Gremban, Jamison named fastest Hodag harriers

There were few surprises on Thursday as the Rhinelander High School cross country team handed out its year-end awards. That was especially true for the team’s top honor.

Junior Greyson Gremban and senior Leah Jamison earned the Fastest Harrier award for the boys’ and girls’ squads, respectively, during the banquet held in the RHS commons. 

Statistically speaking, the two were just that throughout the course of the 2023 season. Gremban was Rhinelander’s top finishing boy in every race this year — highlighted by a fourth-place run at the Great Northern Conference meet and an 11th-place showing at sectionals. Jamison led the Hodag girls in every race, placing 15th at conference and 20th at sectionals. 

Gremban was also the male recipient of the team’s most dedicated award. That was not a surprise either, as assistant coach Melissa Krueger noted in her remarks on Thursday.

“He’s put in more miles over the last summer than I’ve ever seen a student-athlete put in the years I’ve been coaching,” she said. “He did it all willingly with a goal of getting to state. The goal did not get realized this year in the way that he pictured it. It’s not going to keep Greyson down. I’m sure he’s not happy about it, but he’s going to use it a fuel. He will come back next summer and be an even better version of himself than he was this year.”

Gremban missed qualifying for the WIAA state by two spots and roughly 29 seconds one year after missing out on a state bid by a single spot. Head coach M.J. Laggis said that will only add to Gremban’s motivation entering next year.

“There’s not a day that goes by when he’s not thinking about his time, thinking about how he can get better, about going to state and winning conference,” he said. “That’s his constant, constant mindset. I love that about him. He’s a competitor. He’s constantly thinking about getting better. 

“His racing doesn’t come without a price. If you run a lot of miles, you know it comes with a price, and he pays it. He does it day in and day out. The fact that he didn’t qualify this year, that will drive him and fuel him to be better next year, and it will drive the whole boys’ team.”

Junior Luna Grage was the female recipient of the team’s Most Dedicated award. Freshman Avrom Barr and junior Sophie Miljevich were named the team’s most improved runners while seniors Gavin Denis and Maria Hubler earned the team’s Long Hauler award. 

Grage, who served as a team captain this year, was among the Hodags’ top five most of the season. Her best finish was a seventh-place run Oct. 3 at the Northland Pines Invite, but she was slowed during the final few races of the year due to a leg injury. 

“She really loves to run. It’s really fun when people have a passion for the sport,” Krueger said. “Luna came in healthy and good and had put in all these miles over the summer and put in the effort in the summer program. She struggled a bit with an injury that just continued to get worse and worse as the season went on. She never let it hold her back.”

Barr emerged immediately as a freshman on the Hodag boys’ team. He was consistently among the Hodags’ top five all year and broke out at the Great Northern Conference meet with a ninth-place showing and a personal-best time of 17 minutes, 29.0 seconds. He followed that up with a 19th-place run at sectionals.

“He was always talking to coach about his times and the numbers and the math and all that and the time that he dropped this year as a freshman, coming in with the responsibilities that entails is so impressive,” Krueger said. “He had a huge arch of improvement in just one season and, for a freshman, that’s something we don’t see very often.”

Miljevich had a bounce-back season for the Hodag girls. After earning all-conference honors as a freshman, Miljevich faded outside the top 21 last year but bounced back with a 18th-place run at conference this year. She finished 30th at sectionals as was Rhinelander’s No. 2 runner behind Jamison all season. 

“I can’t say enough how impressed I am with her and how far she’s come,” Laggis said. “There are a lot of kids that have improved a lot, there’s no doubt. That award can go to numerous kids but the fact is that what she did from last year to the way she turned the corner this year was awesome. Now the next step is to bring the leadership next year and be the real cornerstone of our girls’ team.”

Hubler was named the girls’ Long Hauler award winner for a third straight year while Denis took the honor on the boys’ side for the second year in a row. Both seniors were honored for their dedication to the sport while juggling other priorities. For Hubler, that was training for a marathon during the offseason, and for Denis it was balancing cross country with his offseason hockey program.

“We look at who’s the one who’s sweating it out and we thought, this year it was so easy because we knew right away it was Maria. She just runs and runs,” Krueger said. “She kept both goals in mind. They were both front-burner goals for her. She continued to put the work in through the summer and, as we talked about before, when we’re out on runs, she’s always taking the longer route. If varsity’s running 8 (miles) and JV’s running 5 or 6, she’s running 8 — even when she was on JV, she was running the 8 … She is just the epitome of the cross country long hauler.”

Regarding Denis, Laggis said, “He’s probably the hardest working hockey player in the weight room I’ve had here. He’s just all out. As a cross country kid, the same is true. He’s in there every day then he works all day. A lot of the times he’s getting a night skate in Minocqua or somewhere. He’s pretty much unflappable. You don’t know if he just had his best race or his worst race. He’s one of those guys you love having on your team.”

The Hodag boys took second at conference and fourth at sectionals this year while the Hodag girls finished fourth at conference and sixth at sectionals. 

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].