September 20, 2021 at 8:39 a.m.
Laggis reaches podium at Smiley
Laggis reaches podium at Smiley
Cal Laggis set a personal best and finished 15th overall in the Division 1 field as the Hodags placed 10th of 22 teams in Wausau. Rhinelander was fourth best of 12 teams in the D1 Small classification.
The Hodag girls, plagued by injury, did not finish with enough runners to register a team score.
Laggis covered the new 5-kilometer course around the Wausau East High School campus in 17 minutes, 6.2 seconds - smashing his previous career-best time by more than 21 seconds. He ended up seventh among D1 Small runners as Rhinelander was the best of the four Great Northern Conference schools in the division.
"He got it done today, so I'm really pleased with how he ran," coach M.J. Laggis said. "The top talent in the state comes here. It was really good the way he ran."
There were plenty of fast Hodags on Saturday. Jack DeNamur was 25th in D1 Small at 18:25.3 and freshman Greyson Gremban came on to be Rhinelander's No. 3 runner with a 33rd-place finish in a personal-best time of 18:57.9.
Cody Ruetz finished 35th (19:01.7), Ty Welk was 40th (19:13.0), Jaden Beske finished 50th (19:50.3) and Gavin Denis placed 61st (20:24.6).
"We're dropping time. We've got to stay hungry, keep dropping time, stay healthy and not let any success get to our head and keep going for the next thing. I thought we did that today," coach Laggis said. "You've got Cal and Jack that have been 1 and 2, but then you've got Cody Ruetz and Ty Welk and Greyson Gremban, and then you bring on Gavin Denis. We've got a group of varsity runners that are all going to be in the teens here, the whole group. I'm really happy. I'm really impressed with them."
Medford was sixth, Antigo finished 11th and Lakeland was 12th in D1 Small. The remaining GNC schools - Tomahawk, Northland Pines and Mosinee - ran in the D2/3 race held earlier Saturday morning. Rhinelander's times compared favorably to Tomahawk, the defending conference champion, giving the Hodags optimism for the conference meet next month in Minocqua.
"This is a team sport but we've never had the team (to seriously compete). We'd have one runner, two runners," coach Laggis said. "Now we've got seven guys that are pushing each other, working together and want to win."
Leah Jamison missed her third straight meet with a hip issue, and the Hodags brought only six girls to the starting line for the D1 varsity race. Two of those runners did not make the finish.
Freshman Sophia Miljevich dropped out for the second time in the last four races. She was leading the Rhinelander contingent when she suffered an injury. Eva Hetland was also forced to bow out during the middle of the race.
"I thought I missed (Sophia) in the throng of runners, but sure enough she got carted out and that's really unfortunate," coach Laggis said. "Then Eva Hetland got hurt today around mile two was running a really strong race and had a hip issue. We had two girls go down. Not good, but hopefully it's just short-term stuff."
Emma Germain was the best of those who finished for Rhinelander, taking 31st in D1 Small and 100th overall in the D1 race at 22:50.4. Freshman Luna Grage finished 41st (23:41.9), Juliana Smith was 45th (24:04.5) and Sage Flory finished 47th (24:06.2).
"I'm so impressed with Sage and Emma and the way they're leading our girls," coach Laggis noted.
Saturday marked the 65th running of the Smiley Invite, which was canceled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The meet moved from Tribute Golf Course to Wausau East due to a scheduling conflict. M.J. Laggis said, all things considered, the new course lived up to expectations.
"I thought it was very equal in toughness and difficulty. I absolutely loved it," he said. "I know a lot of people say this race is run at Tribute, period, but they were dealt a curveball and (coach) Tim Olson and Wausau East made just the absolute most out of this venue today."
Rhinelander is in the middle of a grueling three-race in six-day stretch. Laggis hinted that some of his varsity runners may rest today when the team heads to Gartzke Flowage for the Antigo Invite. The team runs again Thursday in the Three Lakes Invite.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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