November 23, 2020 at 8:45 a.m.
Team review: RHS cross country
Health concerns derail potentially strong year for Hodag boys
Team review: RHS cross country
Unfortunately for the Hodags, the team did not have enough depth to overcome a spate of athletes sidelined due to contact tracing for COVID-19, as what promised to be a strong season fizzled out at the end.
After consistently finishing in the top three on the boys' side through its first seven events, the Hodags had to scratch their top two runners and finished fifth in the GNC championship race. The circumstances were even worse six days later at WIAA subsectionals as, with only four athletes cleared to race, the Hodag boys' were unable to qualify for a team score.
"That just left an empty feeling," coach M.J. Laggis said afterward. "Yeah, there was some closure that we had a season, but it was awfully empty on that side."
The Hodag girls, meanwhile, finished fifth at conference and seventh in a nine-team Division 1 subsectional.
Here are five storylines from the recently completed season.
Pandemic problems
On the boys' side, Rhinelander's outlook for the GNC championship turned only a couple of days before the conference race at Edgewater Country Club in Tomahawk. It was at that point that coach Laggis found out his son, Cal, and fellow junior Jaden Beske would not be cleared to run in the event.
Rhinelander thought it may have a chance to finish second in the race. Instead, with out its top two runners, the Hodags were relegated to fifth behind Tomahawk, Lakeland, Medford and Northland Pines.
Cal Laggis, who was also unable to run subsectionals, was likely a shoo-in for first-team All-GNC honors for the second year in a row, had he been able to race. Laggis placed fourth or better in all seven races he ran, including a win at the Gartzke Flowage Invite hosted by Antigo Sept. 22. What's more, Laggis had set a personal-best time of 17 minutes, 27 seconds at Northland Pines just one week before getting shut down.
Beske, meanwhile, had a string of four straight top-10 finishes going before rolling an ankle and retiring early from the Northland Pines race.
"There were two guys that could have really helped pull those team standings up big time and they couldn't run. What do you do," coach Laggis said. "I'm not sure what they would have done (at conference), but I think Jaden Beske is without a doubt a second-team runner this year, the way he worked and his times and the way he competes on meet day. Cal was probably three or four (overall). He was probably top five without any questions at all."
However, that paled in comparison to the situation the Hodags faced six days later in Medford. Cal Laggis, Ty Welk, Daniel Goldsworthy, Jake Losch, Cody Ruetz, AJ Gillespie and Abbey Henrichs were all unable to race. It was even more difficult for Goldsworthy, Losch and Henrichs, all of whom are seniors.
Boys' team
The boys' squad had some questions marks entering the season, especially after last year's No. 1 runner, Jacob Weddle, opted not to run this fall.
Cal Laggis quickly established himself as the top runner, however, with his string of top five finishes and Beske solidified himself as the team's No. 2 option. Welk, also a junior, was quickly developing into the team's third option, with finishes of 12th, 13th, and eighth in his first three starts before being sidelined due to health concerns. He returned with a 17th-place finish at the GNCs before getting sidelined again.
Two underclassmen, junior Jack DeNamur and sophomore Cody Ruetz emerged as the season went along. DeNamur had a string of top 20 finishes before breaking through with a ninth-place run at the Northland Pines Invite.
Ruetz, meanwhile, ran his way into the varsity lineup by finishing 16th at Rhinelander's first home invite of the season and stayed there the rest of the way. He finished seventh in the Hodags' second home race, eighth at Northland Pines and was Rhinelander's top finisher, in 15th overall, at the GNCs.
Goldsworthy was the fourth member of the Hodag boys' squad to earn all-conference honors, placing 19th at the GNCs. He was rounding into form toward the end of the season with finishes of 11th, 10th and seventh in his final three starts before conference.
Girls' team
Parity was the best word to describe the RHS girls' squad this season as it was not uncommon for Rhinelander's to five runners to be separated by less than two minutes of elapsed time. The team had three different runners - Ali DeNamur, Henrichs and freshman Leah Jamison - take turns as the team's top runner.
DeNamur, a senior, was the team's top finisher in four of the team's eight races. Her season was highlighted by top 10 finishes in Antigo, Three Lakes and the second Rhinelander race. She was also the Hodags' top runner at conference (16th) and at subsectionals (21st).
"Ali DeNamur, she is just the definition of an everyday plugger like I've said before," coach Laggis said following the subsectional race. "I'm so proud of her. She runs through anything. She runs through any adversity that you throw at her."
Henrichs, had three top 10s on the season, highlighted by a fifth-place run in the Hodags' second home race. She was also sixth at the Lakeland Invite. Jamison also recorded a trio of top 10s, highlighted by a sixth-place run in Three Lakes. She earned honorable mention all-conference honors with a 19th-place run in Tomahawk.
Junior Emma Germain, senior Ella Schiek and sophomore Juliana Smith rounded out a core of six girls who were among Rhinelander's top seven all season long.
Battling the GNC
Due to the pandemic, a number of the big invites Rhinelander typically competed in went by the wayside - most notably the Bill Smiley Invitational typically held in the middle of September in Wausau.
What happened instead was a series of meets in which most of the Great Northern Conference schools raced against each other. That gave the Hodags a pretty strong sense of their competition most of the season.
Rhinelander was competitive with Lakeland and Medford much of the year, even edging the Raiders by one point for the overall title in Antigo on the boys' side. The Medford girls were the class of the field in the GNC, but the Hodags were typically neck-and-neck with Mosinee for third in the conference races.
At times during the season, coach Laggis felt his team was so close to a breakthrough performance, he could practically taste it.
"We're not that far away," he said following the Sept. 10 race in Rhinelander. "It's like we're cutting the pepperoni. We're dicing up the onions. We're slicing the mushrooms and grating the cheese. We just can't get it all on the pizza. But we keep getting closer."
What's next
The Hodag boys could be set up to be competitive again next year, replacing only Goldsworthy and Losch from this year's varsity rotation. Cal Laggis and Beske will undoubtedly be hungry after being unable to race at this year's conference meet.
The girls' squad will take a hit in depth, graduating Ali DeNamur, Henrichs and Ella Schiek. Jamison will be the top returning runner for the Hodags, along with Germain, Smith and freshman Eva Hetland, who worked her way into the starting lineup during the second half of the season. The Hodags are also hoping to get a varsity contributor or two right away from the incoming freshman class.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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