February 15, 2023 at 12:51 p.m.
Youth shows for Hodag Nordic at state
Youth shows for Hodag Nordic at state
The Hodags had four skiers finish in the top half of their respective fields at the Wisconsin Nordic Ski League state distance championships that concluded Sunday in Cable. As a team, Rhinelander finished 11th in a 13-team girls' field in the two-day pursuit and 12th out of 15 qualifying teams on the boys' side.
"I think the kids are starting to see that success and maybe starting to believe a little bit that little Rhinelander is not a team that's incapable of packing some punch at times," coach Dave Slette said. "I think we have quite a few athletes that surprised themselves. Hopefully, that's great momentum to take out of this season, into the offseason and, hopefully, use it to come into the next season ready to go."
Sophomore Brynn Teter paced the Hodag girls' squad taking 25th overall in the two-day pursuit. That marked the best finish at the state distance races for a Rhinelander skier since 2013, when Claire Tracy also placed 25th. Teter was 27th following Saturday's freestyle race and picked up two spots on the course in Sunday's freestyle pursuit, finishing with a combined time of 50 minutes, 58.7 seconds. Freshman Kayla Skubal was not far behind Teter. She was 38th after Saturday's race and picked up four spots Sunday to finish 34th overall.
Meanwhile the Hodag boys were led by freshman Olin Slette who was 32nd overall on the weekend and finished just outside the top quarter of the 121-skier field overall. Slette was 35th after Saturday's race an picked up three spots on Sunday.
Coach Slette said he was encouraged by the performance of his underclassmen, who have been at or near the front of the Hodag pack all season.
"It bodes very well and we have some very strong eighth-grade skiers, four of them coming up next year," he said. "I expect those three to kind of set the tone going forward for the next several years here. I think they'll do just that. The younger skiers finishing that high, it puts you in a nice position going forward as long as those kids seem to enjoy the work that it takes to be able to compete at that kind of a level and the demands it requires them to put that kind of output out weekend after weekend."
Sunday's event was the swan song for a pair of Hodag skiers. Senior Travis White snuck in to the top half of the field in 61st overall. He was 62nd after Saturday's freestyle race and picked up one spot on Sunday. Olivia Gillen picked up three places on the final day to finish 67th in a field of 85 on the girls' side.
"It was a great outgoing race for the two of them," coach Slette said. "I was proud of their effort and proud to see them go out racing well and having a really good time. Those two, as team captains, have done a nice job this season, and it's fun to watch them go out on a very positive note."
The entire team picked up places on Sunday. Junior Charlie Loomis gained eight spots to finish 77th overall whole sophomore Iain Rumney jumped 16 spots to take 80th on the boys' side. Luna Grage rose 17 places from Saturday to finish 71st and Emma Mankus picked up 12 spots to finish 85th. Mankus, a sophomore, was also the top skier in the adaptive category.
"The rest of the team skied well above probably their own expectations - not mine in particular, but maybe their own based on past results," coach Slette said. "We saw a lot of our skiers, if not all of our high school skiers climb the ranks from where they were last year and I think they're all pretty satisfied with that."
Coach Slette was also quick to thank his assistant coaches and wax technicians, who had a challenging task adapting the team's skis to ever-changing snow conditions on Sunday as the temperature moderated into the 40s by the time of the high school girls' race.
"There was kind of a team behind the team today and the coaches I had helping today, no way we could have pulled it off with a good volunteer staff to make it all work," he said.
Ashwaubenon won the boys' race with three skiers in the top six overall. Peak Nordic's Ben Dohlby won the individual title. Lakeland placed three in the top nine on to win the girls' race. Chippewa Valley Nordic's Fran Peterson was the individual state champion
Overall season results
For the first time, the WNSL used a points system that factored in both results from the state distance championship and the state sprint championships held the week prior in Middleton to determine the overall team and individual champions.
Ashwaubenon swept the boys' titles as Joseph Stumpf took the individual crown. Lakeland won the overall girls' team title and Peterson - who was both the distance and sprint state champ - won the girls' title. Peak Nordic was the overall team state champion, which factored in performances for both genders at both state events, plus the mixed team sprint relay race.
Rhinelander was eighth in the combined girls' standings, 13th in the boys' standings and 11th overall. Individually, Teter was 23rd in the final girls' standings while Skubal placed 36th. Olin Slette was 34th in the final boys' standings.
"It's a really good, solid core of kids that are working together out there and having a good time. If they can keep that together, they have a lot of promising things coming in their future," coach Slette said. "It's very satisfying when it works well and we came out of this weekend, I think all of us, feeling pretty darn good about what we were able to accomplish this year."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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