Number of schedule changes announced

A lack of early-season snow has affected races for both the Rhinelander/Northland Pines Alpine and Hodag Nordic ski teams.

The RHS/Pines Alpine team was originally scheduled to bring its girls’ squad to the Trollhaugen Invite on Thursday, but that was nixed in favor of an all-team training session at Blackjack Mountain in Wakefield, Mich. The team is set to kick off the Northern Conference season at Snow River in Wakefield this coming Tuesday.

The Hodag Nordic ski team saw the Snekkevik Race, scheduled for Saturday in Wausau, canceled due to a lack of snow. It marked the fourth meet that the Hodags attempted to compete in this winter that either was canceled or postponed due to poor or non-existent trail conditions. 

The team is scheduled to have two meets next week — the rescheduled Lakeland Invite Jan. 11 and the Hinderbinder in Rib Lake Jan. 13 — but both of those meets remain in question due to the weather. The same holds true for the Hodag Nordic Challenge Jan. 20 and 21 at the Cedric A. Vig Outdoor Classroom in Rhinelander. 

“We realize that many teams have travel and lodging reservations and have cancellation deadlines. Mother Nature is now determining our schedule and we will make decisions as early as we can as the weather dictates.  We are optimistic that this storm will provide us enough snow for the races,” the Northwoods Nordic Ski Club, organizers of the race, stated in a Facebook post on Tuesday.

In indoor sports, there have been a couple of modifications to meets that will take place later this month. The Hodag wrestling team will now host a triangular with Tomahawk and Wausau East on Jan. 18. The meet will begin with Rhinelander and Tomahawk in a previously-scheduled Great Northern Conference dual at 6 p.m., with Rhinelander vs. Wausau East and Tomahawk vs. Wausau East to follow.

Tomahawk has been added to a non-conference boys’ swim meet between Rhinelander and D.C. Everest at the Heck Family Community Pool Tuesday, Jan. 23., turning the meet into a triangular.