Big numbers, warm weather have Hodag track eager for season

There was a brief reminder Monday afternoon that winter in the Northwoods is not quite over, but spring sports are underway and — for once — the scene outside felt like a match.

Excitement is high for the Hodag track team, which has seen its numbers continue to boom over the last few years. Coach Aaron Kraemer said more than 110 athletes have registered for the team and more than 90 of them were on hand for Monday’s opening practice.

Equally exciting is the prospect that the team could be outside sooner rather than later, with the track at Mike Webster Stadium devoid of snow following one of the mildest and driest winters on record. 

    Senior Kaeden Piller warms up with the throwers group during RHS track practice at the Jim Miazga Community Gymnasium Monday, March 4. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

A wintry mix of rain, snow and sleet prevented the team from getting outside on Monday. Kraemer said the possibility of getting outside Wednesday and/or Thursday existed because much of the Hodag Dome would be in use by the Rhinelander Area Chamber of Commerce for its annual Up North Community Expo. While tempting to run outside, Kraemer said the team will mainly try to stick to the comfy confines of the dome or the Jim Miazga Community Gymnasium as much as possible for the first few weeks. 

“Early in the season kids are getting their legs. The last thing you want to do is place the elements on them and have them pull a hamstring or whatever, strain a muscle because we’re working in the cold,” he said. “As much as possible, we’re going to try to be indoors. But, it’s a blessing to even had the thought to be outside. 

“There’s only been one season I can remember in the last couple of years where we’ve even gotten outside before the beginning of April. To even have a thought that we were going to go outside, to have kids asking whether we were going to go outside was strange.”

Numbers are on the rise, especially on the girls’ side of the ledger. The team went from 23 girls two years ago to 30 last year. That number is expected to push into the 40s this year when all is said and done. 

“The girls’ team is much bigger than it was last year. We had 45 girls signed up. I think we missed maybe six or those and I think there were 3 or 4 girls that weren’t signed up that had to go get signed up. We’ll be around 40, if not mid-40s for girls, which is way different than normal,” Kraemer said. “For boys we had about 60 to 65 signed up. I think we had about 15 boys not show up that were on the roster and probably 5 or 6 that had to go get signed up. If I had to guess, we’ll be somewhere around mid 50s for boys.”

    From left to right, Eva Heck, Zoey Walker and Teagan Turcotte, sprint inside the Hodag Dome during RHS track practice Monday, March 4. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

Much of the influx could be credited to a James Williams Middle School track team that has had big numbers and strong success over the past couple of years. The Hodags have won the Wisconsin Valley Conference Small School meet each on the girls’ side each of the last two years, and that has led to back-to-back strong freshman classes for the program. 

That showed up on the stopwatch right away Monday in 40-yard dash testing, with four freshmen among the team’s top seven girls — led by Olivia Ruetz (5.34) and Macy Myers (5.57) in first and second. Lucy Eddy checked in fifth-fastest (5.65) and Karly Gillingham was seventh-quickest (5.87). 

“When you look at the numbers today, there were a lot of freshmen, both boys and girls, that had some really good times. To add to our ranks a bunch of kids that are hungry and excited about the sport, that’s really, really great to see,” Kraemer said.

The Hodags will take part in their first meet of the year next Thursday in Wisconsin Rapids. The team has four indoor meets on the schedule before the Hodag Hybrid meet April 11, which could be run at least in part outdoors should the weather cooperate. 

Track and field is the first WIAA-sanctioned high school spring sport that can being practice. Softball practice will get underway this  Monday. Baseball and girls’ soccer teams can begin practice March 18 while boys’ tennis and golf will begin March 25. 

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].