May 3, 2023 at 2:12 p.m.
RHS/NPHS Alpine names top performers
RHS/NPHS Alpine names top performers
The team did so with in a banquet Sunday evening at CT's Deli in Rhinelander. The night was highlighted by six different athletes who earned top performer awards the team's four separate divisions. Awards were handed out in a number of other categories as well.
Individual Northern Conference champions Tommie Jo Springer, Max Durkee and Nicole Long swept the top performer awards in girls' skiing, boys' snowboarding and girls' snowboarding, respectively. But there were three different winners, one for each event, in boys' skiing.
That reason alone is why coach Rod Olson said the team transitioned from handing out most valuable awards to top performers. Depth, he said, was what helped carry the Hodag boys' ski team to a Northern Conference championship over the Wausau co-op this winter.
"We had to use all six or seven people all year long," he said. "We had someone different on the podium almost every race. It was shared around. So the term MVP, we felt like we didn't want to use that anymore because it didn't really show a good picture of what being on a team is about, or what it takes to win a conference championship. We'll take a conference champion or a state champion anytime but for the team stuff, we really relied on the depth of our team and the reason we beat Wausau is because of our depth."
The awards were calculated based on results in every event. Jason Linn was named the top boys' ski performer in slalom, Lucas Bishop won the award in giant slalom and Ben Olson took the honors in Super G.
Linn finished fifth in the Northern Conference in slalom and was 10th overall in the conference standings. Bishop was seventh in giant slalom and ninth overall. Ben Olson finished fourth in Super G and seventh overall.
"We chose to award this year in each event. We wanted to do that because some neat things happened this year," coach Olson said. "For instance, for the boys' ski team, we have three different winners for three different events. That's awesome. That shows depth. That shows talent. That shows a lot of hard work."
Springer was the runaway winner for the top performer award in all three races in girls' skiing. Her banner year included a third individual Northern Conference championship, a clean sweep at the WIARA state meet to become the first individual state champion in coach Olson's 32-year tenure with the program. She also won one of the two runs in giant slalom at the Eastern High School Championships in New Hampshire back in March. Olson also noted that Springer was set to sign a letter of intent to ski at Northern Michigan University in Marquette, Mich. on Wednesday.
Olson said Springer has come along way since she started tagging along with the team during elementary school.
"It was fun seeing that (potential) at that age and her abilities," he said. "Becoming a state champion and a national champion this year, Tommie, we're really proud of you."
Durkee won all four Northern Conference races in boys' snowboarding this year. Long won two events to edge Ashland's Lahaela Mika by a point for the girls' snowboarding title.
The team's most improved awards went to Bishop in boys' skiing, Kelsey Yunkers in girls' skiing, Owen Repenshek in boys' snowboarding and Sydney Sarkauskas in girls' snowboarding.
"This is my favorite award. This is one of the reasons that we're here, to improve," Olson noted. "We had some close races. So (assistant coach) Greg (McGuire) and I talked it over. We had things to discuss the other day."
Freshman Holden Schmitz won the coaches award for persistence; Springer, Durkee and Ben Olson won the most turns award for their commitment to practice ruing the season. Repenshek, Ben Olson and Callie Hoerchler took the Pushing the Limits award for the aggressive, on-the-edge nature of their runs.
The team also honored its captains for the year -Springer, Durkee, Brandon Bacon, Riley Zarm and Maddie Ewan.
"This is my 33rd year and 32nd season as coach and this is by far the best season we've had for captains as a group," Olson said, noting the groups leadership both on and off the snow.
Rhinelander/Northland Pines captured the individual Northern Conference boys' ski and boys' snowboard titles. The Hodags finished fourth in girls' skiing and, due to low numbers conference wide, there were no team standings in girls' snowboarding.
Rod Olson said, given the teams numbers in both the high school and middle school programs, he's excited for what's to come with the program.
"I think we've got an awesome program and everyone in here is a contributor," he said. "The boys' team has good numbers and more numbers to come. We need to keep building the girls' numbers on both sides, snowboard and ski. We start gaining some numbers there were going to start pushing some results there too."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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