Team review: Hodag Nordic skiing

Perhaps the biggest accomplishment for the Hodag Nordic Ski team in the 2023-24 season was the fact that there was a season at all.

Flexibility was the name of the game this year for the Hodags, and the entire Wisconsin Nordic Ski League as an historically mild winter wreaked havoc on the schedule. Of the eight races on the team’s calendar, only two went off on their scheduled dates. Five were canceled all together, the state distance championships were postponed by three weeks and the team added three impromptu races to its schedule wherever it could find snow.

“Thank you every one for sticking through plans A, B, C and D,” first-year head coach Andrew Seaman told the team last month during its season-ending banquet. “I know it’s hard to plan it but I know it’s even more difficult for you to get your skiers where they need to be with all the equipment that’s changed through plan A, B, C and D. Hopefully we don’t have as much of that next year.”

Ultimately, the Hodags finished in the back half of the WNSL standings on the year. The Hodag girls were 10th on the season, the Hodag boys were 13th and the combined program was 13th when factoring in both squads’ results from the state distance and sprint races.

Here are five storylines from the recently completed season. 

First-year coach

The Hodags went into an unprecedented year with a new head coach after former coach Dave Slette and his family relocated out of the area last fall. Seaman, a first-year teacher within the School District of Rhinelander stepped in to fill the void. Though it was his first time coaching cross country, the Merrill native had prior coaching experience in other sports and skied recreationally prior to relocating to Rhinelander.  

“I just want to say thank you for welcoming me into your community,” he said at season’s end. “Moving from five hours away, starting a new job, starting a new life here is tough, but I really felt supported from the board, the club, parents, assistant coaches holding my hand through all of the new procedure and all of the skiers. It’s been really great building relationships with you guys.” 

Wacky weather

Not even a grizzled veteran coach would have been prepared to handle the twists and turns Mother Nature threw the Hodags’ way this year. Every snowstorm seemed to under deliver and every heat wave seemed to overachieve. 

The end result was the team having only a handful of on-snow opportunities by the time it had its first race, the Seeley Hills Classic, Jan. 13 in Cable. By then the team had already lost three scheduled races originally on the calendar. Even the Seeley race was an audible, as the team opted not to compete at the HinderBinder in Rib Lake after a lack of snow forced that race to be contested not on the trails, but rather a frozen lake. 

The hits just kept on coming. The team’s Hodag Nordic Challenge — the largest high school race in Wisconsin apart from the WNSL state championship — was nixed due to a lack of snow. 

The Hodags raced in Iola that weekend instead, and again in Iola the following weekend on fading snow due to a late-January thaw.

Man-made snow allowed the WNSL state distance race in Brillion to take place the first week of February, despite highs in the mid-to-upper 40s pretty much the entire race weekend. The Birkie Trailhead in Cable also had snow-making capabilities. Even so, the decision was made to postpone the state distance championships to early March in an effort to save what base those trails had for the 50th American Birkebeiner in late February.

There was still enough snow to ski on when the WNSL got to Cable for its culminating race but — as was par for the course on the year — the thermometer soared into the 50s during the weekend and snow conditions got softer and softer as the races progressed.

“This race course kind of represented how the season went for us in terms of snow conditions, but I’m happy were able to race,” Seaman said. “I’m glad we were able to cap it off with a solid race. The course held together for the most part. There were puddles and mud, ice and slush, a little bit of everything. We held it together, got up after we wiped out and did the best that we could.”

Girls’ results

Because of the unusual snow conditions and constantly moving schedule, team results were a bit hard to gauge this season. 

For example, the Hodag girls would have likely placed higher than 10th at state distance, but were missing a number of skiers — including No. 2 runner sophomore Kayla Skubal — who were unable to attend on the rescheduled dates. 

As it was, junior Brynn Teter had the best results for Rhinelander, finishing 30th in the overall WNSL standings. That was highlighted by a 21st-place run in the classic portion of the state distance race, where she placed 27th overall. She also finished 29th in the state individual sprints and 16th in the team sprints with Kayla Skubal.

“She was consistently our top skier except for one or two races. Brynn came into the season with high goals for herself,” Seaman said. “There was a place she wanted to meet. I think we were really close, but next year, as a senior, I know Brynn’s going to keep her sights set high and we’ll reach whatever goal she sets her eyes on.”

Skubal narrowly missed qualifying for the quarterfinals at the state sprints and wound up 36th overall in that event. Fellow sophomore Lucy Eddy overcame a shoulder injury sustained in a crash during the season opener in Cable to take 26th in the state sprints. She finished 58th in the state distance race and wound up 34th overall in the final WNSL standings.  

“Lucy is athletic, so I kind of knew, even though she missed some races, she would do well, but I think she surprised everybody, even herself,” Seaman said following the state sprints. 

Mya Gillen finished 53rd and Kali Skubal was 57th for the Hodags in the state sprints. Gillen finished 69th and Emma Mankus was 74th in the state distance races. 

Boys' results

A lack of numbers hurt the Hodag boys this year, especially after last year’s top performer, Olin Slette, transferred out of the district. Senior Charlie Loomis and junior Iain Rumney were the only boys available for the state sprints. They missed advancing out of the qualifying rounds in the team relays. Loomis finished 54th and Rumney was 64th in the individual sprints. 

Rumney was not available the weekend of the state distance race, preventing the team from being able to qualify for a team score. Freshman Jonathan Calhoun led the way for the weekend. He took 78th in classic, 85th in freestyle and finished 79th overall (54:36.3). Loomis finished 82nd. 

What’s next

The good news for the Hodags is that most of the team is due back next year. The boys’ squad will still be low on numbers with Loomis graduating, but the team is slated to bring in Douglas Hartmann from the middle school ranks. The Hodag girls are slated to bring back six varsity letterwinners from this season, led by Teter.

“The work that these skiers have done in the past on their technique is going to propel us into next year as long as we stick with it, get on roller skis,” Seaman said. “We’ll get out fitness dialed in, stay consistent with that over the summer, try to get on roller skis as much as we can — both for technique and fitness — and pray for snow.”

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].