RHS/Pines skiers take 3rd at Ashwabay

A couple of mishaps in Super G caught up with the Rhinelander/Northland Pines boys’ Alpine ski team on Tuesday as it posted a third-place finish in the third Northern Conference meet of the season at Mt. Ashwabay in Bayfield.

It was the Hodags’ lowest placement of the season as the team finished behind the hosting Ashwabay co-op by 12 points for the runner-up spot. Lukas Bishop nearly went off course at the start of the his Super G run and Holden Schmitz crashed out of the event, hindering the team score. Regardless, coach Rod Olson said he was pleased with what he saw in less than ideal conditions. 

Sophomore Ben Olson had his best performance of the year, taking second in both giant slalom and Super G to finish second overall on the day. 

“We had some good runs and saw a lot of confidence,” coach Olson said. “Ben has been struggling and he was kind of back to one of his better performances. He’s still dealing a lot with his leg and we’ve been through a couple of pairs of boots and all kinds of things. To get a day where we’re starting to see we’re getting back, that’s good.”

Bishop’s slip in Super G cost him only about a second on the stopwatch, but it was enough to drop him to 17th in the event and ninth overall on the day following seventh-place runs in both slalom and giant slalom. Jason Linn finished 11th overall on the day. Schmitz took 21st, Robert Guolee was 23rd and Eli Repenshek finished 24th. 

“Jason had been sick for a week and he had a decent race,” coach Olson noted. “He’s still not 100%. Eli Repenshek did well as a freshman. They had pretty good performances for us.”

In girls’ skiing, the Hodags again had a clump of skiers in the back half of the top 20 as they took third, edging out Rice Lake/Cameron by six points for the position.

Junior Eliana Conrad finished 13th in all three runs and was 13th overall on the day. Maddie Ewan was 14th followed by Lyndsey Hoerchler in 15th. Aila Bergman was 17th, Karlie Yunkers finished 19th and Hayley Schiek was 25th.

“The girls continue to grow each week. They’re gaining a lot of experience and we all scored together as a clump. That’s going well,” coach Olson noted. 

Owen Repenshek, who missed the Hodags’ last two races after hurting his shoulder in a crash in the season opener at Christie Mountain, had a successful return to the lineup in boys’ snowboarding on Tuesday. He won two of the three runs in slalom and one run in giant slalom to take first overall on the day by two points over Sturgeon Bay’s Tristan Brilla. Isaiah Willoughby won the opening run of slalom, and was second in the two other runs as he finished third overall. Marshal Durkee was fifth on the day. Sydney Sarkauskus had a pair of second-place runs in giant slalom and finished third in girls’ snowboarding.

“Owen Repenshek had a great day. He made the transition from a regular board to the long board and hard boots,” coach Olson said. “That’s a very tough transition. Marshal struggled though. He’s still trying to get the hang of things there. Isaiah had a good overall day, some good speed and then Sydney had a pretty good day.”

Olson said the mild weather led to some difficult runs for both the skiers and snowboarders, especially in slalom.

“It was very fast this morning and kind of icy. The girls hit the course first and when they hit the turns, it got super soft,” he said. “The boys’ slalom, Jason’s run was OK but Lukas and Ben, they really surge to get the speed and then they’d hit the turn and would just sink. They almost went out the front a couple of times because of the change in snow surface was so drastic.” 

Despite the continued warm spell, coach Olson said he was confident that there would be enough snow for the Hodags to host their leg of the Northern Conference season as scheduled Saturday at Ski Brule in Iron River, Mich. The conference season is slated to end next Tuesday at Snow River in Bessemer, Mich.

Tyrol Drizzle

The Hodags took their three healthy snowboarders to Mount Horeb last Saturday to compete in the Tyrol Drizzle Invite at Tyrol Basin. The field featured to majority of boarders who will likely be in the field for the WIARA State Championships later this month. 

Sarkauskus had the strongest day for the Hodags placing in the top 10 in all three of her runs. She was third in the first run of slalom, fourth in the second run and seventh in the banked slalom run at the end of the day. 

“Sydney had a great day,” Hodag assistant coach Grace Zuiker Nash noted. “She’s so smooth on the hill and nothing stresses her, she’s fast and calm. She’s going to do big things.”

Both Hodag boys had up and down days. Willoughby did not finish his first slalom run, finished 25th in the other and was 38th in banked slalom. Durkee took 14th in the first slalom run, 39th in the second and was 36th in banked slalom. 

“The boys had a tough day. Isaiah came flying out the gate and had a small mishap in the dual slalom and had a crash then got up again and finished.” Zuiker Nash said. “Marshal had a decent day, he was a little nervous and rode a little more timid. Not like him but hopefully that got the jitters out, he’s going to do great also in the coming years.” 

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].