RHS track places top 3 at Eagle Relays

EAGLE RIVER — Back in action following a two-week layoff from competition, the Rhinelander High School track team finished near the front of the field Thursday in the Eagle Relays hosted by Northland Pines High School.

The Hodag boys won three events, tallied six other top-three finishes and took second in the nine-team meet. The Hodag girls won four events and finished a close third in the standings behind GNC rivals Northland Pines and Tomahawk.

The break in the schedule was by design for the Hodags as they gear up for the stretch run of regular season meets leading into championship season in late May. Coach Aaron Kraemer admitted his team may have shown a slight bit of rust due to the layoff, but was generally pleased with the team’s results.

“I think there was a little rust,” he said. “There’s been some sickness that’s kind of set in too. I’m sure it’s happening everywhere in the state but, for us, we had a couple of kids that were under the weather. Maybe not the performances that they wanted, but still some impressive things happened today.”

The meet was a unique format in which all of the running events, except the hurdles, were conducted as relays. In the hurdles and the field events, though individual results were kept, the performances of each school’s three entries were combined to award team points. 

The Hodag boys won a couple of field events thanks to strong team performances. Myles Eagleson, Truman Lamers and Landon Catlin finished first, second and fourth, respectively, as the Hodags took the triple jump. Rhinelander had three throwers in the top five overall as they claimed the shot put.

Eagleson, a sophomore, recorded personal bests in both of his individual events. He leapt 39 feet, 1 1/2 inches to snag the triple jump and then went 20 feet, 1/2 inch to take the long jump.

“Myles Eagleson was impressive today, both in the long and the triple. That’s the longest long jump I’ve seen since Bryce White,” Kraemer said, referencing the former Hodag long jumper who qualified for state back in 2015. “Very impressive for him. He figured something out. The biggest thing for him is he’s strong and powerful, and he’s fast, but it’s getting his feet through. Even last year in the triple jump, he’d land kind of sideways. Now he got his feet through and had a gigantic jump in the long jump. I know he’s pleased and I’m happy for him too. He’s gonna be a guy, by the end of the year, that will be jumping in the 19-20 range and, in the triple jump, he’ll be jumping right around 40 feet.”

All three of Rhinelander’s varsity throwers cracked the 40-foot mark in the shot put. Reid Schultz was the individual runner-up with a toss of 42-6, Logan Schwinger was third at 41-9 1/2 and Sam Balge took fifth at 40-1 1/2.

“The boys’ throwers had a rough day in discus but turned around and had an excellent team performance in the shot put,” Kraemer said. “ We have a great throwers team. (Throwers coach) Brock (Snyder)’s done a great job with them, especially the boys. They’re a really tight-knit, solid team.”

The Hodag boys added a win in the 4x100 relay with the squad of Jackson Fuss, Ben Olson, Zach Germain and Eagleson (45.83). Fuss was a late substitution in that relay after senior Payton Campbell appeared to tweak a hamstring in the event prior, the 800-meter sprint medley relay.

“We’re going to see how he responds next week and, hopefully, get him back before conference,” Kraemer said of Campbell, one of the team’s top sprinters.

The day for the RHS girls was highlighted by a 1-2 finish in the 4x100 relay. The squad of Lexi Bishop, Olivia Ruetz, Violet Biolo and Reese Gehrig hit the tape in 54.24 seconds, just more than two seconds ahead of teammates Kayla Skubal, Lena Timphus, Emma Deede and Millie Gruett.

“They’re starting to figure out what the form needs to be and they’re getting stronger. That’s the big thing,” Kraemer said. “(Sprint/Hurdle coach) Rod (Olson)’s doing a great job with them in the relays, getting the handoffs right. It takes a long time, with a relay meet, to make sure all of our handoffs are set and ready to go. He did a great job this week with them.”

    Rhinelander’s Aila Bergman clears a hurdle during the 300-meter hurdles in the Eagle Relays track meet at Northland Pines High School in Eagle River Thursday, April 25. Bergman won both the 100 and 300 hurdles, individually, as the Hodags took first in both events as a team. (Jeremy Mayo/River News)
  

Sophomore Aila Bergman took the individual win in both the 100 and 300 hurdles, helping the Hodags to a team win in both events. Averie West took fourth and Eva Heck was seventh for Rhinelander in the 100 hurdles while Heck finished fourth and freshman Macy Myers took sixth in the 300 hurdles.

“You have the solid girls at the top,” Kraemer noted. “We really missed Averie West last year. She’s someone I’m really, really happy that she’s out for track this year. That just makes Aila even more solid. You’ve got someone behind her that’s pushing her in practice and somebody that’s, if she’s not finishing second, she’s finishing third or fourth and scoring points for our team. It’s really good to have multiple people in those events.”

Rhinelander won the 4x800 relay with the team of Luna Grage, Kara Monk, Brynn Teter and Maria Hubler (11:34.30). The same quartet finished second for the Hodags in the 4x1600 relay.

Individually, sophomore Libbey Buchmann had the top throw in the discus (115-6) and was third in the shot put. Freshman Karly Gillingham placed third in the triple jump. The Hodags were second as a team in the girls’ high jump with Heck, Ruetz and Teagan Turcotte and took third in the 4x200 relay with Bergman, Ruetz, Myers and Nicole Long. 

Lamers added third-place showings in both the long jump and high jump. Rhinelander took second as a team in the high jump with Evan Shoeder and Dominic Lehmann and would have likely been in contention to win the long jump had Campbell not been forced to scratch due to his injury. 

Abe Barlog was second individually in both the 110 and 300 hurdles. The Hodags took third as a team in the 110 hurdles with Ryley Hull sixth and Lehmann 13th. 

Rhinelander was second in the boys’ 4x800 with Cyrus Leisure, Jackson Weinzatl, Avrom Barr and Shawn Denis. Fuss, Sam Zwaard, Olson and Barlog were third in the 4x200 relay. Schwinger, Shoeder, Caden Sieker and Schultz took third in the 4x100 throwers relay and the Hodags were third in the discus with Balge seventh individually, Schwinger 10th and freshman Eric Parish 13th.

Rhinelander was slated to send a smaller contingent to Eagle River, but sent the whole team instead and withdrew from Friday’s Kaukauna Invite due to a rainy forecast in Kaukauna. The Hodags plan to split their squad today, with some of their athletes heading to Lakeland and another group heading to Three Lakes.

“We can pick and choose were we want to send our athletes, maybe send them to different meets with different coaches and let them run a race,” Kraemer said. “At this point of the year, it’s about getting as many different numbers that we can so we can make the best judgement possible on those conference relays and open events.”

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].