June 5, 2023 at 9:06 a.m.
Six earn MVP honors at Hodag track banquet
Six earn MVP honors at Hodag track banquet
State qualifier Libbey Buchmann and sophomore Callie Hoerchler shared the girls' MVP award in the field events while sophomore Truman Lamers and senior Kaleb Winter were co-winners of the boys' award.
Record-breaking hurdler Aila Bergman and standout sophomore distance runner Greyson Gremban were the track MVPs as the team celebrated its season in the RHS commons.
Hodag track coach Aaron Kraemer said the awards were mainly objective. Points scored over the course of the season served as the main criteria for the MVP awards. However, the coaches did have some discretion to recognize other special achievements - which they exercised in selecting the field athletes of the year.
"These awards are often times given out by total points throughout the season in field and track events, but there are also special circumstances that warrant athletes to gain or to be the athlete of the year," Kraemer said at the banquet. "They all represented us in way that are unmatched."
On the girls' side, Hoerchler scored the most points throughout the season as she primarily focused on high jump and long jump. She finished fourth in the high jump and ninth in the long jump at the Great Northern Conference meet.
"She's somebody that as the year went on, she just constantly scored points" Kraemer said. "Every single meet that she was in, whether it was in the high jump or the long jump. She learned the triple jump at the end of the year, which is exciting for me. She has someone who has extreme potential too as a sophomore only."
While Buchmann was not at every meet, as she was juggling both track and softball as a freshman, she was the conference runner-up in both the shot put and discus, qualified for sectionals in both events and advanced to the WIAA state meet in the discus, finishing sixth.
"She is somebody that has extreme potential and, when we look at the record board, is somebody that could be up there as well," Kraemer said.
On the boys' side, Lamers took third at conference in the high jump, was fifth in the triple jump and ninth in the long jump. He made it to sectionals in both the high jump and triple jump and took sixth at sectionals in the high jump, missing the state meet by two inches.
"He was our athlete of the year as far as what he was able to accomplish almost every single event, he was eight or 10 (points) in the triple jump and somebody that tried the long jump at the end of the year," Kraemer said. "He also almost always won the high jump as well. He was almost a 20-point scorer every single meet, someone that was an all-conference athlete for us in the high jump, made it to sectionals for us in the high jump and someone the sky's the limit for him."
Winter was also a triple threat in the jumps and claimed Rhinelander's lone GNC title on the boys' side, winning the pole vault. He also took fifth in the long jump and sixth in the triple jump at conference before qualifying for sectionals in the pole vault.
"This guy is our only GNC male first-team athlete this season," Kraemer said. "He's a very smart young man, but also a very versatile young man and the top character guy of any you could ask for."
The track MVPs were a bit more cut and dried. In addition to breaking the school record in the 300-meter hurdles and narrowly missing out on state with a fifth-place finish at sectionals as a freshman, Bergman was a sectional qualifier in the 100-meter hurdles and part of the Hodag girls' GNC-champion and sectional-qualifying 4x400-meter relay.
"She led us in points this season but also was our sole school record breaker, in the 300-meter hurdles event," Kraemer said. "She also broke the GNC record in the 300-meter hurdles and is somebody, like (hurdles) coach (Rod Olson) said in an email, 'make sure you're ready to keep changing those records, because she's going to keep changing those numbers on the board.' She's an excellent athlete and an excellent young lady."
Gremban finished third in the 3,200 meters at conference and qualified for sectionals in that event, placing sixth with a personal-best time of 10 minutes, 8.23 seconds. Gremban was also part of the Hodags' sectional-qualifying 4x800-meter relay team.
"He's a yes-team guy. He is the epitome of a team player," Kraemer said. "He's the guy that led us in points, but he's also the guy that he's going to get to the next level because of his championship attitude. He's only a sophomore and, by golly, I can't wait to see what he's going to do by the time he's a senior."
The Hodags celebrated a season in which they finished fourth in the boys' division of the GNC and sixth on the girls' side. The team advanced 16 entries to the WIAA Division 2 sectional meet in Arcadia. With a number of those athletes returning and an expected influx of talent from the middle school level, Kraemer said he continues to be excited for the future of the program.
"I can't wait for what we're able to do and accomplish next season, all of us together," he said.
Freelancer Bob Mainhardt contributed to this report.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
WEATHER SPONSORED BY
E-Editions
Latest News
E-Editions
Events
August
To Submit an Event Sign in first
Today's Events
No calendar events have been scheduled for today.
Comments:
You must login to comment.