Hodag boys’ harriers 2nd, girls 4th at Colby Invite

Despite racing at less than 100%, the Rhinelander High School boys’ cross country team turned in a strong performance Saturday on a course that will determine its state-qualifying fate six weeks down the road.

The Hodag boys finished second out of 10 complete teams while the Hodag girls were fourth out of six qualifying squads in Saturday’s Colby Invite. 

Greyson Gremban turned in another top-10 performance, coming home sixth overall. The Hodags outscored Medford by seven points for the runner-up spot despite missing senior Gavin Denis to a prior commitment and junior Brody Kowieski laboring through the final mile with what coach M.J. Laggis described as knee soreness.

Gremban, a junior, raced near the top of the field much of the way and settled in sixth on a fast course that will host the WIAA Division 2 sectional meet that Rhinelander will participate in on Oct. 21. He covered five kilometers in 17 minute, 20.7 seconds. 

Kowieski was up with the leaders in the opening mile, but faded back to 30th (19:36.2). Freshmen Avrom Barr and Jackson Weinzatl rose up the team order as a result, both turning in season-best times. Barr was 22nd at 19:06.3 and Weinzatl was 25th at 19:14.3. Shawn Denis rounded out the Hodag contingent in 46th at 21:07.3.

“Greyson was really good as usual. He had a really nice race,” Laggis said. “Brody started out like a house of fire. He’s banged up with a knee but he finished with a real gutty effort. Then two freshmen got to get talked about this week. Avrom and Jackson stepped up huge today and had really good races. Man, is it encouraging to have those guys be freshmen and improving the way they’re improving.”

While the Hodag boys have had strong team results this season, Saturday showed the team’s weakness — a lack of depth beyond its top six runners.

“You’ve got a hole in your gut hoping we can be healthy,” Laggis said. “If we’re healthy on the boys’ side, we’re just fun. No matter what we do, we’re fun.”

    Rhinelander’s Leah Jamison runs during the Colby Invitational girls’ cross country race in Colby Saturday, Sept. 9. Jamison led the Hodag girls with an eighth-place finish as Rhinelander took fourth overall. (Matt Frey/Star News)
  

Leah Jamison once again paced the Hodag girls, scoring her first top-10 finish of the year. The senior came home eighth with a time of 21:49.2. 

Junior Sophie Miljevich turned in her fastest time of the year, taking 17th at 22:49.6, Luna Grage was 21st (23:39.9), Kara Monk was 22nd (23:42.4), Ella Miljevich finished 26th (24:09.4), Brynn Teter was 28th (24:28.9) and Maria Hubler was 25th (25:31.7).

“Leah was our No. 1 and she ran a really nice race. Sophie Miljevich had what I think was a breakout race,” Laggis said. “She ran really, really well, a strong race from her. Then you had Luna was solid. Kara Monk was our fourth and then Ella, too, has been a little bit of a sleeper. She’s quietly had two really improvement-type races right now for a freshman.” 

Laggis also credited freshman Hayley Schiek, who won the JV girls’ division of Saturday’s race. Her time of 23:17.5 would have been 19th overall in the varsity race. 

“Hayley Schiek won the JV on the girls’ side and would have ran one of our top five girls’ varsity times,” he said. “That’s an impressive race for her and we need to see her build on it.”

Pacelli placed three runners in the top 14 and beat Rhinelander 68-105 for the boys’ title. Medford, Colby/Abbotsford and Stratford all finished within 11 points of the Hodags and rounded out the top five. Marshfield Columbus’ Isaac Scheer was the individual winner at 16:41.0.

Medford’s girls dominated, placing five runners in the top 11, including race winner Meredith Richter (19:23.2) as it beat Colby 30-51 for first place. Stratford was third, followed by Rhinelander and Marshfield Columbus. 

Saturday marked Rhinelander’s first time running Colby’s course, which looped around the Colby High School campus. Laggis said it will make for a fun venue when the Hodags return next month for sectionals.

“We thought the course was fantastic. All of us coaches agreed it was a nice layout, really well marked, pretty flat,” he said. “There’s a section of woods on there that I ran through twice today that I thought was a blast, little turns but pretty flat and really a nice, hard path you could run on. It was a really fun course. I’m looking forward to having sectionals there.”

Laggis said the Hodags have backed out of today’s Antigo Invite as the team turns its attention to the Bill Smiley Invitational coming up this Saturday in Wausau.

“It’s going to be an awesome field at Smiley and we’re going to be up against it,” Laggis said. “We’ve got to see how we compete this weekend against better competition and just try to keep upping our game.”

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].