August 30, 2021 at 9:17 a.m.
RHS boys take first in home invite
RHS boys take first in home invite
Rhinelander placed five runners in the top 20 as it won the boys' division of the 11-team Hodag Invite in front of RHS. The Hodag girls placed two runners in the top 11 overall and finished third on the day.
The Hodags placed ahead of Wisconsin Valley Conference outfits D.C. Everest, Wausau East, Wausau West and Merrill in the boys' division - a result Laggis said he did not anticipate.
"That was a shocker, to be honest, just a shocker," he said. "The Wausau East coach was mentioning before he left that a Rhinelander team has never won its home invite in the 22 years he's been coming here. It was cool to do that today, really cool."
Senior Cal Laggis, coach Laggis' son, picked up where he left off last season before being forced to miss the final two races due to COVID protocol. Laggis continued his string of top five finishes, clocking in fourth-fastest on the day in a time of 18 minutes, 9.6 seconds.
But Laggis had plenty of company in the top 20. Fellow seniors Jack DeNamur and Ty Welk were 11th and 14th, respectively for the Hodags. Junior Cody Ruetz was 17th and freshman Greyson Gremban checked in 20th in his varsity debut. All four finishers cracked the 21-minute mark and finished within 35 seconds of each other.
"I knew Cal would start out pretty decent and be solid," coach Laggis said. "Jack DeNamur from the beginning of practice I could see he's a lot stronger and a better runner. Ty Welk and Cody Ruetz, I was really not sure where they were going to be, and they answered the bell big time.
"If you look at two through five, they were all 20-something and that's nice, because that will turn into 19 faster than you think, and it's got to get even lower than that if we're going to score at the end of the year in the GNC."
Rhinelander's top returning runner on the girls' side, sophomore Leah Jamison, paced the way Thursday. She took ninth overall in a time of 23:43.4. Freshman Sophia Miljevich was less than six seconds back in 11th position.
Junior Juliana Smith led of group of Rhinelander runners in the 25-minute bracket, coming in 27th at 25:06.5. She was followed by Eva Hetland in 31st (25:23.8), Sage Flory in 34th (25:51.3) and Emma Germain in 35th (25:51.4).
"We've got some really athletic girls. Seeing Leah Jamison and Sophia Miljevich (at the front), and Juliana Smith, she came out of nowhere to be our third runner," coach Laggis said. "We've got a group of girls that we've got something to build on. They finished third overall and I'm just really happy with how they started."
It was a solid day for those making their cross country debuts. Gremban and Gavin Denis (35th, 22:27.4) figured into Rhinelander's top seven on the boys side. Miljevich and sophomore Reese Gehrig (40th, 26:13.9) were among the scorers for the Hodag girls.
Senior Jason Zheng rounded out the Hodag boys' varsity in 52nd. Jaden Beske, Rhinelander's No. 2 runner much of last year, was slowed by apparent leg cramps and finished 62nd. Beske is trying to run cross country and play football this fall.
Awards for Thursday's meet were split into divisions for large and small schools, based on enrollment. Both Cal Laggis (third) and DeNamur (10th) medaled in the boys' large division. Jamison (sixth) and Miljevich (eighth) were girls' large division medalists for the Hodags.
Rhinelander was one of only three GNC schools in the field. Lakeland was sixth overall in the boys' field and tied with Wausau West for first in the girls' division. Wausau West was awarded the title based on a faster sixth runner. Antigo finished eighth in the girls' division and did not have enough runners on the boys' side to qualify for a team score.
Laggis said he was impressed with his team's depth as it strives to finish in the top half of the GNC this year.
"You know that once we really get into GNC, that Tomahawk will be outstanding, and so will Medford and yada, yada, yada, but I think we have a pretty competitive group, so we'll just see where we're at," he said.
The Hodags are back in action this afternoon in the Mosinee Invite hosted at Nine Mile Forest in Wausau.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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