RHS/Pines Alpine repeats performances at Granite Peak

Team-wise, Thursday’s second Northern Conference race of the season was a near carbon copy of the first for the Rhinelander/Northland Pines Alpine ski team.

The Hodags took second in the boys’ standings, playing catch-up against a deep Wausau United squad, while the Hodags girls finished a close third to Ashwabay in round 2 of the conference season at Granite Peak in Wausau. The results mirrored those of the season opener three days prior.

More than the performances, the weather and run conditions were the storylines during an abnormally warm day that saw the temperature in the upper 30s and fog for much of the day. 

“It was very soft and grabby. The boys had a much different run than the girls did. The girls had what I thought were good conditions,” coach Rod Olson said. “The course had a lot of bite but by the time it got to the guys, they were kind of sliding into the turn and then hitting some good stuff … Really we were edging over two different surfaces over every turn. We got down to that super-hard ice from earlier in the year and then the bottom of the turn was soft.”

The fog, and fading daylight, hindered the Hodag boys in the final race of the day, Super G. Sophomore Ben Olson, the team’s top skier from the season opener at Christie Mountain, had a mishap in that race which coach Olson chalked up to low visibility. 

“It was so foggy, you couldn’t see one gate ahead,” he said. ‘He went right through the gate and out the front. Then the next six boys had trouble in six different places because of the fog. You just couldn’t see once it got later in the day. It was 4:30 and had the lights on.”

Jason Linn, despite skiing under the weather, had the best day for the team. The Northland Pines junior took fifth in the combined standings led by a fifth-place run in Super G. Linn was eighth in both slalom and giant slalom. Senior Lukas Bishop had three top-10 runs and came home seventh overall and sophomore Holden Schmitz posted his first career overall top-10 finish, taking eighth. 

“Holden had a great day. His giant slalom was like I have not seen him ski before,” coach Olson said. “It wasn’t because of so much mishaps (for others), I think it’s coming together for him. I think that’s really awesome to see. In giant slalom is usually were it comes together and, regardless of placement and time, I saw him really perform well. He was doing a lot of the right things at the right time.”

Ben Olson was sixth in giant slalom, and seventh in slalom, but was dropped to 12th in the final standings because of his Super G mishap. Robert Guolee took 21st for Rhinelander and Eli Repenshek was 25th.

    Rhinelander’s Maddie Ewan competes in slalom during a WIARA Northern Conference ski race at Granite Peak in Wausau Thursday, Jan. 25. Ewan led the Hodag girls’ with an 11th-place finish on Thursday. (Jeremy Mayo/River News)
  

The Hodag girls once again had a clump of skiers finish just outside the top 10 on the day, led by senior Maddie Ewan in 11th overall. Her best run of the day was a 12th in Super G. Freshman Lyndsey Hoerchler finished 12th followed by sophomore Aila Bergman in 14th. Sophomore Karlie Yunkers was 18th, junior Eliana Conrad was 21st and freshman Hayley Schiek took 24th. 

“They really are all brand new, rank rookies — not only to racing but some of them to skiing — and we saw some big improvements,” coach Olson said, calling the squad the surprise of the day. “The athletes themselves and their teammates are like, ‘Holy cow, the girls looked different than from Monday even.’ I think that’s really cool for them.”

The Hodags’ three snowboarders all had an up and down day, especially in giant slalom where clean runs were hard to come by. 

    Rhinelander’s Isaiah Willoughby competes in boarder giant slalom during a WIARA Northern Conference ski race at Granite Peak in Wausau Thursday, Jan. 25. (Jeremy Mayo/River News)
  

On the boys’ side, Isaiah Willoughby won two of the three runs of slalom, but finished third, third and second in giant slalom to lose out on first place by a point to Rice Lake’s Ethan Thompson. Marshal Durkee had slips in all three giant slalom runs as he took fourth on the day in a field of six. 

On the girls’ side, Sydney Sarkauskus finished third in all six runs and finished third overall.

“Consistency’s going to be the key this year,” coach Olson said. “Solid, clean finishes, that may end up getting you to where you need to be. I don’t know if we’re going to see someone this year go first, first, first all over in the boarders. It’s very spotty.” 

The conference season is slated to continue today with Round 3 at Mt. Ashwabay in Bayfield. The Hodags are scheduled to host Round 4 this coming Saturday at Ski Brule in Iron River, Mich. and Ashland will host the conference finale at Snow River in Bessemer, Mich. Feb. 7. However, with forecasted high temperatures in the upper 30s for much of this week, coach Olson said the conference will be playing things by ear in hopes that the slopes remain intact well enough to continue racing.

“The weather, the fog, the weirdness of the training, I’ve never seen a year like this. There have been some warm ups before and some deep freezes, but this has just been tough,” he said. “… Right now we’re panicking about our upcoming race and then state. The forecast is getting a little better, but it’s still above freezing and not many nights with anything below 26. Whether or not the hill can recover and survive through that, I don’t know.”

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].