August 25, 2022 at 7:05 a.m.
Team preview: RHS cross country
Young harriers look to ride recent success
Team preview: RHS cross country
But that doesn't mean the Hodags aren't going to try to catch lightning in a bottle again.
Pretty much everyone on the boys' roster is going to have to contribute in a varsity role due to lower numbers this year, but Rhinelander returns three runners off the program's first state-qualifying squad since 1997. On the girls' side, with a number of returning runners, and a little bit of good fortune on the injury side, the team looks to do better than its fifth-place finish in the conference last season.
"It's a much different team this year," coach M.J. Laggis said. "We've got a lot of reloading to do on the boys' side. I can't venture a guess with the girls right now. We have a long way to go and it just start with consistency, and we're not consistent yet with that side."
The Hodags will start to know where they shake out in the conference as early as next week. Rhinelander opened the season at home yesterday with a 14-team invite that included four other Great Northern Conference schools. The two GNC schools not in attendance yesterday - Mosinee and Medford - will be in the field this coming Tuesday when the Hodags run in the Mosinee Invite at Nine Mile Forest in Rib Mountain.
On the boys' side, Rhinelander has to replace four of its top seven runners from last year, including first-team All-GNC runner Cal Laggis. Fellow 2022 grads Ty Welk, Jack DeNamur and Jaden Beske were part of a strong pack that Rhinelander used to leapfrog ahead of the pack at conference and sectionals last year.
Senior Cody Ruetz returns after finishing 13th in the GNC meet last fall. Junior Gavin Denis and sophomore Greyson Gremban also return off of last year's varsity. Gremban, who placed 16th at conference last year, comes into the season in strong form after winning the YMCA of the Northwoods' Hodag Run For Your Life just days before practice started with a strong 5-kilometer time of 17 minutes, 32 seconds.
"Greyson, Cody and Gavin look really strong, all three of them," Laggis said. "All three of them have put good mileage in this summer and Greyson just trains like a wild man. He looks really strong. Gavin's looked strong and Cody's looked strong in practice. Those three have definitely got to step up."
Laggis said freshman Olin Slette has looked solid in practice so far and that the team has seen improvement from a number of runners who were on the junior varsity squad last year - senior Bryan Glover and sophomores Shaun Denis, Brody Kowieski and Payton McCue. With only eight boys' on the roster and seven spots available in the varsity lineup, the math dictates that some of the underclassmen are going to be counted in this fall.
"We'd like to have another five, six boys, for sure," Laggis said. "It would be nice to have 15, but we have eight pretty committed boys and, I tell you what, our practices have been really good. They've been pushing each other and there seems to be quite a bit of camaraderie already with that group. Part of that's a carryover from last year, and part of it's just guys who were more in the JV role last year and a newcomer or two that have just blended in really nice. Are we the team we were last year right now? No, but I'm really excited to see what we can become. We have some really good stuff going on at practice."
The Hodags lost a couple of stalwarts on the girls' side with the graduation of Emma Germain and Sage Flory, but return a number of underclassmen who figure to be in the scoring mix. Sophomore Sophie Miljevich returns after finishing 18th at the GNC meet last year to receive honorable mention in the conference. The Hodags are also hoping for a bounce-back year from junior Leah Jamison, who was 19th at the GNCs as a freshman, but missed much of the 2021 season with a hip injury.
"Leah Jamison battled injury all last year, but has looked really good," Laggis noted. "Sophie Miljevich was our No. 1 all last year and she'll be counted on to be right there again. She's got high expectations, so we want to see Sophie have a really good year."
Senior Juliana Smith, junior Kyleah Hartman and sophomores Luna Grage and Reese Gehrig round out those returning who ran varsity for the Hodags at last year's conference meet.
"Improved would be the No. 1 thing I would say," Laggis said of the girls' squad. "I'm not as optimistic as I'd like to be, but I'll tell you this - I think it will go the right direction. We have some really nice girls on that team and good people. We've just got to start and keep improving. That's the thing."
As for the conference, Laggis said usual contenders Lakeland, Medford and Tomahawk will likely be strong once again this year.
"I do think Lakeland will be a major player on both sides," he said. "In the spring, when I watched their track workouts when I was up there for baseball, I see all the same people and I saw them working awfully hard. I think they're going to be a really good side."
The Hodags will see their conference foes plenty during the season, running as each other conference team's home invite during the season, including the Medford Invite Sept. 29. That will be a precursor to the GNC in Medford Oct. 15.
Rhinelander will once again be part of the Oconto Falls Division 2 sectional which will be held at Patriot Golf Club in Abrams Oct. 22.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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