Hodag harriers look to end season on high note

The majority of the members of the Rhinelander High School cross country team will run their final race of the year on Saturday. There is a chance one or two could extend their seasons by one more week, however. 

The Hodags, and the rest of the Great Northern Conference, will head to Colby tomorrow for a WIAA Division 2 sectional meet. Both the RHS boys’ and girls’ squads are long shots, at best, to make it to next week’s state meet in Wisconsin Rapids as a team, though junior Greyson Gremban finds himself in a spot to qualify individually after narrowly missing out a year ago.

Mainly, however, with a relatively young squad, the Hodags are seeking good performances on Saturday that could set the stage for next year. 

On the boys’ side, the Hodags come in with a shot of confidence after sneaking past Tomahawk and Medford for the runner-up spot last Saturday at the Great Northern Conference meet in Wausau. 

“It’s just a big boost for them. You work hard and you get to this point, and I think they’ve got a lot of confidence,” coach M.J. Laggis said. “Finishing second is awesome, but we’re a long ways away from Lakeland, but it’s all building toward next year for them.”

Despite finishing a distant fourth at conference, the Hodag girls have some momentum too, considering that six of their eight varsity runners set personal records last Saturday. Five of them bettered the previous best time by more than 40 seconds. That bodes well for a team that will likely head to the starting line today with five or six underclassmen. 

“On the girls’ side, I think we could be sneaky, sneaky good next year,” Laggis said. “(The placement at conference) didn’t show it, but there’s a lot to build on with what these girls have done.”

Joining the GNC schools on Saturday are Marinette, Menominee Indian, Merrill, Oconto Falls, Peshtigo, Shawano, Stanley-Boyd and Tomahawk. The Colby/Abbotsford co-op will also compete in the D2 boys’ field. The schools field separate girls’ cross country teams, both of which will compete in the D3 sectional in Colby on Saturday morning. 

There are two pathways for Wisconsin Rapids. The top two teams from the sectional will advance to next Saturday’s championships at The Ridges Golf Course. The top five individual finishers not on a qualifying team will also advance. 

Rhinelander is seeking representation at the WIAA state meet for a third consecutive year. Gremban represents the Hodags’ best shot, based on preliminary data provided by MileSplitWI.

Using that data to run a mock sectional race, the Hodags are projected to finish fifth in the team standings, with Lakeland (45 points) and Shawano (78) projected to easily claim to two team bids. 

Individually, Gremban holds the eighth-fastest time in the field — the 16 minute, 36.6-second time he posted at last Saturday’s GNC meet. That puts him comfortably in an individual qualifying spot. Medford’s Tanner Hraby (10th, 16:53.4) is projected as the last individual to move on and he has a sizable buffer on the first individual out — Tomahawk’s Presley Gutbrod (12th, 17:15.9). 

“A lot of the GNC competitors that I’m racing against will be in that sectional next week,” Gremban said after last week’s conference meet. “The goal is obviously to make state. I need to be within that top five to certify my spot. Throwing down a mid-16 is really important to be competitive at meet next week.”

“He’s hardcore locked in on getting to the state meet,” Laggis added. “He’s got to have good week and go get it on Saturday and I think he will.”

Adding further fuel to Gremban’s fire is just how close he came to qualifying as an individual last year when he finished ninth at sectionals, 6.1 seconds behind the final individual qualifier. 

“I think I put in the work last year and it didn’t happen,” Gremban said. “It’s really important to me and my team that we have a green shirt representing at Rapids this year. I’m ready for redemption.”

After a breakout performance at last weekend’s conference meet, Rhinelander freshman Avrom Barr put himself on the outskirts of having a chance to advance, should any of the projected individual qualifiers falter tomorrow. Barr leapt up to 14th in the projected rankings with his 17:28.9 at conference and is only 13 seconds behind Gutbrod. 

Freshman Jackson Weinzatl is projected 26th, senior Gavin Denis 40th and junior Shawn Denis is 86th. 

Making it to state will be tough either way from the Hodag girls, who are projected to finish sixth out of 12 qualifying teams on Saturday. Moreover, plenty of teams not in contention for the top two spots have individual runners who figure to be near the top of the field. A prime example is Northland Pines’ Nora Gremban. While her team’s projected to finish 10th, Gremban turned in the top 5K time in the state this year, according to MileSplit, with her 17:06.6 mark last week at the GNCs. 

In fact, five of the top six finishers are projected to be on teams that don’t move on. Even if Medford moves ahead of Tomahawk for the runner-up spot behind Shawano —the Raiders and the Hatchets are separated by only a point in the mock-up — the cutline would only more to eighth place, where Wittenberg-Birnamwood’s Nora Bushman sits with a 19:38.2.

Rhinelander senior Leah Jamison, who broke 21 minutes for the first time in her career on Saturday, sits 26th in the projections, more than 1:15 off the cutline. Sophie Miljevich is seeded 30th, followed by Ella Miljevich in 40th, Hayley Schiek in 42nd and Kara Monk in 45th. 

Saturday’s meet will take place at Colby High School, with the boys’ race set to go off at 2:45 p.m. with the girls to follow at 3:45. 

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].