January 17, 2022 at 8:24 a.m.
Hodag skiers hit the trails twice in three days
Hodag skiers hit the trails twice in three days
The Hodags girls took fourth out of four complete teams in the varsity division Thursday in Minocqua. The Hodag boys did not have enough skiers for a team score, with several athletes missing Thursday's meet due to finals at RHS. Rhinelander had four boys and four girls toe the line Saturday in the Hinderbinder, which did not have a team element to the competition.
Lakeland Invite
Thursday's meet was rescheduled from Dec. 17 when Minocqua Winter Park was not in race condition due to the rain and windstorm that rolled through the previous morning.
Liana Teter led the varsity girls on Thursday, taking eighth overall in the roughly 4.8-kilometer freestyle race with a time of 17 minutes, 49.9 seconds. That was roughly 2 1/2 minutes behind race winner Sylvia Meza of Lakeland, and Teter did so despite a couple of mixups in terms of the schedule and her skis for the race.
"Liana got there about 20 minutes before the race start," coach Charil Reis explained. "Her sister (Brynn) goes, 'I won my race, you go in 20 minutes.' Liana basically had no warmup and she ended up having to ski on Brynn's skis."
Callie Threlkeld was 11th in the girls' varsity race (18:21.7) and Olivia Gillen was 16th (20:27.2).
"It was a great day on skis," Reis said. "The girls on the varsity squad really felt like they had to fight for position out there. Olivia was fighting not to get shoved off the side of the trail at the start. That's just the nature of mass starts. It's good for them. I really do believe it's good for them."
Brynn Teter won the JV girls' race (17:33.2) as she passed Lakeland's Elsa Shockley for the win on the final lap of the two-lap race. Luna Grage was eighth in the JV division.
Gavin Hackbarth was Rhinelander's lone representative in the varsity boys' field, placing 21st (18:26.3).
"I'm really glad that Gavin showed up and represented the boys' team," Reis said. "The other three had finals, but it was awesome. Gavin's really stepped up and he wanted to at least represent the varsity squad for the guys."
Hinderbinder Invite
The Hodags faced their longest course to date, and some of the coldest conditions as well, at Camp Forest Springs. Reis said the meet was a good tune-up ahead of this weekend's Hodag Challenge.
"It's harder than the Hodag Challenge," she said. "It's longer, it's hillier, it's harder to pass. There's so many more people on the course than there are at Hodag. It just kind of helps them get all their jitters shaken loose."
Brynn Teter led the Hodag girls on Saturday with Liana Teter (college visit) and Anna Wood (illness) both out of the lineup. The freshman covered the 7-kilometer freestyle course in 32:14 to place 10th overall in the girls' high school division.
"Brynn had a great race," Reis said. "She's been having a good run and is having fun with it. I hope she continues that trend."
Threlkeld was second across the line for Rhinelander in 11th at 33:07, followed by Gillen in 15th and Grage in 19th.
"Callie had a great race as well. She strategized pretty well, stuck to her plan and looked pretty pleased about it," Reis said. "Olivia had a great race. She really looked good coming across. She's getting more and more confident as well on her feet. She didn't fall, and that's a thing at this race. Falling is a big problem at this race. There are so many screamer downhills with sharp turns at the bottom that if there's anyone impeding your path, I don't think you have a prayer staying upright. It was nice to hear that Olivia had a clean race."
Travis White led the Hodag boys' contingent in 22nd at 30:14. Charlie Loomis was 23rd, Hackbarth finished 24th and Iain Rumney was 26th.
"I thought they skied fabulously, especially after a week of finals," Reis said. "They came in pretty close together - Travis, Charlie and Gavin. I've been noticing Gavin's been getting a little faster with every race. It's sort of like this is his senior year and he's just laying it down a little more confidently every single time. It's fun to watch."
Hodag Challenge ahead
The Hodags are now gearing up for the Hodag Challenge, which will be held Saturday and Sunday at the Cedric A. Vig Outdoor Classroom.
The meet will serve as a tune-up for the WNSL State distance championships in February. For starters, with more than 300 skiers scheduled to attend, it will be the largest high school race of the season outside of the state meet. Secondly, the Hodag Challenge follows a pursuit-style format, just like what is used at state. Saturday's race will be a five-kilometer freestyle event, and Sunday's races will be a 5K classic race, with the starting order based off of Saturday's results.
"It's our only pursuit race, so we get a good shake at it. It will kind of put us in that mindset for three weeks later. The season's wrapping up really, really quickly here," Reis said. "I'm looking forward to playing host to basically the entire state of skiers, and some out-of-state skiers again, because it's been a couple of years. I know we're excited about it."
Last year's event was cancelled over concerns from race organizers over the COVID-19 pandemic. Racing will begin at 10 a.m. Saturday and 9:30 a.m. Sunday.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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