Team review: RHS Golf

By the numbers, the 2024 season could be viewed as a bit of a step back for the Rhinelander High School golf team. The Hodags tied for third in the Great Northern Conference this year, failed to qualify the team for sectionals for the first time in three season and did not have any representation at the WIAA state meet. 

Yet the Hodags improved their team scoring average by nearly seven strokes from 2023, had two players receive All-Great Northern Conference honors and look to be setting the table for a potential conference title run next year — given that all five members of the starting lineup are due to return.

“We’re improving and the cool thing is they’re all coming back for next year, so that number should go down,” coach Adam Schmidt said last month during the team’s season-ending banquet. 

Here are five storylines from the recently completed season. 

Strong core

The front end of the Hodags’ lineup was headed by three players with returning varsity experience, and that showed during the course of the season. 

Juniors Sam Schoppe and Brody Kowieski and sophomore Blake Petroff finished as Rhinelander’s top three scorers in 12 of the team’s 14 meets this spring. 

While Schoppe was unable to reprise his run to the WIAA state tournament from 2023 he, statistically, had a better season this spring. He moved up to sixth place in the GNC standings this year, after finishing 14th last year as a sophomore. Schoppe also improved his scoring average by more than five strokes this year as he finished with an average of 78.67 — the best the team has seen since Josh Willis averaged 77.77 strokes per round in 2012. Schoppe posted the team’s lowest score in 10 of the team’s 14 rounds this year. 

“He had his teammates on his heels all years. He shot eight of his 13 rounds in the 70s, with a lowest round of 74. Sam played our No. 1 pretty much all year long,” Schmidt remarked during the banquet.

Brody Kowieski was close behind with an average of 81.31 strokes. He broke 80 on four occasions, highlighted by a 2-over round of 74 as he placed tied for second at the Merrill Invite. Kowieski finished 11th in the conference standings for a second straight year and, thanks to a 39 during a rain-plagued WIAA regional meet, punched a ticket to the sectional round of the WIAA tournament for a third straight season. 

While Kowieski shot 87 at sectionals, Schmidt said it was a good learning experience as he pressed late in his round an effort to make the state tournament.

“It was a real good experience for him to get there and be all by himself,” Schmidt said. “It’s hard, you’re just playing for yourself and just grinding. He kept a positive attitude and he kept grinding. He never like got so down and angry. He wasn’t like throwing clubs. He showed you can have a rough day and not freak out. I commended him on that.” 

Petroff was the team’s most improved golfer this spring as his scoring average of 87.33 was 6.44 strokes better than 2023. He narrowly missed all-conference honors placing 16th in the final GNC standings. His low round of the season was an 80 shot at Black River Golf Course in Medford April 26 during the second leg of the conference tournament. 

New faces

The Hodags had a couple of young faces in the lineup filling out the starting five, both of whom showed flashes at points during the spring. 

Freshman Hank Kowieski was Rhinelander’s fourth player much of the spring and fellow Freshman Chase West settled in as Rhinelander’s No. 5 man. 

Hank Kowieski, Brody’s younger brother, showed flashes early, carding an 81 in his varsity debut April 15 in Wisconsin Dells, but he managed to break 90 only once more during the season as he finished with a scoring average of 95.12. West averaged 96.95 stroke per round but had two of his best scores toward the end of the season — rounds of 89 and 86 at in the GNC meets at Mosinee and Lakeland that helped the Hodags hold on to a tie for third in the conference. 

Conference results

As for conference, the Hodags found themselves neck and neck with upstart Northland Pines in a race for third in the GNC pretty much all season long. 

The Eagles put Rhinelander on notice in the conference opener when they edged the Hodags by three strokes for third place, and the two seemed to swap places all season long. Rhinelander was consistent, finishing third or fourth in all seven legs of the conference tournament. Pines was a bit flashier, scoring a runner-up finish in Mosinee, and the two teams were tied for third going into the final round of conference. Fittingly both teams posted rounds of 342 at Trout Lake Golf Club and remained deadlocked in third. 

Though there was an earlier than normal thaw this year, a rainy spring wreaked havoc on the schedule. Rounds at Mosinee and Antigo were postponed due to wet conditions and set up a marathon finish in which the final three rounds of the conference tournament were played on three consecutive days. Rhinelander posted two of its four highest scores in conference play in the final two meets, which Schmidt chalked up to the grueling schedule.

“It’s just a lot of golf in a row. When you play that much golf, when you’re playing good, it’s fine but when you’re struggling it’s hard to play that much golf in a row,” he said. “Everyone just kind of struggled a little bit (at Bass Lake) and the same kind of thing today.” 

Rainy regional

Mother Nature did the Hodags no favors at the WIAA regional meet in Marshfield, either. Heavy rain and thunderstorms delayed play twice before ultimately shortening the event to a nine-hole contest. 

Rhinelander came in as the No. 3 seed in an eight-team regional that included six Wisconsin Valley Conference schools plus Medford from the GNC. That meant a later start time, which Schmidt said ultimately came back to bite the Hodags, who seemed to get the worst of the conditions as they shot 176 and finished last in the regional — only five strokes out of fourth and a team berth in the sectional round.

“Normally being in the second wave is a bonus, the kids get to sleep in a little but, really, the first wave got the better deal,” Schmidt said. “We had to play the course soaking wet. The second wave had to play the course absolutely soaking wet. Balls were plugging in the fairway, it was rough. There was standing water on the fairways.

“There were some of us who believed they should have just played Thursday. Everyone had to play in similar conditions, but the first wave didn’t have to (start) when it was soaking wet.”

The conditions seemed to catch up to Schoppe, who sat at 4-over and in a decent position to advance individually with two holes to play as the second delay hit. After play resumed he doubled the par-4 eighth and missed a 4-foot par putt on the ninth to shoot 43 and miss a playoff for the final individual qualifying spot by a stroke.

What’s next

As mentioned earlier, the Hodags are slated to return everyone next spring, which should bode well in what should be a transitional year in the GNC. 

Lakeland not only won the conference title this year but went on to claim the WIAA Division 2 state championship. However the T-Birds are slated to lose three starters off of that championship team. Conference runner-up Mosinee will graduate a pair of seniors and Medford loses four senior starters. In fact, of the top eight individual finishers in the GNC this spring, six were seniors. 

Only one other team in the conference is slated to return all of its starters next year. That’s Northland Pines, which could set the stage for an intriguing battle next spring.

“We’re a young team. We got to learn to lot,” Schmidt said, reflecting on the season. “We’re looking forward to talking about next year. The more and more times you put yourself in this awkward position, playing and having multiple people watch you, it just gets easier and easier. The more you do it, the better you get at it. That experience pays dividends.”

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].