June 24, 2021 at 8:49 a.m.
State meet 'icing on the cake' for Hodag track athletes
State meet 'icing on the cake' for Hodag track athletes
For Cole Worrall, Jaden Beske and Rebecca Lawrence, the hard part has already been accomplished - simply qualifying to be among the best that D1 has to offer in their events. Lawrence, the only one of the three who has competed at state previously, said that means the pressure is off when the Hodags set foot at Veterans Memorial Stadium tomorrow.
"Right now, everything's just icing on the cake," she said. "We've made it to state. Even if we don't place podium, it's just that we made it there. But, hopefully, we can represent Rhinelander and show them even though we're a small community, we can get to state for sure."
Of the three, Worrall enters with the best prospects after the junior posted the third-best time in Division 1 in the 110-meter hurdles during the sectional round last Thursday. He's also seeded 20th overall in the 300 hurdles.
Lawrence, the 2019 D2 state runner-up in the high jump, is tied for the fifth-best mark in D1 after tying her personal best with a jump of 5 feet, 2 inches at sectionals. Clearing 5-4 is a goal of hers at state. Not only would that tie the school record set by Taylor Wissbroecker in 2012 but would give her a great shot of getting back on the podium in D1, as only one qualifier jumped higher than 5-4 at sectionals.
Beske, a junior, is tied for 15th in the boys' high jump entering state with a mark of 6-feet, but a jump of 6-2 could put him in the running for a podium finish.
"We want to do the best we possibly can but, hopefully by the end of it, we can have a few podium finishes and maybe even a state champ, who knows? We've only had four in school history, and never had a girl state champion," coach Aaron Kraemer said. "That would be an amazing feat if we were able to do that, but anything on the podium is always nice too."
Here are a few storylines for the Hodags entering the state meet.
Worrall's secret weapon
Cole Worrall has gone from a solid hurdler as a freshman to one of the best in the state as a junior. Sure, two more years to grow and develop has helped, but Worrall has the benefit of learning from, arguably, one of the most knowledgeable hurdle coaches in the state.
The Hodag track program stumbled on a trove of hurdling knowledge when Enrique Llanos joined the staff this year. Llanos brings with him experience only a select few have - Olympic experience.
Llanos represented Puerto Rico in the 2012 London Olympics, competing in the 110-meter hurdles.
So how does an Olympian from Puerto Rico end up coaching in Rhinelander?
"I have relatives here and I'm from New York City and my employment closed down because of COVID, so they were suggesting it would be safer here than in the big city, which is true," Llanos explained. "We've been here before. We've visited all the time the past five years. This time we decided to stay and see what life would feel like."
Llanos had an itch to get back into competitive hurdling and said he found Rhinelander to be a nice, quiet place to train. He was doing so last summer at Mike Webster Stadium when he bumped into Kraemer. The two struck up a conversation and Llanos offered to coach hurdles. The rest, as they say, is history.
"I'm thinking to myself, 'OK, alright, this guy wants to come help us coach.' He's more than just an Olympian. He's a great hurdle coach," Kraemer said.
Worrall said he has soaked in as much knowledge as he can from Llanos.
"I've learned a lot. I need to take more initiative on training, being more specific about what you do in training is pretty important," he said. "I've learned a bunch of new tricks, stuff that you need to eat, your nutrition, stuff like that - all those little factors make such a difference in your running speed."
As for Worrall, Llanos calls him a "natural" when it comes to hurdling.
"He's just a natural hurdler. When you don't have to teach somebody to hurdle, it's fun to coach somebody that's a natural hurdler," he said. "We're staying on the same drills, the same practices and just trying to improve the times. The way he's racing, (Kraemer) had him running other races that would make him stronger for this - 300 hurdles, 400. I don't have to do too much for strength, just keep working on the speed in between the hurdles and the flight time over the hurdle."
Kraemer said Llanos has done well working with all of Rhinelander's hurdlers - from Worrall to the novices on the squad - but that Llanos has specifically helped take Worrall's game to another level.
"As far as Cole, there no one else who could have brought him to the level of where he's at," Kraemer said. "I still think he would have been a solid hurdler this year, in the 15s, but nobody would have brought him to the level where he's at without having that type of training."
All of that has Worrall in a great position entering the state meet. He'll be starting right in the middle in his heat of the 110s thanks to his 15.18-second time at sectionals. Only Ashwaubenon's Luke Schroeder (15.04) and Onalaska's Landon Peterson (15.05) ran faster. But Worrall has a sub 15-second time to his credit, going 14.98 at regionals on June 14.
First thing's first, Worrall must qualify for the finals by either winning his heat or being among the seven fastest times for non-heat winners. From there, another sub-15 second performance could very well land him somewhere on the podium, if not the top step.
"They can be unpredictable, because you have an obstacle, but he has prepared all season long for what he's going to get and what he's going to do," Kraemer said.
As for Llanos, he will not be in La Crosse to watch his pupil this weekend. That's because, at the tender age of 40, Llanos is trying to make one more run at the Olympics. He will be competing in an event in the Bahamas, looking to post a time fast enough to meet the Olympic qualifying standards.
"I've got races this weekend. Hopefully I do what I have to do to move on to the next round," he said.
Lawrence's experience
Lawrence is the lone senior of the three state qualifiers, and the only one who has previously competed in La Crosse. It's an experience that could be useful, not only for herself, but for Worrall and Beske.
"It definitely gives me and edge over some people just being there and kind of getting rid of that mental blockage I had before," she said, admitting that she literally worried herself to tears prior to her 2019 state performance. "I know what to expect and know what the meet's going to look like. It helps me out, mentally."
"Rebecca's been there, so she has an opportunity, she'll show Jaden the ropes, show him where to go, where to warm up, how to do things," Kraemer said. "Hopefully a lot hasn't changed because of COVID and it's really similar so that when we do get there, she does get an opportunity to show not only Jaden the ropes, but Cole the ropes too and prepare him."
Going for 5-4
It's school record or bust for Lawrence in her final high school track meet. She reached 5-2 at the 2019 state meet, where she went from getting into the field as an extra qualifier to a jump off for the state title. After the 2020 season was canceled due to COVID-19, Lawrence has spent all of this spring trying to get back to the height, before clearing it at sectionals to qualify for state.
"I'm glad I got 5-2 last week. It was a struggle for me all season, so I'm glad I got over that little hump. Hopefully, 5-4 is next, for sure," Lawrence said. "We're going to work on more of our approach and getting better rotation over the bar. I know for me, I always hit it with my hip."
Wissbroecker's school-record jump came at state in 2012 and got her on the podium with a sixth-place finish. Given that only one athlete jumped higher than 5-4 at sectionals, Kraemer said he's hoping that mark could yield even better results for Lawrence.
"You look at the state qualifiers, 5-2 to 5-4 is going to do it in the girls, I think," he said.
Getting over the block
Beske has been at or near 6 feet in the high jump virtually all season, but he said he needs a hand - or at least more control of his own hands - to get to 6-2.
"I'm 5-9, so it's kind of really up there. When I go up there, that's really high and I kind of throw my hand out there," he said. "I just got to not throw my hand out there at 6-2. A lot of my 6-foot jumps, I can get that high. Hopefully 6-2 is next."
It helps that he basically has two coaches helping him prepare for state in Kraemer and his jumping mate, Lawrence.
"It's definitely nice having someone else here because you can have this extra set of eyes looking at each others run ups, looking to see what the other person might not see. We've been together all season, so it's just fun to end the season together," she said.
The D1 state track meet gets underway at 11 a.m. Saturday.
River News reporter Jamie Taylor contributed to this report.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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