September 23, 2020 at 1:11 p.m.
Hodag boys, Cal Laggis win Gartzke Flowage Invite
Hodag boys, Cal Laggis win Gartzke Flowage Invite
Laggis, returning to Gartzke for the first time since last year's breakout fourth-place run in the Great Northern Conference meet, notched his first career victory Tuesday as he took the Gartzke Flowage Invitational hosted by Antigo High School.
Laggis' win, coupled with four runners in the top 13 overall, was just enough for Rhinelander to edge Medford by one point for the boys' title in the five-team meet. The Hodag girls had five finishers in the top 20, led by senior Ali DeNamur in 10th, as they finished third.
Laggis pulled away about halfway through the race and cruised to a more than 21-second win over Northland Pines' Sam Gremban. His winning 5-kilometer time of 19 minutes, 16.8 seconds was actually seven seconds slower than his fourth-place run at last year's GNCs, but more than enough to get the job done. That was especially true with Medford's top runner, Justin Sullivan, scratched from the start list.
"He runs good there, there's no doubt about it," said RHS cross country coach M.J. Laggis, Cal's father. "He started out, had a good race. He was right in a pack there, running second or third. He had a good downhill about halfway through the course and he passed two guys, never looked back and just finished really strong. He had a really, really good race and he was really happy. Medford was down their best runner. Sullivan wasn't there, but you know what, it doesn't matter. It was just a nice accomplishment for him. It was the first time he's ever outright won a race and I'm really proud of him."
Rhinelander won despite scratching junior Ty Welk from the lineup. Jaden Beske medaled for the Hodags, placing eighth overall (21:33.3). Sophomore Cody Ruetz was 12th (22:33.9), senior Daniel Goldsworthy was 13th (22:40.5) and junior Jack DeNamur was 17th (23:00.1). That proved to be just enough to nip Medford, whose top five runners finished sixth, ninth, 10th, 11th and 16th.
"Behind Beske, the combination of Daniel Goldsworthy, (Jack) DeNamur and Cody Ruetz was really good right there," coach Laggis said. "That's all with Ty Welk being out right now, and he's been our No. 2. The boys are improving like crazy and we were just able to nudge Medford. A big part of that was Sullivan not in the lineup for Medford today, but we were just able to nudge Medford. I've been saying all along we keep getting better and I think I'm speaking the truth."
Travis White (24th, 24:11.1) and AJ Gillespie (28th, 24:58.7) rounded out the varsity contingent for Rhinelander.
On the girls' side, Rhinelander had the tightest gap between its top five runners, all of whom crossed the line 1:18 apart. Medford was again the class of the field as it placed all seven of its varsity runners in the top 11 to win going away. Mosinee finished six points ahead of Rhinelander for the runner-up spot.
DeNamur got on the medal stand for the first time this year with a 10th-place finish in a time of 25:10.9. She edged Medford's Alexis Fleegel by 1.3 seconds for the final spot on the podium.
Abbey Henrichs was second-fastest for Rhinelander in 13th at 21:17.3, followed by Leah Jamison in 14th (25:34.2), Emma Germain in 16th (25:47.4) and Ella Schiek in 19th (26:29.5).
"Those girls are getting better. It was a tough course today and they ran really strong," coach Laggis said. "Leah Jamison was not at her best. She's got a little hip issue going on and Ella was our No. 5 but she ran really strong. I just feel the girls' team, we're improving and the results don't always show it in a team standings at the end of the meet, but I think they're coming along nicely. I'm just proud of how hard they're working."
Juliana Smith (24th, 27:54.6) and Sage Flory (25th, 28:35.2) rounded out the Hodag varsity.
Rhinelander traveled to Three Lakes yesterday for a non-conference invite that concluded after deadline. The Hodags are back in action next Thursday at home in a four-team meet at CAVOC that will be the team's first look at Tomahawk this year. Three Lakes and Ashland are also scheduled to attend.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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