and one of their good guys in GS he came to a stop, had to stop and get going. The strength of our team lied in our ability to have six or seven guys always competing. Your numbers help and that's what we had. I haven't looked at the numbers yet to figure it out, but that's what appears has happened. Depth overtook some higher talented individuals."
The Hodags had the two most talented individuals in skiing this year in Northland Pines siblings Ty and Tommie Jo Springer. Both capped off individual Northern Conference titles with near flawless runs on Saturday.
Ty Springer was tops in all six runs on Saturday as he captured his third consecutive Northern Conference title. He won 14 of the 15 individual runs this season in the conference - his only slip up was a ninth-place finish following hike in the slalom run in the season opener at Granite Peak.
"He skis great. He's always been a competitor and he's worked hard on it and dedicated himself," Olson said. "He really enjoys this sport but he keeps it in perspective. He doesn't sweat it. He's a kid, I think he gets where he is with his success because he just loves to go fast. It's fun for him. He doesn't really set these goals like, 'I'm going to get first today.' He's not like that. He sets attainable goals for his performance and he just loves to go fast. That's what gets him those results."
Tommie Jo Springer did her brother one better by winning every single run in her freshman campaign in the Northern Conference. She dusted the field Saturday. She beat Arfee Edwards of Ashwabay for the overall title in both rounds and her combined time was more than seven seconds faster in both events.
"Tommie's gotten a lot looser," Olson said. "She's technically always been just a great athlete and a great skier, but she's loosening up and taking some chances. She's focused on not only trying to win the race, but trying to get better times every time that she does is, have a better performance. Tommie's great at inspection. She really gets the line thing, when to turn, when to tuck. She's got a very headstrong approach to competing, but she's also a thinker. She gets the whole picture."
On the boys' side, Patrick Stemper finished fifth in the final overall standings while Daniel Ritchie finished sixth. Stemper, plagued by illness much of the season, caught a bit of misfortune in the first slalom run of the day. His initial run in the race was negated due to a timing malfunction, as was his first rerun - both clean races. He crashed in his third attempt at the course, did not finish and wound up 12th in the overall standings for conference race No. 4. He bounced back to take fifth in conference race No. 5.
Ritchie finished fourth in conference race No. 4 and sixth in conference race No. 5.
Olson called the day, which featured six runs in skiing and five runs in snowboarding, a grind.
"We were, I don't know about sweating it, but we were doing everything we could to create and maintain those performances - whether it was how we were talking to the kids, trying to get them mentally prepared, calm them down, build them up," he said.
The Hodag girls finished second overall in race No. 4 and third in race No. 5 to lock up second place in the final conference standings.
Due to unsafe course conditions, the conference decided to nix the boardercross run last Tuesday at Ashwabay and run three slalom runs instead. That meant three boardercross runs Saturday to make up for the run that was missed.
In boys' snowboarding, Bailey Schwab wound up third overall in conference races Nos. 3 and 5, and fourth in race No. 4 as he finished third in the overall standings. Robert Masini scored fourth-place finishes in races Nos. 3 and 5. Joey Sturzl finished fifth in race No. 3 and Mason Durkee finished firth in race No. 4.
On the girls' side, Kylee White scored finishes of third, third and fourth Saturday to finish third overall in the final standings. Kyleigh Allen scored a fourth and two fifths to place fifth overall and the Hodags got junior Madesen Van Order back after sustaining a wrist injury earlier in the season. She placed eighth in all three races because she missed the slalom runs last Tuesday at Ashwabay, but she placed in the top five in all five runs Saturday.
"Kylee's been hurt. She hurt her wrist again today, so her performances were up and down. I think, mentally, she's bummed about that, but she's boarding well," Olson noted. "Then Kyleigh Allen has come on and improved. She just moved here second semester. She hasn't had a full season of training. A lot of the sport's new to her."
All-conference awards were presented to the top 10 overall skiers, the top five overall snowboarders and the top five in each race type. The following Hodags received all conference honors:
Boys' skiing - Ty Springer (1st overall, 1st slalom, 1st GS, 1st super G); Stemper (5th overall, 5th slalom, 2nd GS, 4th Super G); Ritchie (6th overall)
Girls' skiing - Tommie Jo Springer (1st overall, 1st slalom, 1st GS, 1st super G)
Boys' snowboarding - Schwab (3rd overall, 3rd slalom, 4th GS, 4th boardercross); Masini (5th overall, 5th boardercross)
Girls' snowboarding - White (3rd overall, 3rd slalom, 3rd GS, 3rd boardercross); Kyleigh Allen (5th overall, 5th slalom, 5th GS); Van Order (5th boardercross).
As a result of their placement in the Northern Conference, virtually everyone on the Hodag squad earned a berth into the WIARA State Championships, which will be held in La Crosse Feb. 14-17.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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