Hodag Nordic eager for season, whenever it gets here

According to the schedule, the Hodag Nordic ski team was supposed to have its first race of the 2023-24 season tomorrow morning in Winchester. Mother Nature has different ideas, however.

A mild start to the winter officially claimed the season opener, it was decided Wednesday. It has already postponed the Lakeland Invite that was scheduled to follow this coming Tuesday. A warm spell last week that melted away much of the early-season snowfall, coupled with another warmer and drier than normal period forecasted to last through at least the Christmas holiday, has made for difficult training so far for the team.

“I think a lot of the athletes are sick of running inside, sick of just pole running and they want to put everything that we’ve been practicing to use,” first-year head coach Andrew Seaman said. 

Seaman, a first-year teacher at Rhinelander’s Pelican Elementary School, took over the program after former coach Dave Slette and his family relocated out of the area this fall. Much of the remaining coaching staff remained intact, which Seaman said has been useful to help him get up to speed.

“I’m really thankful for the assistant coaches — John Gillen, Jim Wood, Shane Teter, Emily Krulc — they’ve been very helpful getting me to know the lay of the land and I’m glad I’ve been able to have some time to get to know the athletes in dryland, but I’m ready to get some snow and get outside,” he said.

There hasn’t been much of that so far during practice. The team had a Saturday excursion to the ABR Trails in Ironwood, Mich. earlier this month, as that area had seen more early-season lake effect snow. Otherwise, any outside time has been spent either on roller skis, running with poles or skiing on the little base there was in front of RHS. 

“Even though we haven’t been on snow, we’ve had some really great roller ski practices,” Seaman noted. “I’ve seen some really strong technique from our high schoolers and some really promising skill development on the skate-style roller skis from the middle schoolers. Building that foundation in the offseason, I think that will play a big part of jumping right onto the skis and our technique being good.” 

Once the season finally does get underway, the Hodags hope to have a competitive girls’ squad with a number of the team’s top skiers back from last year. The Hodag boys are continuing their rebuild with only three skiers, the minimum required to field a team score. 

Rhinelander took eighth in the combined Wisconsin Nordic Ski League standings on the girls’ side last year, which factored in results from the league’s sprint and distance championship race. 

Junior Brynn Teter leads the group of returning skiers. Last year, she recorded Rhinelander’s first top-25 overall finish at the state distance race since 2013 and took 23rd overall in the WNSL combined standings. Sophomore Kayla Skubal figures to be not far behind after taking 36th in the final overall standings. Junior Luna Grage was 71st in the state distance race and junior Emma Mankus was 85th in the state distance race, but tops in the adaptive category.  

Additionally, the team welcomes in three freshmen — Lucy Eddy, Mya Gillen and Kali Skubal — who placed 26th, 30th and 46th in the state distance race on the middle school side this year. 

“This unit not only fuels each other’s competitiveness during practice but also provides mutual encouragement during races,” Seaman noted. “Our short-term focus for the season is to foster a pack mentality, leveraging each other’s strengths, especially as we get into sprint and distance races for both skate and classic techniques.”

On the boys’ side, the Slettes’ departure not only left the Hodags in search of a new coach, it also took away the team’s top skier from 2022-23 with the departure of Olin Slette.

The two returning skiers are senior Charlie Loomis, who Seaman said has “been a great leader so far this season,” and junior Iain Rumney. Loomis was 51st in the state sprints and 77th in the state distance last year. Rumney was 78th in the state sprints and 80th in the state distance. 

    In this Feb. 12, 2023 file photo, Rhinelander’s Jonathan Calhoun fights for position during the classic portion of the WNSL middle school state distance championship in Cable Sunday, Feb. 12. Calhoun, a freshman, is one of three skiers for the Hodag boys’ team this year. (Submitted photo)
  

Freshman Jonathan Calhoun rounds out the trio of boys’ skiers. He led the Rhinelander contingent with a 38th-place finish in the middle school portion of the state distance races. 

“The boys will have just enough to field a scoring team, so every second matters,” Seaman noted.

Weather permitting, the majority of the Hodags’ schedule will take place after the first of the year and will feature a number of traditional stops — including the Snekkevik Races in Wausau Jan. 6 and the two-day Hodag Nordic Challenge at the Cedric A. Vig Outdoor Classroom in Rhinelander Jan. 20-21. That race figures to have the largest high school field in the state, outside of the WNSL state championships.

The Lakeland Invite has also been added to the January calendar, rescheduled for Thursday, Jan. 11.

The Hodags will compete in the WNSL Northern Conference meet Jan. 23 at the American Birkebeiner Trailhead in Cable and return there Feb. 10-11 for the WNSL state distance championships. The WNSL sprint championships will take place Feb. 3-4 at a new venue, the Ariens Nordic Center in Brillion.

While hopeful to have a few of his skiers competing to finish in the top quarter of the state field this year, Seaman said he has longer-term goals for the season and the program.

“My goal for the team builds on the unique opportunity that we have in the Northwoods to get on Nordic skis for most of the winter months,” he said. “While we may be driven by short-term goals, our overarching objective is rooted in the lifelong pursuit of Nordic skiing. The skills developed and the friendships forged on the trails promise to open up either competitive avenues for athletes and/or lifelong recreation.”

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected]. 

TEAM SCHEULE

Date    Event    Time

12/16    WinMan Early Bird    ccd.

1/6    Snekkevik Races    TBA

1/11    Lakeland Invite    4:30 p.m.

1/13    Hinderbinder    10:20 a.m.

1/20    HODAG CHALLENGE    10 a.m.

1/21    HODAG CHALLENGE    9 a.m.

1/23    WNSL Conference at Cable    TBD

2/3    WNSL Sprint at Brillion    10 a.m.

2/4    WNSL Sprint at Brillion    9 a.m.

2/10    WNSL Distance at Cable    10 a.m.

2/11    WNSL Distance at Cable    11:30 a.m.

HOME RACES IN CAPS