June 10, 2021 at 8:09 a.m.
Mosinee edges Rhinelander for GNC boys' track title
Mosinee edges Rhinelander for GNC boys' track title
The Hodags won conference championships in four events, and had 10 other all-conference performances, but it was not enough as they were edged by Mosinee by 5 1/2 points for the Great Northern Conference title in Medford.
The Hodags girls placed fifth in their division with a pair of conference titles.
Rhinelander trailed by 10 1/2 points with two events remaining following a 1-hour, 45-minute weather delay, but the Hodags were unable to score any points in the 3,200-meter run, which mathematically secured their fate. Rhinelander gained five points on Mosinee with a runner-up finish in the 4x400 relay, but it was too little, too late.
"I'm proud of every single person today. We had a lot of champions, a lot of great efforts. It just wasn't enough. That's just all there is to it," coach Aaron Kraemer said.
A combination of Mosinee tactics and a couple of surprise results for Rhinelander ultimately accounted for the final difference. The Indians went all-in on the sprints, putting their fastest runners, Cyle Kowalski, Kyle Miller and Drayton Lehman in the 100 and the 200 - as well as Kowalski and Lehman in the 400.
The move paid off as Kowalski edged Rhinelander's Caleb Olcikas for the win by 0.02 seconds in the 100, and by 0.06 seconds in the 200 - a net eight-point swing in Mosinee's direction. That, coupled with a 2-5 finish in the 400, resulted in a 21-point gain for Mosinee in the sprints. Cyle Kowalski and Lehman went 1-3 in the long jump and Miller and Cole Kowalski went 1-4 in the triple jump as Mosinee had a 27-point edge in the horizontal jumping events.
Another turning point was an even split between the teams in the discus as Rhinelander's Brock Snyder, who entered as the top seed in the event, did not get any of his preliminary tosses in bounds and failed to make the finals.
Mosinee outscored Rhinelander in only six of the 18 events, but did so by a large enough margin to secure the championship.
"Congratulations, Mosinee. They're a feed the cats program, just like we are and they're very, very fast and they jump really, really high and far," Kraemer said. "They had a really good meet plan. They did everything they needed to do to beat us and we had a few things not go our way. That's how track meets are. You've got to score the points when you have them.
"It's not one person to blame. I'm never going to say that. We all took our turns in all the different place. We could have scored points in multiple places. In our sprints we didn't win the 100 and the 200. We didn't score, other than one point in the 400. We had a mishap in the disc and didn't get to finish the shot. That is what it is."
The meet was stopped at 6:55 p.m., right before the boys' 200, due to approaching thunderstorms. The meet resumed at 8:40 p.m. once the storms passed and the competitors had time to warm up again. Finals for a number field events were nixed in an effort to expedite the meet once it resumed.
"It was something that was inconvenient for everybody," Kraemer said. "We all had to wait, that's all. Other than that, it is what it is. You always have to deal with circumstances that are there ... Had we finished, we might have scored some more points in the shot put, but it's possible they would have scored more points in the long jump."
Despite the team outcome, the Hodags had yet another strong day, led by junior Cole Worrall, who dominated both the 110 and 300 hurdles, winning both events by more than a second. He also was on the Hodags' runner-up 4x400 squad at the end of the meet.
"I look forward to what he can do the next two meets because he's going to be racing against kids that are as fast as him now," Kraemer said, looking ahead to regionals and sectionals. "I'm very excited about what he's been able to do and you saw him run the 4x4 here are the end. He's an absolute competitor. Everything about the kid is what you love. Amazing kid and I really can't wait to see what he's able to do and accomplish in regionals and sectionals."
Rhinelander also swept both the boys' and girls' 4x100-meter relay titles. Ross Skeen, Snyder, Jacques Tulowitzky and Olcikas went 45.47 to win the boys' race, while Megan Brown, Sage Flory, Rebecca Lawrence and Emma Germain went 52.06 to take the girls' title by more than a second.
"I thought Mosinee would be winning that (boys' 4x100), but because they spread themselves thin to win the meet - which obviously was a great call on their part - we had a chance to win it," Kraemer said. "Brock Snyder ran in that today. When you've got a thrower in your 4x1 and are able to win it, that's awesome. He did a great job and the rest of the boys did amazing. The girls, now it gets real for them. They just dominated today and they want to break that school record. I hope we can make that happen."
Germain was a two-event conference champion for the Hodags. In addition to her role on the girls' 4x100, she took the triple jump with a jump of 32 feet, 8 1/2 inches in the preliminary round.
Meanwhile, Rhinelander fared well in the high jump again. Jaden Beske cleared 6 feet to win the boys' title. Lawrence cleared 5 feet to take second in the girls' division behind Mosinee's Emily Wicklund.
"Jaden jumped 6-1 today and almost made it. He was literally a butt cheek away from making it," Kraemer said. "As far as Rebecca's concerned, she's going to get to 5-2 by the time of regionals and sectionals. You get to 5-foot and you have a chance to make it to the next round. It's the same for Jaden, you get to 6-foot, you've got a chance to make it to the next round. They've got to make it and make in the fewest amount of misses. From there, it's a crapshoot."
In addition to the 4x100 win, Rhinelander saw all-conference performances from its three other relays. Brendon Eckrich, Kaleb Winter, Skeen and Daniel Gillingham were the runners up in the 4x200 while Cody Ruetz, Ty Welk, Beske and Worrall were second in the 4x400. Beske, Daniel Goldsworthy, Bryan Glover and Travis White were third in the 4x800.
Snyder finished second in the shot put, while Kaden Chillemi and Conner Jensen were second and third, respectively, in the discus. Winter added a runner-up finish in the pole vault while Tulowtizky took third in the 200. The top three finishers in each event earned all-conference honors.
Ruetz and Goldsworthy were fourth and fifth for Rhinelander in the 1,600, Chillemi added a fourth for the Hodags in the shot put and Peter Danh was fifth in the 100 hurdles.
Flory was fourth in the girls' 100 and fifth in the 200 while Brown finished sixth inn both races. Rivers Eagleson was fourth in girls' pole vault, Abby Swanson took fifth in the shot put and the Hodags were fifth with both their 4x200 and 4x400 relays.
Now Rhinelander's attention turns to the postseason, beginning with a WIAA Division 1 regional at D.C. Everest. Rhinelander is the only GNC school competing in Division 1, and has an eight-team regional that includes the entire Wisconsin Valley Conference. The rest of the GNC will return to Medford on Monday for a D2 regional.
"The unfortunate thing for our kids is we can't come back against Mosinee in a regional and try to beat them," Kraemer said. "I think it would have been really, really cool. It would have changed their plans. I'm not sure it would have changed ours, but it would have changed theirs for sure and it would have been a interesting regional.
"Now we're going to go to the Valley, but we see better competition now. That Wisconsin Valley Conference is very, very good. We're excited to see what we can do against them."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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