March 28, 2022 at 8:22 a.m.
Track: Both Hodags squads finish top 3 in Oredocker Indoor
If Thursday's season opener is any indication, the Hodag girls have a chance to shine this year on the team stage.
Rhinelander won four events on the girls' side and finished third overall out of 14 teams at the Oredocker Indoor Invitational in Ashland. The Hodag boys were second out of 15 teams.
In both instances Rhinelander was the best of the three Great Northern Conference schools in the field. The Hodag girls had five top-3 finishes on the night and 16 different point-scoring performances.
"In some of the meets we have to be able to contribute in multiple places," coach Aaron Kraemer said. "I thought this is where we've kind of struggled with the girls and to take third in such a large meet, I was thoroughly impressed.
"I was really, really proud of both teams tonight, but especially I was proud of our girls' team."
Seniors Emma Germain and Megan Brown were each part of two victories on the girls' side while senior Jaden Beske had a hand in both event wins for the Hodag boys' team.
Germain, the reigning GNC champion in the triple jump, dominated that event on Thursday. She won with a lifetime-best jump of 33 feet, 10 inches - jumping more than 2 1/2 feet further than her nearest competitor.
"It was really great to see and she's still got a lot of technical things she can work on yet," Kraemer said. "I think that's what's big for some of our senior athletes. Now we're down to the minutia of fixing small things, making them better and making them peak the way they should.
"She's one of the hardest workers on our team. She's going to do everything she possibly can to make sure every single meet's going to be her best."
Germain was also on last year's GNC-winning 4x100-meter relay. She and the two other returning members from that squad - fellow seniors Brown and Sage Flory - teamed with freshman Reese Gehrig to win the 4x200 Thursday night (1:58.58), edging Hayward by 0.01 seconds as the two teams ran in separate heats.
Brown added a win for the Hodags in the 200 (28.89). Gehrig and Flory were fifth and seventh, respectively, in the 55. Germain finished sixth in the 200.
Junior Abby Swanson recorded the other victory for the Hodag girls, taking the shot put (33-5).
"I was really proud of the everyday performers, Emma and Sage and Megan, but I was even more impressed with our depth from our juniors, our sophomores and our freshmen," Kraemer said.
Another freshman, Callie Hoerchler, had a strong debut for the Hodags. She took third in the high jump, was fifth in the 200 hurdles and sixth in the 55 hurdles.
"Our freshmen impressed tonight," Kraemer said. "I was really, really impressed with Callie Hoerchler in the hurdles and the high jump and really impressed with Reese Gehrig in the 55 and stepping in with a veteran group in the 4x2 today and being a part of that team."
Junior Gussie Gruett scored three times for the Hodags, taking sixth in pole vault, seventh in the 400 and eight in the 4x400 relay with Kyleah Hartman, Olivia Wanty and Averie West. Rivers Eagleson added a seventh-place finish in the pole vault, Germain was eighth in the long jump and freshman Brynn Teter took eighth in the 3,200 meters.
Beske, a state qualifier in the boys' high jump last year, led the charge for Rhinelander on Thursday. He matched his personal best of 6 feet on Thursday to win the event comfortably. He was also on the winning 4x800 squad, was part of the runner-up 4x400 team and took third in the open 400.
Overall, the Hodag boys recorded nine top-three finishes was the ended the evening 13 1/3 points behind meet champion Superior. Senior Caleb Olcikas was the runner-up in the 55 meters, junior Kaleb Winter took second in the pole vault and freshman Truman Lamers was second in the triple jump.
"The most impressive things to me were that the guys that PR'ed last year that we could count on did the same types of things tonight," Kraemer said. "Caleb Olcikas took second in a really, really competitive 55 and Kaleb Winter taking second place and hitting his PR from last year (in pole vault) and Jaden Beske (matching his) 6-foot PR from last year. They're right there and it's the first meet of the season, which is very, very encouraging."
The Hodags had a solid night in the distance events with several members of this past fall's GNC-champion and state-qualifying cross country team on the roster. Beske, Cody Ruetz, Ty Welk and Jack DeNamur made up the winning foursome in the 4x800 (9:23.23), beating Superior by more than five seconds. Ruetz finished third in the 1,600, DeNamur took third in the 800 and freshman Grayson Gremban was fifth in the 3,200.
Ruetz, Welk, Beske and David Houg made up Rhinelander's runner-up team in the 4x400.
"Scoring points in the distance is essential for us. If we want to push to do big things, we have to be able to score in all the different facets," Kraemer said. "We have to score in the field and in the sprints, but we have to be able to score in the distance. It was nice to see Jack DeNamur out there running hard, and Greyson Gremban and Cody Ruetz and Jason Zheng. The whole distance crew, they're as tight as they can get. It was really nice to see them shine out tonight."
The Hodags were without state-qualifying hurdler Cole Worrall on Thursday as Kraemer said the senior was resting a sore back. Senior Peter Danh scored points for Rhinelander in both hurdle events, taking fifth in the 55 hurdles and eighth in the 200 hurdles. Senior Brock Snyder finished eighth in the shot put for the Hodags.
Thursday's meet was one of only a handful of indoor opportunities for the Hodags this spring, however Kraemer said the team was unable to show its whole hand in the more than five-hour affair. Due to the number of teams in the meet, each squad was allowed only two entries per event.
"We didn't get a chance to see a lot of our younger athletes and, honestly, we didn't get a chance to evaluate some of our veterans either," he said.
To that end, Kraemer said the team is organizing a low-key meet at the Hodag Dome this afternoon. The facility has a five-lane running lane and pits for pole vault, long jump and triple jump.
"It's going to look a little bit different. If we get the weather on our side, hopefully we can have the distance outside, but if not it's going to be a sprints, jumps and throws kind of event," he said. "We're hoping we can put together something that's feasible that if teams can't have outdoor meets or we have some type of issue we can host something for our athletes."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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