March 30, 2023 at 8:35 a.m.
Hodag boys take 6th in Merrill meet
Rhinelander brought a relatively young crew to Merrill on Tuesday, taking sixth out of eight teams in the boys-only Bluejay Indoor Invitational.
Rhinelander had only three seniors compete Tuesday, and very few athletes who participated last Thursday in Ashland made the trip to Merrill. Head coach Aaron Kraemer said that was by design.
"We had 28 boys last week at Ashland compete. There were 27 boys tonight," he said. "Looking at the lineup, I would say almost every single one has gotten at least one event in one meet. That's a positive. We had to try to do something after last week's limited entries.
"Really this is an experience meet for them, so I'm proud of all the young guys."
A couple of the crossovers from the Ashland meet scored some of Rhinelander's top finishes on Tuesday as the Hodags brought sophomore jumpers Zach Germain and Truman Lamers along.
Germain upped his personal best by more than a foot in the long jump, winning the event with a leap of 20 feet even.
"He's a freak athlete, he really is," Kraemer said. "He could jump out of the gym last year playing basketball, got stronger this last offseason in powerlifting and I was talking to him today. He can go really well and build into his body, but I told him, in the offseason, he's got to keep jumping. That's what's basketball's good for, leaving the floor. He took that to heart. This year, he could be pushing into the high 20s, or the 21s and 22s by the end of the year."
Lamers wound up third in the high jump, clearing 5-6 and was also sixth in the triple jump with a distance of 38-3.
Freshman Myles Eagleson matched Lamers' leap of 38-3 and was credited for fifth in the triple jump. Junior Gabe Campos added point in the long jump with an eighth-place finish (17-1 1/2), freshman Kade Tessman was just a half inch behind Campos in ninth.
"We had a freshman, Kade Tessman, jump in the 17s, which is great for him. He hasn't been working a ton with us, but he's got a lot of natural ability," Kraemer said. "He and Myles Eagleson, as they gain technique work and gain confidence, those guys are going to be a force as the years go on and as they grow together."
Two of the three seniors the Hodags brought along scored points. Kadin Christianson cleared eight feet in the pole vault, taking third. Senior teammate Kyle Brown cleared 7-6, but finished just outside the points in ninth based on the number of jumps it took for him to clear the height. Shane Petrick scored a sixth-place finish for the Hodags in the 200-meter dash (26.61 seconds).
"For Kyle and Kadin, it was just about getting them over heights in the pole vault and getting them a little more experience there," Kraemer said. "For Shane, we haven't seen him sprint yet. He got an opportunity to do that and that's where everyone else was kind of working too in the sprints."
David Houg and Bo Stott finish fifth and sixth, respectively, for the Hodags in the shot put. Freshman Cyrus Leisure added a sixth-place run in the 1,600 meters.
Rhinelander also scored fifth in a couple of relays. Andrew Eckrich, Lucas Haselton, Blake Kjos and Dresden Klaver were fifth in the four-lap relay around Merrill's 152-meter track. Ben Olson, Kjos, Klaver and Connor Dumpprope were fifth in the 10-lap relay. Klaver also finished eighth in the pole vault.
Rhinelander was the only Great Northern Conference school in attendance. Edgar edged Wausau East 137-131 for the meet title. Merrill, Waupaca and Rib Lake rounded out the top five.
Both the Hodag boys' and girls' track teams will be back in action this coming Thursday at the GNC indoor meet in Eagle River. While there are no official conference awards on the line, it will offer a glimpse at who could be the teams and athletes to beat at the GNC championships in May.
"I look forward to having a really competitive meet next week, putting the best lineup together and doing the best we possibly can," Kraemer said.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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