March 4, 2021 at 8:10 a.m.
RHS skiers prep for delayed state Nordic races
RHS skiers prep for delayed state Nordic races
Back in the middle of February, the Wisconsin Nordic Ski League postponed the state pursuit championship in Cable due to extreme cold. The temperature that weekend struggled to reach 0 degrees and the wind chill stayed well below zero.
This weekend, as the WNSL returns to Cable to try to run the event again, the racers will be met with highs in the 40s, maybe even flirting with 50 degrees come Sunday afternoon when the high school boys' and girls' champions are crowned.
The Rhinelander High School Nordic ski team also looks a little different than the one that would have competed in Cable three weeks ago. Coach Charil Reis said there has been some attrition from a season that has grown long. This will be the team's first competition since Jan. 28 and the Northern Conference meet.
"It's been a long wait and we've lost some people along the way," said Reis, who will bring 11 high school skiers with her to Cable this weekend. "It's just real hard to keep the kids' interest that long."
It's been that kind of a season for the Hodags, who have had to deal with the two-headed monster of weather and health concerns. This weekend will be only the fourth race of the year for the Hodags, with most of their schedule having been nixed due to either a lack of snow or bitter cold temperatures. The team also lost its Hodag Nordic Challenge race at CAVOC as race organizers were not satisfied with where the COVID-19 positivity rate stood within Oneida County in the days leading up the race.
"We've been pushed and pulled in so many directions and having to have to pivot at seemingly every turn," Reis said. "If it wasn't weather-related, it was COVID-related. If it wasn't COVID-related, it was snow-related."
Reis added the team likely will not compete in the postponed WNSLâstate sprint championships next weekend in Madison. That event was to have taken place Feb. 7, but was also nixed due to cold weather.
Of the 11 skiers Rhinelander plans to bring, five were part of its high-end competition training squad during the season - Daniel Goldsworthy, Travis White, Anna Wood, Liana Teter and Callie Threlkeld. They'll be joined by Charlie Loomis, Mason Shinners, Gavin Hackbarth, Olivia Gillen, Julianna Smith and Grace Berger from the developmental squad.
"Because the state championships don't differentiate between varsity and JV we will have no problem obtaining a team score from boys and girls," Reis said. "We'll have to see who from Charlie, Mason and Gavin can step up to the plate and give us some points to add to the varsity skiers. I am more hyper focused on the team score than anything else. I just really want us to feel like a cohesive unit because everything else just seems so scattered."
One of the biggest challenges this weekend will be the weather, and setting skis up for what will likely be soft trail conditions. Partly to mostly sunny skies will be around all weekend in Cable, located northeast of Hayward in southern Bayfield County. The forecasted high is 44 on Saturday and 50 on Sunday, according to the National Weather Service office in Duluth, Minn.
Reis said she expects to use a lot of Klister - a softer wax more suited to perform in less than ideal snow conditions - over the weekend. There will also have to be some race course management by the skiers, who may need to compromise between taking the shortest route and finding the best snow along the 6 1/2-kilometer trail.
"Sometimes it is actually better to ski best line than to look for the shady spots or the sunny spots, wherever your wax is running better," she said.
"On Sunday, when they lay track (for the classic technique race), it will be best line. They're not going to have a choice unless they decide to ski out of the track. It will be very, very interesting," Reis added.
The high school boys will race at 12:30 p.m. both days, with the high school girls to follow at 1:30. Saturday's race will be a freestyle skate race with a 15-second interval start between skiers. Sunday's race will be a classic pursuit, with the results of Saturday's race determining the starting position and time for skiers.
The Hodags were 12th of 17 teams in the boys' standings and 11th of 12 in the girls' standings last year at state. Teter is the top returning skier from last year's meet, placing 58th in a 116-skier girls' field.
Reis said she's less concerned about individual results this time around, rather putting a bow on what has been an extremely unusual season.
"I need to find a way to put a nice bow on this package of a winter season and make it seem like they had one, and hopefully allow them to feel a sense of accomplishment. That's my biggest goal for the weekend," she said. "That's basically what we'll be able to get out of it. I want to be able to finish the season in a positive fashion and look forward to a more normal season next year."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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