March 11, 2021 at 8:33 a.m.
Hodag girls 8th, boys 11th at state Nordic
Hodag girls 8th, boys 11th at state Nordic
The Hodag girls' team placed three skiers in the top 40 overall and placed eighth out of 11 teams in the field while the Hodag boys finished 11th in a field of 15 in the two-day event at the American Birkebeiner trailhead in Cable. The RHS girls and boys placed 11th and 12th, respectively, at last year's state meet.
"I felt that everybody really had a good outlook for the weekend and they embraced the adversity of the weather and the challenges that presented," coach Charil Reis said. "They were very much focused on the race at hand and did everything I asked them to do."
Juniors Liana Teter, Callie Threlkeld and Anna Wood led the RHS girls' contingent over the weekend, finishing 31st, 35th and 38th, respectively, in the two-day event that included a 6.75-kilometer freestyle race on Saturday and a 6.75-kilometer classic pursuit on Sunday.
Teter jumped 27 places compared to last year when she led the Hodag girls with a 58th-place finish in the pursuit. She was 41st following Saturday's freestyle and improved 10 spots in the overall with the 29th-fastest classic time on Sunday. Her combined time between the two races was 50 minutes, 59.6 seconds.
"Liana really shone today in the classic race," Reis said. "She looked good today when she came over the finish tunnel and around the turn. She had a great day."
Threlkeld was the biggest mover from last year's state meet, where she placed 86th overall. She was in 30th following Saturday's freestyle and finished with an overall time of 51:36.7.
"Callie was much further back a year ago, astonishingly further back. She's made huge strides this year," Reis said. "She's skied a ton. That girl has skied a ton this year, on her off days, a lot with her dad, just off in the woods skiing for hours on end, really getting into and nailing down the technique. She's able to keep her nerves at bay on race day. That's a huge part of it too."
Wood picked up eight spots on course Sunday after placing 46th in Saturday's freestyle. She finished with a combined time of 52:01.7. Wood placed 61st at state two years ago as a freshman and missed last year's state race due to illness.
"That was really a shot in the arm for her, because she wasn't here last year due to the flu," Reis said. "She had to get back on the horse and figure out how to do this state meet thing all over again, and get through the pressures and everything else."
Senior Daniel Goldsworthy paced the Hodag boys, taking 57th overall. He was 54th following freestyle on Saturday and finished with a combined time of 43:32.2.
"This was Daniel Goldsworthy's final state competition, and I feel like he left nothing to guesswork," Reis said. "He laid it all on the line. He was really particular about testing his skis, his wax, dialing everything in and being very present. He did a very good job and led the team very well."
Freshman Mason Shinners made a big jump during Sunday's classic race. He was 77th after freestyle on Saturday but picked up 19 spots on course with the 50th-fastest classic time to finish 58th overall at 43:39.9.
"Mason Shinners had an amazing day today. I think he moved up like 20 places," Reis said. "He really did a great job just staying with it, focusing on every single uphill and skiing to his own advantages, which are the ups."
Travis White was 69th for the Hodag boys, Charlie Loomis was 99th and Gavin Hackbarth finished 104th. Olivia Gillen was 72nd for the Rhinelander girls while Grace Berger finished 105th.
The meet was postponed due to frigid temperatures that blanketed the Northwoods on the originally scheduled race dates of Feb. 13 and 14. Conditions were the exact opposite over the weekend, with temperatures in the mid to upper 40s both days. That presented its own set of problems as skiers competed on a melting snow base.
"There were some kids that had a hard day, and that could have been for any number of reasons, but for the most part, our skis were faster than a lot of other kids in the glide phase, and kicked pretty well on all the uphills," Reis said.
In middle school competition, Rhinelander finished fifth out of 10 teams in the girls' division. Brynn Teter was 15th overall in the pursuit, followed by Violet Biolo in 24th and Mya Gillen in 41st. The Hodags were 10th of 13 teams in the middle school boys' division. Olin Slette led the way in 21st overall, Iain Rumney was 34th and Austen Slette was 72nd.
Peak Nordic swept the team state titles in the high school ranks, beating Lakeland and Chippewa Valley by 16 points for the girls' title and Iola by 14 points for the boys' crown. Lakeland's Casey Van Hefty won the boys' pursuit while Madison's Nina Chosy was the girls' state champion.
The event brought to a close an unusual racing season for the Hodag Nordic team. Due to a combination of snow conditions, Arctic cold and concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic, the team was only able to compete in four of the nine races it had scheduled at the start of the season. Two of those events were postponed off their originally scheduled dates due to weather.
"The kids who were here today really love Nordic," Reis said. "It's not to diminish anybody else's commitment to the sport, because mostly what they did is they had to move on to a different sport for the spring, but these kids also could have said, 'I've got to move on to a spring sport' and they just really like Nordic so they stuck around for the state champs and I'm happy they did."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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