October 3, 2022 at 7:23 a.m.
Cross country: RHS boys 3rd, girls 4th in GNC tune-up
Cross country: RHS boys 3rd, girls 4th in GNC tune-up
It was the first real chance for the Hodags to have a look at the new course around the Medford High School campus ahead of the Oct. 15 GNC meet. When Medford last hosted conference back in 2015, the race was staged at Black River Golf Course. The Hodags did see the high school venue during a 2020 WIAA subsectional race, but that event was run in snowy conditions and the team was down a number of runners that day due to COVID-19 protocols.
Coach M.J. Laggis called the course unique, as the athletes ran on everything from grass to gravel to asphalt.
"There's a lot of different terrain and we talked a lot about how to run on, and just be confident on what you're running on," he said.
Senior Cody Ruetz and sophomore Greyson Gremban both medaled for the Hodag boys, scoring top-10 finishes on the afternoon. Ruetz posted his second-fastest time of the season, finishing third overall in a time of 17 minutes, 20.8 seconds. He finished roughly 35 seconds behind meet winner Owen Clark of Lakeland. Gremban came home ninth on the day, at 18:07.0.
"Cody was just rock solid. He had a really, really nice time," Laggis said. "Same thing with Greyson Gremban. Ruetz was third and Gremban was ninth. Both of those guys are really solid."
The rest of Rhinelander's varsity closed the gap a bit on the top two runners. Gavin Denis was 15th at 19:09.7 and freshman Olin Slette took 16th (19:16.2). Shawn Denis was 22nd (19:59.0), Brody Kowieski took 23rd (20:00.1) and Payton McCue was 38th (22:29.3). Slette, Shawn Denis and Kowieski all posted their fastest times of the season.
"Gavin Denis and Olin Slette, they both had nice races and I thought Brody Kowieski and Shawn Denis really, really finished nice as well," Laggis said. "Good stuff on the boys' side, but we've got to keep getting better. We're not the top dog."
Leah Jamison turned in her fastest run of the season as she took eighth overall in a time of 21:40.4. Juliana Smith also had a personal-best time as she came home in 12th at 22:07.2.
"Leah Jamison had a fantastic race, just really a breakout race," Laggis said. "She looked really strong today. I was really happy with that out of her, showing the fruits of working hard. Same with Juliana, she's been such a solid senior for us."
Sophie Miljevich was 18th (22:38.2) for Rhinelander and the rest of the Hodag varsity was tightly bunched together. Luna Grage finished 25th (23:33.4), Maria Hubler was 29th (22:55.4), Brynn Teter finished 31st (24:07.9) and Aubrey Younker was 33rd (24:18.4).
Thursday's field featured four GNC schools. Lakeland took the boys' title by 17 points over Medford. The Hodags were only four points behind the Raiders for the runner-up spot. Medford claimed five of the top seven spots in the girls' race to win going away. Marshfield was second followed by Lakeland and Rhinelander. Northland Pines' Nora Gremban took the girls' race in a time of 18:40.9.
"We have, by all accounts, tightened the gap with those teams but, the numbers don't lie. They've still got us," Laggis said. "We've just got to keep getting better. We're in a heavy mileage week and then we start tapering down slowly here toward the end. We have several more meets to go before we get to the big stuff. We still have time to improve and we're going to keep going."
The Hodags have two more meets before conference, beginning with this afternoon's Northland Pines Invitational in Eagle River. Rhinelander will then head to Tomahawk this Saturday for the annual Hatchet Invite.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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