October 5, 2020 at 4:04 p.m.
Hodag harriers take second in home quad
Hodag harriers take second in home quad
Tomahawk edged Rhinelander for the team title in both the boys' and girls' divisions of the Hodag Quadrangular Thursday at the Cedric A. Vig Outdoor Classroom. Despite resting a handful of runners, Tomahawk beat the Hodags 21-37 on the boys' side and 30-42 on the girls' side. Ashland finished third in both divisions while Three Lakes, the fourth team in the field, did not have enough runners to register a team score.
"Tomahawk's a real good side, real good team," Rhinelander coach M.J. Laggis said. "We competed well. I'm happy with how the boys ran and most of them dropped time. I was pleased with that."
Despite some nagging injuries, Cal Laggis once again led the Hodag boys. He finished second overall with a time of 18 minutes, 56.3 second on the hilly 5K course at CAVOC. That was roughly 47 seconds off the pace of race winner Drew Bolder of Tomahawk.
"He's got some hip and lower back stuff going on," M.J. Laggis said, describing his son's ailments. "I almost scratched him, but he ran and he went below 19 (minutes) on a pretty tough course. I'll take a healthy Cal at conference time. He's going to be right there and compete with the top eight runners for sure."
Three other runners joined Cal Laggis in the top 10 on the boys' side for Rhinelander. Jaden Beske was sixth at 20:34.6, Cody Ruetz took seventh at 21:19.6 and senior Daniel Goldsworthy was 10th at 21:19.6.
"One kid I really think has started to make some gains that is just kind of sneaking up on us lately is Daniel Goldsworthy. He's really starting to improve," coach Laggis noted. "Beske's just been solid right there in the two-hole and, to be honest with you, I'm really impressed with Ruetz. Ruetz has gotten better and better, and look for Jack DeNamur to peak at the right time and be a factor for us."
Jack DeNamur finished with for the Hodags (21:53.6). Travis White took 15th (23:06.4) and Jake Losch was 16th (23:39.4) to round out the Rhinelander varsity.
Senior Abbey Henrichs, running out of the second wave of starters, was the top finisher for the Hodag girls, as she clocked in fifth overall at 23:52.3. That was roughly four seconds ahead of freshman Leah Jamison, who finished seventh for Rhinelander (23:56.8).
Ali DeNamur placed 10th (24:25.2), Emma Germain was 12th (24:28.5), Ella Schiek took 13th (25:24.2), Juliana Smith was 15th (25:24.2) and Eva Hetland finished 17th (26:09.3) to round out the Rhinelander varsity.
"Abbey was our No. 1 and you had Leah and Ali right there, Emma Germain," coach Laggis said. "Those four have been very solid. Ella Schiek has really started to come on and improve. We need her to be at her best down the road. Juliana Smith, I thought, had a nice run today. She was plugging hard at the end."
Thursday's race was unique because it was the only duplicate venue for the Hodags on the regular season schedule. The team hosted a GNC invite at CAVOC Sept. 10 and, each of the Hodags' top five finishers in Thursday's race dropped time from their performance on the same course three weeks prior.
"It's just so hard in a small meet like that to get a feel of much," coach Laggis said. "You just kind of look a the times and hope that the time improves."
Rhinelander travels to Northland Pines for a GNC invite today - the team's final race before the conference championship meet next Thursday in Tomahawk.
"I just think we're going to be as competitive as we can be at conference time," M.J. Laggis said. "I'm not foolish. I know that Tomahawk is very good and I know Medford is really good. We're just going to compete and see where we can wind up. It's been a crazy year but we've gotten better. I'm happy with that."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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