September 16, 2020 at 12:07 p.m.
Five Hodags medal at Lakeland Invite
Five Hodags medal at Lakeland Invite
With conference favorite Medford not in attendance, the Hodags had five individual top-10 finishes to secure medals during the 5-kilometer race. Cal Laggis, Ty Welk and Jaden Beske all cracked the top 10 on the boys' side as the Hodags finished second behind Lakeland. Abbey Henrichs and Leah Jamison finished sixth and seventh, respectively, as the Hodags girls took third in the five-team meet, but were only five points behind meet champion Lakeland.
"The bottom line is we have guys who are stepping up and we are close," coach M.J. Laggis said.
Cal Laggis scored his fourth straight top four finish this season, taking third in a tight three-way race for the win in the boys' 5K. Mosinee's Cooper Szekeress came out on top with a time of 17 minutes, 38.0 seconds, followed closely by Northland Pines' Sam Gremban. Laggis finished third, 6.4 seconds back, with a personal-best time of 17:44.4. That eclipsed the 17:48.5 Laggis ran at last year's sectionals on a fast, flat course in Tomahawk. Tuesday's set up at Winter Park had significantly more undulation.
"It's not like he PR'ed at Tomahawk, at a flat course. He PR'ed on a fairly challenging course. We've just got to keep going," coach Laggis said. "The difference between third and first was six seconds. The top three, and granted Medford wasn't there, neither was Tomahawk, but the difference between first and third is just seconds right now. I'm really proud. He PR'ed and he's on track to keep doing what he did last year, which is dropping time down the stretch."
Cal Laggis was joined on the medal stand by teammates Welk and Beske, who both recorded their best finishes of the season. Welk crossed the line eighth overall in 18:53.4. Beske was 10th at 19:12.0.
"Jaden Beske, he's worked so hard in practice and I'm so proud of how he's improved," coach Laggis said. "And Ty Welk has basically come out of a JV runner (role) is scoring on varsity for us big time, and improving."
Cody Ruetz (16th, 20:49.2), Daniel Goldsworthy (17th, 20:49.2), Jack DeNamur (22nd, 21:18.0) and Jake Losch (30th, 22:14.5), rounded out the contingent for Rhinelander, which finished 12 points behind Lakeland in the boys' division.
On the girls' side, Henrichs and Jamison each scored their first top 10s of the season, finishing only 1.1 seconds apart. Henrichs crossed in 22:44.7 while Jamison, a freshman, checked in at 22:45.5. Ali DeNamur (22:52.0) and Emma Germain (23:03.6) finished 11th and 12th, respectively for Rhinelander. Ella Schiek was 14th (23:40.8), Juliana Smith was 16th (23:52.6) and Audrey Schiek finished 20th (25:17.9).
"Abbey Henrichs medaled and that was great today. She had a 22:44. She had a nice time. Leah Jamison got a medal tonight, really happy for her. She's a freshman that's just improved over and over. Ali DeNamur and Emma Germain were just out of (earning a medal). They were right on the edge," coach Laggis said. "The girls are really improving. They're dropping time and the top four - Abbey, Leah, Ali and Emma - and Ella Schiek was right behind them and Juliana Smith has just continued to work hard and improve. While the girls' team was third out of five, I was really happy for the girls that medaled and really happy that they're dropping time. That's a good thing."
Lakeland won the girls' division with 45 points, followed by Mosinee with 47 points and Rhinelander with 50 points.
Rhinelander returns to action today in another Great Northern Conference invite hosted by Antigo at Gartzke Flowage. Five of the seven GNC schools will be in attendance, with Lakeland and Tomahawk being the exceptions.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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