January 16, 2023 at 7:55 a.m.
Hodag Nordic competes at Hinderbinder
Hodag Nordic competes at Hinderbinder
No team scores were kept in the low-key meet, but the Hodags fared well, placing three girls in the top 10 and adding a sixth-place finish with freshman Olin Slette in the 8-kilometer high school boys' races.
"It may be a little lower priority race on the schedule, but still a great opportunity to face some good competition in Wausau and Iola," coach Dave Slette said. "I think, on the boys' side, those were the fourth and fifth teams in the state last year and we were on the bottom and I think we held our own pretty well today even with three high school boys out there."
Sophomore Brynn Teter led the high school girls' contingent, finishing the freestyle race in 26 minutes, 56 seconds. That was 2:01 up the trail from race winner Tori Meyers of Wausau United and only 10 seconds out of third place.
Freshman Kayla Skubal finished fifth for the Hodags (28:21) while senior Olivia Gillen came home ninth (31:41). Sophomore Luna Grage finished 12th (37:36).
"We had Brynn Teter and Kayla Skubal preforming very well finishing one after the other in the top half of the finish order going against some top athletes from Wausau," coach Slette said. "Our girls all performed quite well, actually. Olivia Gillen, I think definitely had a standout day for her, skied a little better than she did at our last skate race and is moving up in the order too. Then Luna Grage getting out there for really her first skate opportunity of the season. I was really glad to see her go out and give a great effort today."
Olin Slette finished in 22:31, just over a minute behind winner Cole Anderson of Iola. Coach Slette said the freshman made a move a little too late in the race, perhaps costing him a chance at a top five. He said that's part of the challenge of having little reconnaissance on a course that was modified a bit from a year ago.
"Interesting course, but this is part of the sport. You don't always know what's going to be around the next corner and you've got to be good at adapting and skiing what's in front of you," He said.
Travis White placed 14th in a field of 31 boys, finishing in 24:53. Iain Rumney placed 18th (27:13).
Coach Slette said the weather and snow conditions made for a fast trail on Saturday.
"There's a lot of old, icy snow kind of ground up into the course," he said. "That stuff made it quite fast. We got to the meet this morning and tried a couple of different things with the skis to see if we could speed them up, and we weren't able to speed them up. They were just fast to begin with and fast no matter what we did to them.
"It certainly makes the race more enjoyable for the kids. You feel like you're getting a little more speed for you effort, opposed to a cold day with really high-friction snow and you're working your tail off and not able to watch the trees whiz by quite as fast."
Hodag Challenge ahead
The team, and by extension, the Northwoods Nordic Ski Club now prepares for one of the biggest races weekends of the year as they host the Hodag Challenge at the Cedric A. Vig Outdoor Classroom this Saturday and Sunday.
According to a press release from the ski club, more than 20 high school and middle school teams from Wisconsin and Michigan's Upper Peninsula are expected to attend, bringing more than 350 skiers to the area.
"The athletes will compete on CAVOCs FIS (International Ski Federation) certified trails," the press release stated. "The high school skiers compete on a 5-kilometer course and the middle school on a 3.3-kilometer course. Both courses are very challenging with many hills and exhilarating downhills."
Saturday's classic technique races will start at 10 a.m. Times from the race will be used to determine the starting order for Sunday's freestyle pursuit, which will get underway at 9:30 a.m.
Parking is available at the venue and at the adjacent West Bay Campground. Spectators for all the races are welcome and many areas of the course are spectator accessible.
"Northwoods Nordic ski club is very thankful to all of our supporters, and especially the volunteers that make it possible for us to hold this race in Rhinelander, to support the Hodag cross country ski team, and bring this race to Rhinelander to showcase the area's top-notch trails," race director Brian Hegge said. "We encourage everyone to come out and enjoy the races as well as the great cross-country skiing opportunities we have in the Rhinelander area."
Additionally there will be a 1-kilometer youth race for skiers in fourth grade or younger. That event will take place at 2:30 p.m. Saturday and is free to participate. More information can be found online at: https://www.hodagnordic.com/page/show/4220722-hodag-challenge.
The team and the club are also hoping to dodge a bullet from the forecasted early-week rain and warmer temperatures as it prepares the trails for this weekend's races.
"We're excited about it. We've been skiing at CAVOC quite a bit lately and the conditions, thus far, have been surprisingly good - like really good. Hat's off to the grooming crew over there," coach Slette said. "They're going to have their hands full this week. Rain in the forecast. I'm not sure how well the course is going to hold up. My inclination is that the course is actually going to hold up and we're not going to have dirt or sticks or anything poking through. What we will have is probably a pretty icy course. Hopefully our grooming crew can get that broken up and have a nice, skiable surface for the event."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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