March 27, 2023 at 9:09 a.m.
Track: Hodag boys take third, girls fourth in Ashland
Track: Hodag boys take third, girls fourth in Ashland
The Hodags scored a number of top six finishes as they finished third in the boys' division and fourth in the girls' division of the 13-team Oredocker Invite in Ashland.
Rhinelander was pretty much best-in-class of the Great Northern Conference schools in attendance. The Hodag boys finished 21 points ahead of Northland Pined and were 63 points clear of Tomahawk. The Hodag girls were only five points behind Northland Pines, which got 30 points alone from all-state distance runner Nora Gremban, who swept the 800, 1,600 and 3,200 meters. Tomahawk was a distant eighth in the girls' division.
"It was a really, really good start to the season in every phase. I'm excited about what we've seen tonight, but I'm even more excited about what we will see coming up when we get outside," Hodag coach Aaron Kraemer said. "Lot of energy. It was a great first meet with everybody here. I'm kind of missing the rest of our team. This is a good group of kids and it's our varsity group, but we're missing 20-30 kids and it always breaks your heart not to take them."
A pair of underclassmen led the way on Thursday as Rhinelander swept the wins in both the boys' and girls' triple jump.
Sophomore Truman Lamers took the boys' side with a leap of 39 feet, 6 inches. He then added a personal-best performance in the high jump, clearing 5-8 en route to a runner-up finish in that event.
"He's excited. He had a great day today, not only there but in the high jump as well," Kraemer said. "Four (more) inches in his high jump and he's right there. For his triple jump, he'll have a great, solid season. He's got to stay healthy and have a great attitude, and I know he will."
Freshman Alia Bergman continued to impress. She went 31-11 to win the triple jump and added third-place finishes in both the 55- and 200-meter hurdles.
"Aila Bergman's something else. I watched her run last year and I was impressed with her last year," Kraemer said. "She's a very humble, very quiet (kid). I worked with her brother AJ for quite awhile and he's the same type of kid. She's a great kid. She's a hard worker and she did a great job today in all of her events."
The Hodag boys scored a good chunk of points in the distance events. Senior Cody Ruetz was the runner-up in the 800 meters. Sophomore Greyson Gremban took second in both the 1600 and the 3200. The two teamed with sophomore Shawn Denis and freshman Olin Slette to take fifth in the 4x800.
"It's all led by Cody and Cody's a mentality guy," Kraemer said. "If he believes he can do it, and he has the confidence to do it, he'll do it. There's no doubt in my mind when he believes in his teammates in the 4x8, when he believes in himself in the 200, he's just a fast kid, period."
Sophomore Zach Germain took third in the long jump and was fifth in the 400. Freshman Sam Zwaard took fourth in the 400 and sophomore Jackson Fuss was fifth in the 200. Kaleb Winter added a fifth-place finish in the pole vault while Shane Petrick was fifth in the long jump.
Payton Campbell was sixth in the 55 meters and the Hodags took sixth in both the 4x200 (Ben Olson, Blake Kjos, Paul Van Camp, Ruetz) and the 4x400 (Fuss, Van Camp, Zwaard, Connor Dumpprope).
Sophomore Callie Hoerchler had a mishap in the 200 hurdles that dropped her to 11th in that event but, otherwise, had a solid day. She jumped 14-10 to take third in her long jump debut and added fifth-place showings in the 55 hurdles and the high jump.
"When you have an emotional high and maybe some other emotional lows, it's hard to stay focused on the here and now," Kraemer said. "I'm really proud of what she did in the long jump though and I know she'll be better in the other events. She's just got to get there, clear her head and be able to do what she knows she's capable of."
The Hodags grabbed a third-place finish in the 4x400 with a mainly underclassman squad. Junior Kyleah Hartman was joined by freshmen Violet Biolo, Kayla Skubal and Millie Gruett. Rhinelander was fourth in the 4x800 with senior Juliana Smith, junior Maria Hubler and sophomores Brynn Teter and Luna Grage.
Freshman Libbey Buchmann finished fourth in the shot put, senior Gussie Gruett was fifth in the 400 and Smith added a fifth-place finish in the 3,200 meters.
Superior edged Ashland 110-97 to win the boys' meet. Rhinelander had 85 points to finish third. Hayward took the girls' meet 136-115 1/2 over Ashland.
The Hodags have made a late addition to their schedule and will send their boys' squad to the boys-only Merrill Indoor meet today. Because Thursday's meet in Ashland had a limit on the number of entries per team, per event, Kraemer said the decision to add the Merrill meet was made to give more kids an opportunity to compete.
"We felt like we couldn't get enough boys in here. We have a lot of throwers. We have a lot of sprinters," he said. "I asked (RHS activities director) Brian (Paulson) to call down to Merrill and get us into their meet on Tuesday. We're thankful they were able to get us in, so that's kind of the goal, to get the guys down there and get them going."
The Hodag girls will return to action at the GNC Indoor Meet in Eagle River April 6.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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