August 29, 2022 at 8:09 a.m.
Hodags harriers take fourth in home invite
Hodags harriers take fourth in home invite
Both the Hodag boys and girls finished fourth out of the eight schools that made up the Large Division of Thursday's 15-team invite that featured a mix of Wisconsin Valley and Great Northern Conference programs, along with some smaller schools from the northeast portion of the state.
"We had some kids that realized how important the summer miles are and you've got to get them in," Hodag coach M.J. Laggis said afterward. "For some kids, that first meet's a tough one and for other kids, they're surprised with how well they did. You have both those two things going on, and a lot of teams are in that same boat. I've heard other coaches make that same comment."
Two of Rhinelander's holdovers from last year's state-qualifying boys' team led the way on Thursday. Sophomore Greyson Gremban was first across the line for the Hodags, He placed sixth among Large Division runners, and eighth overall, covering the five-kilometer course in 19 minutes, 12.9 seconds. Senior Cody Ruetz was not far behind in 10th overall at 19:17.6.
"Cody led early and then Greyson took over. You'd expect Greyson to be there. No one out-trains him. Cody was right there as well, a few paces off," Laggis said. "Those two had really good first races. In particular for Greyson as a sophomore, to be in that top 10 and be our leader was really good. Then Cody kept getting stronger. I thought Cody had a nice finish. He looked really good to me on the back loop."
Freshman Olin Slette had a strong debut for the Hodags as their No. 3 runner on the day. He finished 29th overall at 21:02.4. Junior Gavin Denis (37th, 21:40.0), sophomore Shawn Denis (44th, 22:15.5), sophomore Brody Kowieski (51st, 22:37.5) and senior Bryan Glover (75th, 24:30.3) rounded out the Hodags' running orders.
"Olin just had a phenomenal run. He did it without spikes today, we'll fix that, and had a really, really nice run for a freshman and really poured it on," Laggis said. "We have a lot to build on, a lot to improve on but some good stuff."
Senior Juliana Smith had a strong start for the Hodag girls. She finished 18th overall at 23:43.8 and barely missed the podium as the 11th-place finisher in the Large Division. Sophomore Sophie Miljevich, the Hodags' No. 1 runner most of last season, checked in 26th at 24:13.5. Junior Leah Jamison appeared to be in discomfort during the second half of the race and faded to 40th place (25:27.1).
"I thought Juliana had just a really nice, smooth run," Laggis noted. "I thought Sophie had a good finish, that was good. Leah was battling some side stuff and she fought through it and finished - not where she wanted to be, but she finished and battled right through that."
Sophomore Brynn Teter was Rhinelander's fourth finisher on the day in 43rd (25:34.8), followed by junior Maria Hubler (49th, 25:42.7), sophomore Luna Grage (66th, 27:29.3) and senior Aubrey Younker (71st, 27:52.9).
"Two real surprises were Maria Hubler, who puts the miles in," Laggis said. "She looked strong and Brynn had a phenomenal kick at the end. I was really impressed with what Brynn did. Those five girls I thought really did some good things. There's a lot we've got to work on, but they did some really good things."
Lakeland took the top spot in the boys' Large Division while Tomahawk claimed the Small Division. Lakeland junior Owen Clark pulled away to win the boys' race (17:31.7) more than nine seconds over Crandon's Taylor Karcz.
Northland Pines' Nora Gremban, who placed third in last year's WIAA Division 2 girls' state meet, routed the field Thursday with a time of 19:11.0 as she finished more than 40 seconds ahead of runner-up Sara Mlodik of D.C. Everest. Wausau West claimed the girls' Large Division while Tomahawk took the small school flight.
"I think Tomahawk and Lakeland both look pretty darn good," Laggis said, summing up the conference competition that was in Thursday's field. "Lakeland's boys looked really good and what I'd say about both of those teams is they're seasoned, kids you can see just put miles in. There's no substitute for that either, you do it or you don't. We're playing catch-up and that's what we'll have to do. We have some of our people that put in a lot of miles and a lot that don't, so we're always playing catch-up. That's what we have to do now."
The Hodags are back in action today in the Mosinee Invite at Nine Mile Forest in Rib Mountain.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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