Hodag Nordic skiers compete in Iola

Note: A review of Saturday's results by the timing company resulted in changes in placement of some Hodag skiers. The review was done after press time for Tuesday's River News. The online version of this story has been updated to reflect the changed finishing positions.

IOLA — With its only home race of the season canceled due to insufficient snow, the Hodag Nordic ski team — along with much of the rest of the Wisconsin Nordic Ski League — re-routed to Iola on Saturday to get in a race in what has been a difficult season, weather-wise. 

The Hodags had seven racers take to the trails of Iola Winter Sports Club for the freestyle portion of the Iola Invite on Saturday. 

The race was split between varsity and JV designations. Rhinelander only had enough skiers to field a qualifying team in the JV girls’ division, where it placed fifth out of seven teams. The team had a couple of skiers — Lucy Eddy (shoulder) and Luna Grage (elbow) — out due to injury. Charlie Loomis missed Saturday’s race on the boys’ side due to illness.

“The skiers that we did have stepped up,” Hodag coach Andrew Seaman said. “We skied the course ahead of time and they got to see a lot of the hills and we talked a lot of strategy of just staying on your skis and then strategy to make the most of those hills. A lot of those hills had corners on them, too.”

Varsity skiers competed on a 7-kilometer course that featured some of the more demanding terrain that the Iola venue has to offer. Junior Brynn Teter led the way for the Hodags in that division, taking 21st overall in a time of 26 minutes, 23 seconds. Sophomore Kayla Skubal was 33rd on the day (29:12) in a field of 47.

“Brynn and Kayla, they did excellent. I was really proud of their finishes. They gutted out a real tough race,” Seaman said.

On the boys’ side, junior Iain Rumney suffered a damaged pole early in the race, which hindered him as he finished 62nd in the 76-skier boys’ varsity field with a time of 27:13.

“It had to be less than a kilometer into the race and he snapped the bottom few inches off one of his poles,” Seaman explained. “That’s unfortunate because the majority of the race we were doing a V1 and a lot of poling. Luckily, the layer of snow was thin enough that I’m sure he just poked down to the ground and didn’t have to adjust too much.”

    Rhinelander’s Jonathan Calhoun competes in the opening stretch of the Iola Invite freestyle race in Iola Saturday, Jan. 20. Calhoun finished sixth in the JV boys’ division. (Jeremy Mayo/River News)
  

Freshman Jonathan Calhoun competed in the shorter, 4-kilometer junior varsity division, where he placed sixth in a field of 37 skiers (16:24).

“This is a unique opportunity because there aren’t too many races where there are JV and varsity designations,” Seaman said. “He took this opportunity and he’s a lowerclassman so, rightfully, he should be skiing JV, but he’s showing a lot of promise.”

Kali Skubal led the Hodags in the JV girls’ division, taking 17th (20:29). Freshman teammate Mya Gillen finished right behind her in 18th (20:38). Sophomore Emma Mankus placed 27th in the 36-skier field (27:01).

“It was Emma’s first race of the year. She did awesome. I was proud of her finish,” Seaman said. “Mya and Kali, I don’t think they knew what to expect for the JV course. There were a few more hills than they were expecting.

“I think with Hodag Challenge being canceled, and this being a replacement race, the course couldn’t be more similar to our home course. There were a lot of great hills, a lot of opportunities we like to call them.”

Though the invite included a classic technique race on Sunday, the Hodags opted out of that race to prepare for another classic race, the WNSL Northern Conference meet, that will take place this afternoon in Cable.

“It’s a really short turnaround,” Seaman said. “It’s a classic race. It will be tough to get back on our classic skis, but we’ll have a good practice on Monday, get any of the lactic acid out and try to be ready for it.” 

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].