March 17, 2022 at 12:54 p.m.
Team review: RHS/NPHS Alpine ski
Hodag skiers exceed expectations in 'rebuilding year'
Team review: RHS/NPHS Alpine ski
The Hodags exceeded expectations at pretty much every turn.
Rhinelander/Northland Pines won team Northern Conference titles in boys' skiing and boys' snowboarding, and had individual state qualifiers in both disciplines on the girls' side in 2022.
This was all despite the Hodags losing their top performer in each discipline from 2021, and the team having limited on-hill time last year due to the pandemic.
Olson admitted that he thought this season would be a rebuilding year for his squad, but underclassmen stepped up, filled larger roles and had greater success within the Northern Conference.
"You see a lot of that when somebody's forced into being the leader," he said. "We had some fast kids there, but they learned and they wanted it and they did well as individuals for results."
Here are five storylines from the recently completed season.
Back at home
It certainly helped that the Hodags were back on familiar terrain this year, training again at their longtime home hill at Ski Brule.
The Iron River, Mich. ski resort had limited operations during 2020-21 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, forcing the Hodags to split their training between Granite Peak in Wausau and Big Powderhorn Mountain in Wakefield, Mich.
"They're happy to be with us. Everything worked there," Olson said at the start of the season. "Powderhorn was great and they did a lot to accommodate us, but it wasn't our hill so, as coaches, every practice or meet we had to set everything up and we weren't efficient because of what we didn't know."
While the team was slowed in terms of on-snow training due to a mild early part of December, it soon caught up and Ski Brule was back on the schedule, serving as host for Rhinelander's Northern Conference meet Feb. 5. The Hodags excelled in the meet, winning both the boys' skiing and snowboarding team competitions.
Ski results
Despite graduating its top two performers from 2021 - Ty Springer and Patrick Stemper - the Hodag boys excelled in the Northern Conference this season, winning four of the five competitions to easily claim the conference crown over Rice Lake. By the time the season finale at Granite Peak rolled around, all Rhinelander had to do was not finish last to clinch the title. Instead, they went out with a bang, winning the event.
A deep squad carried the Hodag boys this season, as evidenced at Ski Brule when the team placed all six of its varsity skiers in the top 13 overall. Senior AJ Gillespie finished third overall in the conference standings, up from seventh in the league in 2021. Junior Riley Zarm made a big jump, going from 23rd last year to fifth this season. Brandon Bacon finished sixth and Jason Linn was 10th to give the Hodags four finishers in the top 10 overall.
"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 said.
On the girls' side, Tommie Jo Springer did not return after winning the Northern Conference the last two seasons. The junior was recovering from an off-season knee injury and then pursued an opportunity within the U.S. Ski Team's development program.
That left the team with only four scorers much of the year, as it finished third in the league standings. Senior McKenna Nash finished ninth in the final standings. Freshman Sophie Miljevich was 13th. Callie Hoerchler, who suffered a season-ending knee injury in the Feb. 5 race as Ski Brule, placed 17th overall and Maddie Ewan was 22nd.
Snowboard results
Depth was down overall this year in the Northern Conference in terms of snowboarding, with the Hodag boys' team being the lone exception to the rule.
Nobody else had the minimum number of boarders required to register a team score, handing the Hodags the team conference title by default, but the Hodags validated that conference title with strong individual performances.
Max Durkee won three meets and placed second in another as he won the individual conference title. Owen Repenshek was third, Reese Frisque finished fourth and Isiah Willoughby was fifth to give Rhinelander four finishers in the top five overall.
"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."
After graduating last year's individual girls' snowboarding champion, Kylee White, the Hodags had only one girls' snowboarder this year, sophomore Nicole Long. She finished second in the overall standings, placing second in three straight meets before taking the conference finale at Granite Peak.
"There's room for improvement but I think based upon the talent level, she could really do well in this in two years," Olson said.
State struggles
The Hodags were unable to parlay their conference success into success at the WIARA state meet in La Crosse. The RHS/NP boys skiers finished 18th of 22 teams while the Hodag boys boarders were sixth of 10 teams.
In boys' skiing, Olson said he hoped the team would go for broke more than it did. A combination of conservative runs and some mishaps knocked the team down the ranks.
Zarm ended up with Rhinelander's top overall finish on the weekend, in 57th overall in a field of 157 skiers. Linn finished 59th overall. Fellow freshman Brody Kowieski was the Hodags' next best finisher in 69th overall. Bacon finished 75th, Lukas Bishop was 78th and Gillespie, after missing a gate in the Super G race, finished 97th.
"Our upperclassmen in the ski ranks did not perform well. It was a mix of being tentative, a mix of being cautious for the older guys. They definitely did not ski up to their potential," Olson said. "Our upperclassmen had a mix of bad luck and then just being a little bit cautious."
Durkee led the boys' snowboarders in 17th overall after a mishap in giant slalom. Willoughby finished 24th overall, Repenshek was 30th, Reese Frisque was 32nd, Ryder Will finished 37th and Brady Frisque was 42nd.
Olson said the team did not have the speed or equipment to compete with some of the top teams from the southern part of the state.
"I had a feeling that we had a deep team, but it was just seeing how we stack up," coach Rod Olson said. "Slinger and Waukesha were awesome. They've got six guys apiece all on hard board for slalom and GS. It was a little more even competition in boarder cross with everyone on more regular stuff, but they were in the 20-point range for some of those events - slalom and GS. Some real good boarders."
Nash, by virtue of her ninth-place finish overall in conference, qualified for state individually, but dealt with a foot injury much of the weekend, relegating her to 103rd in the girls' skiing field. Long was 21st in girls' snowboarding in her state debut.
What's next
The good news for the Hodags is that most of its nucleus will return next season, with Gillespie and Nash being the only losses to graduation.
"We'll have a good team next year, I think, for the boys," Olson said. "We're losing AJ, in which we're losing a great captain, and then McKenna (for the girls). Some more rebuilding but I think we can do pretty well next year, based on what we have down below, and they're performing well too."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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