May 18, 2022 at 1:24 p.m.
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Hodag boys reclaim GNC track title, Worrall runner of the year
Back on top
COVID-19 canceled the 2020 season and prevented a talent-rich Hodag squad from defending its title. Last year, a couple of missed chances and Mosinee's all-in strategy in the sprints and the jumps left the Hodags five points short of the championship.
Finally, Tuesday afternoon, everything fell into place and the Hodags were once again back on top of the GNC.
The Hodags won five events, including three by senior Cole Worrall, as they held off Lakeland by 18 points for the conference championship at Antigo's Listle Field.
"It feels really, really good to be a conference champion again," Hodag coach Aaron Kraemer said. "Last year, to have it end the way that it did under the circumstances, I really felt like we needed this redemption tonight."
Worrall took home conference runner of the year honors as he not only swept the 110 and 300-meter hurdles, but added a win in the 200-meter dash as well. Caleb Olcikas won the 100 and finished second to Worrall in the 200.
It all came full circle for Worrall, Olcikas and the rest of the Hodags' senior class. The entered as champions their freshman year and they will go out as champions again their senior year.
"Last year, we had some unfinished business," Olcikas said. "This year we came in with the mentality that we knew we could win if we did our best. Coach always says 'your best is good enough.' Today, our best was good enough and we took home that dub."
This year's meet did not have nearly the tension of last year's, when Rhinelander and Mosinee were neck and neck the whole way. Mosinee was in contention early, but faded to fifth. By the time the Hodags took three of the top five spots in the 100, they had a lead they would never relinquish.
Rhinelander all but clinched the championship in the 200 with Worrall and Olcikas' 1-2 performance. That put the Hodags 32 points ahead with three events left to score. Freshman Greyson Gremban's sixth-place finish in the 3,200 was enough to put the Hodags over the top and mathematically clinch the title.
Going into the meet, Kraemer said there would be plenty of weight on the shoulders of his former state qualifiers, Worrall and Olcikas. They delivered the maximum 58 points they could score in their six events.
"They're the guys that needed to score points when we needed them," Kraemer said.
Going into the meet, the question seemed to be whether Worrall would run the 200 or the 300 hurdles to go along with his signature event, the 110 hurdles. He ended up doing all three, dusting the field in every race.
Worrall went 15.69 seconds in the 110s to beat Northland Pines' Andrew Hartwig by 0.53 seconds, He beat Hartwig again by 0.87 seconds to win the 300 hurdles (41.95). With only a short break to catch his breath, Worrall went 22.72 in the 200 a few minutes later. He and Olcikas (22.92) were the only runners in the field to break the 23-second mark.
"At first, it was a little tiring but, if you get the proper rest that you need, you can do any event," Worrall said. "Overall, I'm happy with how I performed in the 110, looking to break 15 again this year. Other than that, the other two races were not that bad."
Olcikas ran away with the 100 meters, posting a time of 11.49 seconds to beat Mosinee's Kyle Miller by 0.17 seconds.
"The 100's my event. I knew if I did my best, or close to my best, I could take the victory," Olcikas said, taking the 100 after finishing second in a photo finish to Mosinee's Cyle Kowalski last year.
"Caleb, champion in the 100, that to me is the ultimate champion," Kraemer said. "If you're the champion in the 100, you're the big man on campus. You walk around with your chest popped out and you know you're the fastest person in the school, fastest person in our area. Very, very proud of him and he did everything I asked of him after last year. He was hungry with Cyle Kowalski beating him out last year."
Overall, it was a great day for the Hodags in the sprints. Senior Beau Howard was third in the 100, junior Brenden Eckrich was fifth. Those two, along with Olcikas, teamed with Payton Campbell to win the 4x100 (45.72). Eckrich, Campbell, Howard and Arik Beske added a runner-up showing in the 4x200.
"That's a big part of our program. We're a 'feed the cats' program. We want the fastest kids to be in our program, and to make sure they're happy and healthy," Kraemer said. "We've had some of the fastest sprinters in the GNC. A lot of it is genetics. They are fast but, at the same time, we've seen a lot of improvement with our kids too. That's something they buy into. It has nothing to do with me. I'm not making them any faster, other than working on their form and small things. It's them that run faster. They do it because they like being at practice."
Tuesday's meet provided some redemption in the throwing events for senior Brock Snyder, who was the top seed in the discus last year but failed to make the finals after not getting any of his preliminary throws in bounds. That wasn't the case this year. He popped off a big throw of 131 feet, 1 inch in the preliminaries to easily make it into the final nine. While he could throw no farther in the finals, that mark held up for a runner-up finish in the event. He added a fourth-place effort in the shot put and teammate Conner Jensen finished third in the discus.
"Any person that should be holding the trophy and saying to themselves they redeemed themselves is Brock," Kraemer said. "Last year he put a lot of pressure on himself and then took it really, really hard at the end because of what happened it the disc. I told him to go out and have fun tonight, to not even worry about it. I was there for his big throw. It was awesome. He's in the 130s, that's great. Hopefully, next week we get into the 140s for him so that he can keep his season going. This means a lot to him. This is what he does. I'm just really proud that he was able to get some redemption."
Rhinelander had strong performances across the board on Tuesday, scoring points in every event except the 800-meter run. Freshman Truman Lamers took second in the triple jump with a leap of 39-10 3/4, Jaden Beske cleared 6 feet in the high jump for the first time this season to finish second in the event and Kaleb Winter was second in the pole vault, clearing 11 feet.
Rhinelander ended up with all-conference recognition in all four relay races. Ty Welk, Cody Ruetz, Jack DeNamur and Gremban took third in the 4x800. Jaden Beske, Welk, Winter and Ruetz were third in the 4x400.
"This team has put a lot of work in," Worrall said. "We might not have the best athletes but we have a lot of decent athletes. That's what we need to win these. Everyone's been putting in as much as they could this year. I'm very proud of everybody."
In addition to Worrall's wins, the Hodags racked up additional points in the hurdles. Peter Danh was fourth in the 300 and fifth in the 110s while Abe Barlog finished sixth in both events. Shane Petrick, out for the team for only a couple of weeks, busted off a jump of 18-9 3/4 in his last attempt to take fourth in the long jump. Welk was fifth in the pole vault and eighth in the 400, Ruetz was sixth in the 400 and Gremban added a seventh-place finish in the 1,600.
"We scored in the events that we needed to score in," Kraemer said. "Would we have liked some better performances? Of course, but that's what happens in meets like this. The tension gets high. Some people overperform. Some people underperform and the team has to pick each other up. I'm very proud of the way we responded."
The Hodags now turn their attention to postseason competition, beginning with a WIAA Division 1 regional at Wausau West this coming Monday. The top four finishers from each event will advance to Thursday's sectional round in Marshfield. That will be easier said that done for Rhinelander, which will be the plus-one in what will essentially be a re-run of the Wisconsin Valley Conference meet.
"I'd love to be going to a D2 regional but we can't control that," Kraemer said. "Being one of the smallest teams in Division 1 is always going to be tough, but we have some really great athletes. We might change some things up, We'll see. Now it's not about winning, it's about getting them to the next level."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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