Lady harriers claim Three Lakes Invite

THREE LAKES — Fast times and a couple of breakout performances helped the Rhinelander High School girls’ cross country team claim its first win of the season on Thursday. 

The Hodags placed five runners in the top 15 as they edged out Tomahawk and Marathon for the top spot in the Three Lakes Invite at Big Stone Golf Course.

“That’s a thrill for them,” Hodag coach M.J. Laggis said afterward. “They’re really pumped up and they worked really hard for it. I’m really happy for them. They stepped up.”

Senior Leah Jamison led the way for the Hodags, turning in one of her best times of the season. She came home fifth on the day, covering the 5-kilometer course in 21 minutes, 48.7 seconds. Junior teammate Sophie Miljevich also cracked the top 10, coming home eighth (22:28.3).

“I thought Leah was so strong today and she got stronger,” Laggis said. “Soph’s gotten stronger, big time, the last couple of weeks. That was a great race. I thought she looked really strong with about 1,000 (meters) to go.”

Freshman Hayley Schiek had a breakout performance for Rhinelander, coming home 11th overall with a personal-best time of 23:05.6. She made a move over the final third of the race to lead the rest of the Hodag contingent to the line. Fellow freshman Kara Monk was 14th (23:48.9), followed by junior Luna Grage (15th, 23:52.0), senior Maria Hubler (24:01.6) and freshman Ella Miljevich (21st, 24:46.7).

“Hayley Schiek, just a total breakout. What a great race by her today,” Laggis said. “I just thought she looked really good. Early in the race I did not think she looked strong and by the halfway point she was a different runner. Maria, Luna and Ella all had good, strong races. Kara Monk was right there again, what potential in that girl. She can just fly.”

Those performances were good enough to have Rhinelander edge GNC rival Tomahawk 39-53 for the top spot. Marathon was a point further back in third. 

The same three squads duked it out for the boys’ title, with Tomahawk coming out 10 points ahead of Marathon, which clipped Rhinelander by a point for the runner-up spot. 

    Rhinelander’s Greyson Gremban, left, races Three Lakes’ Nolan Waltz, center, and Antigo’s James Meade, right, for position during the Three Lakes Invite cross country race Thursday, Sept. 21. Gremban finished third overall in the boys’ race. (Jeremy Mayo/River News)
  

Junior Greyson Gremban again led the Hodags as he cover the course in 17:09.1. Gremban is flirting with the sub-17-minute barrier, which would likely put him in strong contention for a state-qualifying spot when sectionals roll around next month.

“He’s really close and his work ethic, I think he’s going to get there before we’re done here this year,” Laggis said. “He’s set a hard goal to get to the state meet, that’s for sure, and I think he’s well on his way, but there’s going to be a lot of work to do yet.”

A trio of Hodags came across the line together with freshman Avrom Barr 12th (19:12.3), senior Gavin Denis 13th (19:13.4) and freshman Jackson Weinzatl 14th (19:19.4).

“We’re starting to almost get that green wall with those three right behind him with Gavin, Jackson and Avrom,” Laggis said. “They were right there and ran really well and pushed each other pretty hard. I thought that was great today.”

Shawn Denis was 28th for Rhinelander (20:33.9), Hank Kowieski finished 49th (22:33.7) and Jonathan Campbell was 70th (26:12.2).

The Hodags’ depth took a significant hit on Thursday when the team learned that junior Brody Kowieski, who last ran at the Colby Invite Sept. 7, will be sidelined for the remainder of the season with a knee injury.

“Losing Brody was a big dagger,” Laggis said. “We got the news today that he’s done for the year, and that’s a big dagger. You can’t hide that, but now you’ve got to rebound and work with what you have. It’s just he was the No. 2 and a scorer. We had that wall of guys behind him and I felt really good about where we were going. Now we’ve just got to retool, keep trying to grow and get our guys faster all the way around.”

Rhinelander will return to action this Thursday at the Medford Invite.

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].