February 23, 2023 at 7:58 a.m.
Sports Digest
Edge's Heleniak named to All-Independent team
The list honors and recognizes players on teams that have no conference affiliation, like the Northern Edge co-op and the majority of schools in the northwest potion of the state.
Heleniak, a junior for Lakeland, was the Northern Edge's leading scorer during the 2022-23 season. She finished the year with 33 goals and 13 assists - and had three points in the Edge's double-overtime loss to Wisconsin Valley Union in the first round of the WIAA playoffs last Thursday.
It marked the second straight season Heleniak was recognized as All-Independent. She earned second-team honors last year.
Hodag bowlers compete in D9 singles tournament
Eleven members of the Rhinelander area middle and high school club bowling teams competed in the WiHSBC District 9 singles tournament, which was held Feb. 17-19 in Plover.
Dominic Hakala was the only one of the group to walk away with any scholarship money, finishing seventh in Division C.
Bowlers were split into flighted divisions based on their fill percentage during the District 9 regular season and then bowled a four-game individual series. The top finishers in each flight took home a share of the roughly $5,000 purse.
Hakala started with a 202 game to open his series and finished with 744 pins over the four games as he wound up taking home $50.
Cody Bednarz was Rhinelander's lone Division A representative and finished 22nd with a 757 series. Alex Hall was eighth in Division B (708). Nate Lavender was 17th in Division D (550). Noah Person finished 12th (763), just 28 pins out of the money in Division Z while Johanna Dellenbach was 29th in that division (689).
The Hodags had five bowlers in Division E, led by Alyssa Habeck in 11th (567) and her sister, Addison Habeck tied for 12th (563). Eli Miller was 20th (516), Ricky Camacho was 21st (513) and Natalie Dellenbach finished 25th (476).
"Overall, a lot of up and downs from all of our bowlers. Addison Habeck and Alyssa Habeck both did well," coach Cory Dellenbach noted. "Ricky Camacho came on in his fourth game and did nice picking up some spares. Dominic was consistent through his four games."
The event was the last of the season for most of the high school bowlers on the squad. Only Bednarz advanced to compete in the WiHSBC state meet - based on his season-long fill percentage. That tournament will take place March 3-5 in Weston.
The next dual meet for the middle school squad will be March 19 in Merrill.
Retzlaff finishes 4th in Xfinity Series opener
Rhinelander native Parker Retzlaff dodged some late-race carnage to finish fourth in the "Beef. It's What's for Dinner" 300 last Saturday in Daytona Beach, Fla. to open the 2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule
Retzlaff was 24th after then end of the first stage of the 300-mile race and 19th following stage two. He worked his way up to the edge of the top 10 when a number of leaders tangled with two laps remaining, bringing out a caution and setting up an overtime finish. Retzlaff was sixth on the final restart and picked up two more positions after an incident on the white flag lap among two more leaders brought the race to an end.
Retzlaff, who is piloting the No. 31 Chevrolet fielded by Jordan Anderson Racing Bommarito Autosport, recorded his first career Xfinity Series top five on Saturday. The 19-year-old is in his first full season in NASCAR's second-tier series and is driving with backing from Funkaway and Ponsse.
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