Cross country: RHS boys 2nd, girls 4th at Mosinee

The Rhinelander High School cross country team again found itself in the top half of the field on Tuesday. The Hodags hope that will still be the case in a month in a half when they return to Wausau’s Nine Mile Forest for the Great Northern Conference meet.

The Hodags previewed the conference course on Tuesday, taking second in the boys’ division and fourth in the girls’ division of the nine-team Mosinee Invite. Rhinelander was the second-best GNC school in attendance in both divisions — Tomahawk was the only conference school to skip the meet — and finished behind what figures to be the prohibitive favorite on both sides.

“Lakeland’s boys are light’s out. We finished second behind them and they just dominated. I think they had six in before we had two. They’re excellent,” Hodag coach M.J. Laggis said. “I feel the same way about Medford’s girls. They’re really strong. We’ve just got to keep going, keep working and keep getting better.”

Greyson Gremban paced the Hodag boys on Tuesday, coming home fourth overall with a time of 17 minutes, 37 seconds over the 5K course. That was 43 seconds faster than his time in the same meet a season ago.

Brody Kowieski came home 13th for Rhinelander (19:17), Gavin Denis was 15th (19:34) followed by a pair of freshman. Avrom Barr finished 21st (20:02) and Jackson Weinzatl was 22nd (20:05).

“Greyson had a real good race. Then I think one of the big things that I’m seeing is that Brody and Gavin are just a solid No. 2 and 3. Whatever order they’re in, they are solid, and they’re only getting better,” Laggis said. “You’re looking at two freshmen, Jackson and Avrom, that are really improving and I think they could be really darn good at the end of the year. They came along again today. I was really happy. Jackson stepped it up. Avrom stepped it up.”

Shawn Denis was 27th (20:19) and Hank Kowieski finished 82nd (25:59) to round out the Rhinelander contingent. 

Leah Jamison once again paced the Hodag girls, finishing 16th overall at 22:49. She edged Lakeland’s Ada Ernst, a first-team all-GNC runner last fall, to the line for the second race in a row. 

Behind Jamison the Hodags had a pack of runners. Freshman Kara Monk finished 27th, Luna Grage was 28th, Sophie Miljevich was 29th, Brynn Teter took 32nd, Ella Miljevich was 33rd, Hayley Schiek was 34th and Maria Hubler finished 35th. The difference between Monk (23:55) and Hubler (24:47) was only 52 seconds. 

“Leah’s doing a great job and is getting stronger,” Laggis said. “There’s some really good camaraderie going on that girls’ side this year, and that’s awesome to see. We had a lot of really, really good performances and girls that are getting better as a pack. 

“Kara Monk, as a freshman, has been a huge surprise. She’s really run strong and that’s awesome to see. Luna’s improved her game. Again Soph was a top fiver right there for us and I thought a nice improvement for us was Brynn as our No. 5 and she really had a nice race.”

Crandon’s Taylor Karcz (16:14) beat Lakeland’s Owen Clark for the individual win in the boys’ race by 14 seconds. Lakeland dominated overall, placing five runners in the top nine as it beat Rhinelander 33-72. Medford was fourth, Northland Pines took sixth, Mosinee was eighth and Antigo did not have enough runners to qualify for a team score. 

Medford, the odds-on favorite to claim a seventh consecutive GNC girls’ title, had four runners in the top 12, including individual winner Meredith Richter (19:42). The Raiders beat Stratford by 20 points for the team title. Wausau East finished third. Rhinelander finished four points ahead of Lakeland for fourth. Northland Pines took seventh while Antigo and Mosinee did not qualify for a team score. 

“I think our compete level is really good and that’s a great course to just race,” Laggis said. “It’s not exceptionally flat. It’s not hilly. It’s just one of those intermediate courses and we showed we can compete big time with a lot of schools. We’ve shown that in two meets now. The big takeaway is we’ve just got to keep getting faster, 1 through 5.”

The Hodags return to action Tuesday in the Tiger Invite at Wildwood Park in Marshfield. A regular stop back when Rhinelander was in the Wisconsin Valley Conference, the Hodags have not competed in that meet in well over a decade.

“It’s going to be super hot and the field of teams there is going to be super competitive, some bigger teams,” Laggis said. “Medford will be there and just a lot of the good, competitive teams will be there. I think we’ll really have our hands full. It will be a great test mentally and physically. That heat will be a factor Tuesday. We’ll see how we react.”  

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].