February 16, 2022 at 3:31 p.m.
Hodag Alpine wraps up boys' ski, snowboard titles
Hodag Alpine wraps up boys' ski, snowboard titles
Rhinelander/Northland Pines put a bow on its third straight Northern Conference boys' skiing title Monday, winning the final conference race of the season at Granite Peak in Wausau. The Hodags also won, unopposed, in their title defense in boys' snowboarding and got virtually all of its athletes through to this weekend's WIARA state meet in La Crosse.
The Hodags went into Monday's race needing to finish only fourth or better to lock up the conference crown in boys' skiing. The team did its job, with no major mishaps for any of its skiers, as it beat Wausau/D.C. Everest on its home hill by 12 points to pick up its fourth win in five Northern Conference races.
"We kind of wanted to protect. We wanted to make sure we didn't end up fourth or fifth today, so we had a little different of an approach," Olson said. "Giant slalom for the boys, they were all skiing kind of a low line. Wausau knows our tendencies and our favorites of how we like to set. All of us coaches, when we do a good job, we measure who skis well on which course, but we managed to hang in there and win all the events and get first for conference."
The Hodags had four racers place in the top 10 on Monday, which virtually mirrored the final conference individual results. Senior AJ Gillespie and junior Riley Zarm tied for third in the combined standings on Monday, with Gillespie getting the nod for third overall based on a faster cumulative time between the three runs. Gillespie locked up third in the final conference standings with the performance while Zarm finished fifth.
Olson credited the two for taking the reins after the team graduated its top two skiers from last year's championship team - Ty Springer and Patrick Stemper.
"I really thought it was going to be a rebuilding year, but Riley and AJ really came into their own," Olson said. "You see a lot of that when somebody's forced into being the leader. We had Ty and Patrick. We had some fast kids there, but they learned and they wanted it and they did well as individuals for results."
Brandon Bacon was seventh on Monday and placed sixth overall in the conference standings. Jason Linn finished ninth Monday and was 10th in the final conference standings. Brody Kowieski and Lukas Bishop were 13th and 14th on the day.
"Our depth did it this year. We had some blazing fast kids last year, but we had just good clumps of scores this year," Olson noted.
The Hodags were the only squad with the minimum number of riders to field a complete boys' snowboard team as they repeated as conference champions. Junior Max Durkee put a bow on an individual conference title with a clean sweep on Monday - winning all three runs of boarder cross and both runs of slalom.
Northland Pines freshman Owen Repenshek finished third on the day and lost in a tiebreaker to Ashwabay's Quinn Godfrey for the runner-up spot in the overall standings. Ryder Will was fourth on Monday while Isiah Willoughby place fifth. Reese Frisque was eighth Monday, but took fourth in the final conference standings, which factors an individual's three best races in the five-event season. Willoughby was fifth in the final standings with Will eighth and Brady Frisque ninth.
"They did well as individuals. We had a freshman (Repenshek) end up third for most of the overalls. Max had a clean sweep of all three titles, that was awesome," Olson said. "Then Ryder's not too far behind then Isiah and Reese collected some medals as well."
Rhinelander/Northland Pines finished fourth in the girls' skiing on Monday and finished third in the final overall standings. The Hodags were without Callie Hoerchler, who sustained a knee injury in last Saturday's race at Ski Brule.
Senior McKenna Nash solidified an individual qualifying spot for the WIARA state meet, placing 10th on the day and ninth in the overall standings. The top 10 finishers in the Northern Conference standings earned trips to state, if not already on a qualifying team.
"Today she was kind of in a preservation mode," Olson said. "The other day her fifth was a true sign of her talent, but making sure they're ready to go on that day is kind of what we've been coaching through lately."
Freshman Sophie Miljevich was 12th on Monday and finished 13th in the final standings. Maddie Ewan was 21st on the day and 22nd in the final standings. Despite missing Monday's finale, Hoerchler took 17th in the final standings.
"Sophie Miljevich had a pretty good day," Olson noted. "She's going to continue to improve. She's only a freshman. Maddie definitely is our most improved girl. She's into it. We just get some more girls next year and try to rebuild that program."
Sophomore Nicole Long picked up her first career overall victory in girls' snowboarding on Monday. She won all three boarder cross runs and had a first and a second in the two slalom runs to beat Ashwabay's Lahala Mika on the day. Mika, who claimed two victories earlier in the season, edged Long for the overall conference title.
Both boys' teams, along with Nash and Long, qualified for this weekend WIARA state meet in La Crosse. Olson said his athletes will go into the event with nothing to lose.
"We're just looking forward to some great performances," he said. "I'd love to be in the top 10 (in boys' skiing), if we can have everybody compete. We're giving everybody a green light. We're not going to hang out and hope to get 16th by making sure we finish. We're either going to try to get in the top 10 or fall. If we 22nd then so be it. We're going to try to bust into that top 10 and compete with some of those D1 programs."
The meet begins Saturday with the boys' and girls' snowboarding competitions. The ski competition will take place Sunday and Monday.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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