May 8, 2023 at 8:22 a.m.
Hodag track takes 6th in Wisconsin Rapids
The meet was a change of pace for the Hodags, who have typically competed at the Otto Bacher Invite in Merrill on the first Friday in May. Coach Aaron Kraemer said he wanted to switch things around this year, however, considering that the Hodags will not get a chance to see many Division 1 teams the remainder of the season.
"We made the decision to go to Wisconsin Rapids and push ourselves in a meet that was difficult," he said. "The kids, although being a little apprehensive at first, they pushed themselves to the challenge and had a great night."
The Hodags racked up a number of points in the distance races. On the boys' side, sophomore Greyson Gremban scored a runner-up finish in the 3,200-meter run and took third place in the 1,600. Senior Juliana Smith did the same for the Hodags on the girls' side - falling by less than a second in a close race in the 3,200.
"She ran about as good of a two-mile as I've seen I was really proud of what she was able to accomplish," Kraemer said. "Greyson just keeps doing his thing. It's not the most glamorous race and Greyson said something like, 'I just went out there and did my thing.' Not a lot of people want to run three miles in one day. He did an excellent job and he just continues to impress me in those races."
Gremban was part of a runner-up finish in the 4x800 relay with Olin Slette, Gavin Denis and Cody Ruetz. Ruetz finished third in the 800, Slette was sixth in the 3,200 and Denis took eighth in the 800.
"It's a young team but it's a very good team. They're going to continue to grow," Kraemer noted. They lose Cody after this year in the 4x8 but the three other guys in that group are sophomores and below. They get a chance to grow and build together the next few years."
On the girls' side, Smith teamed with Maria Hubler, Brynn Teter and Luna Grage to take fourth in the 4x800. Grage added a seventh-place run in the 1600.
Sophomore Truman Lamers scored a runner-up finish for the Hodags in the triple jump, took third in the high jump and made his debut in the long jump, where he placed 10th. The latter was a last-minute substitution with senior Shane Petrick under the weather.
"So we scratched and replaced him with Truman, who had never done it before," Kraemer said. "We never practiced it. We never talked about it. I just said, 'Hey, you want to give this a shot?' And he said sure. That was impressive."
Freshman Aila Bergman had another strong night on the girls' side. She finished second in the 100-meter hurdles, was third in the 300 hurdles and added a sixth-place showing in the long jump.
"She's impressive in those hurdle races," Kraemer said. "I know coach Rod (Olson)'s working with her on her technique and just getting down to the ground and using her speed a little bit quicker, but man is she impressive to watch in that hurdle race. It's very excellent for a freshman to be able to do that. There's a lot of room for her to grow. She's got that personality where she's going to do anything she can to grow."
Bergman was also part of a runner-up finish in the 4x400 relay with Kyleah Hartman, Grage and Gussie Gruett.
"It's really good to get out to a good start and Aila Bergman started the race about as well as you could," Kraemer said. "She got her team inside the pack as we got to leg two, but all four legs of that race are really, really strong. Any time you hand Gussie the baton at the end, you give yourself a shot. She did a wonderful job just trying to close the distance between second and third. It was a very exciting race."
Another freshman, Libbey Buchmann, scored Rhinelander's other top-three finish, placing third in the discus. Buchmann, who is splitting time between softball and track this spring, added a sixth-place toss in the shot put.
"I was really proud of her throwing 104 feet (in the discus). That's a gigantic throw for a freshman," Kraemer said. "I know she wants to get into the 110s and 120s, and she's also playing softball right now. I told her she maybe needs to temper her expectations a little bit until we get her at practice a little bit more and she can focus on the technique in the disc. The same thing in the shot, over 30 in the shot's a good place to be."
Myles Eagleson added a fourth-place finish for the Hodag boys in the triple jump while Rhinelander scored fourth in the 4x400 with the team of Daniel Gillingham, Ruetz, Kaleb Winter and Jackson Fuss. Ben Olson, Zach Germain, Gillingham and Fuss took fifth in the 4x200. Winter (triple jump) and Dresden Klaver (300 hurdles) added eighth-place finishes. Callie Hoerchler took eighth in the high jump for the Hodag girls.
Kraemer said, much like it has done in the past at the Otto Bacher, the team used Friday's meet as a dress rehearsal of sorts for the upcoming Great Northern Conference and WIAA regional meets.
"We're still missing some pieces. People are out with sickness or small injuries," he noted. "We're still waiting for Brendon Eckrich to come back and we have a couple kids that were missing. The pieces, for the most part, were there but the final puzzle isn't necessarily put together yet as it has been in the past years."
Rhinelander will compete twice more before the start of championship season. The Hodags are in Tomahawk today for the Hatchet Invite and will host the Hodag Invitational at Mike Webster Stadium on Thursday.
"We've got to try to figure out another chance to get our best lineup out and prepare for what the conference meet's going to look like," Kraemer said of the plan for the final week of the regular season. "The goal really would be on Tuesday to put a lineup out there with as many athletes as we can to prepare to compete, and then go strong at our home meet and show out at our home meet."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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