December 19, 2022 at 7:42 a.m.
Hodag Nordic opens season at WinMan
Hodag Nordic opens season at WinMan
The Hodag girls placed three skiers in top 10 to finish second out of four teams in the meet. The Hodag boys did not qualify for a team score, with only two racers taking to the starting line.
Though the team has been training since the start of November, the race season came quickly -Â especially with only a handful of on-snow practices prior to last week's snowstorm that finally made area trails skiable.
"Those that came were ready and they all really had a good race overall that I saw. They were well-prepared and came through the finish line smiling and feeling pretty good about their race," said Hodag Nordic assistant coach John Gillen, who led the trip on Saturday.
Sophomore Brynn Teter paced the Hodag girls, completing the roughly five-kilometer freestyle race in 21 minutes, 16 seconds. She finished roughly 2:40 behind winner Grace Kern of Lakeland and was 40 seconds behind runner up Margaret Friese of Iola.
"Brynn's been skiing pretty solid the last year and both of those girls, and the whole team for not being on skis a whole lot this season just because of the lack of snow, they really did a nice job and held their own," coach Gillen said.
Freshman Kayla Skubal, despite briefly losing a ski on the trail, rallied to finish fifth (21:55).
"She stuck with it, recovered and ended up getting on the podium in fifth place. For a freshman in only her second season as a Nordic skier, she's really improving every day and every week that goes by," coach Gillen said.
Olivia Gillen rounded out the high school girls' contingent in 10th (24:15).
Though Rhinelander had only two skiers on the boys' side, both fared well, finishing in the middle of the pack on Saturday. Senior Travis White came home eighth overall (18:41), roughly 2 1/2 minutes behind race winner Ian Anderson of Iola. Charlie Loomis was only 15 seconds up the trail, placing ninth for the Hodags.
"Both came in feeling really well. Their comments to me were really positive," coach Gillen said. "They felt good and fast. There's certainly some competition and some skiers that they faced over their high school and middle school careers and they both I think really performed well today for their first race of the season and having limited time on their skis this year."
Saturday's event was a low-key opener, with a number of the state's top skiers at a Junior National Qualifier race in Houghton, Michigan. That included Rhinelander freshman Olin Slette, who finished seventh in the 5-kilometer U16 boys' freestyle race (17:38.6).
Rhinelander, Iola, Lakeland, Wausau United, Ironwood (Mich.) and Bessemer (Mich.) had representation at the WinMan meet.
"Not a lot of skiers in the field, which is nice, particularly at that venue," coach Gillen said. "There was ample room on the trail for folks to pass. That's what I heard from the team. In addition, the conditions were just fantastic and it was just a good first race to work out the bugs."
In middle school competition the Hodag boys were second out of three times and the Hodag girls were third out of four. Aaron Calhoun led the Rhinelander boys in third overall, covering roughly 2.6 kilometers in 9:40. Mya Gillen led the Rhinelander girls, placing fifth (11:05).
The team is back in action this evening, racing in the Lakeland Invite at Minocqua Winter Park.
"I expect all those kids to start to really improve," coach Gillen said. "I think this race invigorated them. We've got another race coming up on Tuesday that I think they'll feel ready for."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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