Hodag track takes 4th at GNCs

On paper, the record will show the Rhinelander High School track team finished in the middle of the pack this season in the Great Northern Conference. However, the team’s fourth-place finishes in Medford Tuesday bely just how competitive each squad was.

The Hodags led the meet with three events remaining before fading to fourth in an extremely competitive boys’ field. The Hodags girls scored conference titles in five events as they wound up fourth, just a half-point behind Medford for third. 

The Hodag boys finished with nine all-conference performances as they took fourth in the GNC for the second year in a row. The Hodag girls had seven all-conference performances on the night as they recorded their best finish at a GNC outdoor meet since joining the conference in 2011. It matched the team’s best conference meet performance since 1995. Rhinelander placed fourth in the GNC Indoor back in 2012, when that meet was still considered an official conference championship.

“Both on the boys and the girls, we have a lot to be proud of tonight,” Hodag coach Aaron Kraemer said. “There were a lot of things we expected and things we thought would happen. I talked to our athletes about fear and being scared. That’s a natural feeling when you get into championship season, but my message was that on the other side of fear is everything that you want. They took that to heart and went after it today. They did an excellent job. I’m very, very proud to be their coach.”

Rhinelander was tantalizingly close to its third conference title on the boys’ side in the last five seasons. The Hodags were a point ahead of Northland Pines, and two ahead of Medford after the 200-meter run, but had no entries in the 3,200. 

Lakeland vaulted from fourth to a tie for first thanks to a 1-2 finish in the distance race and the top four teams were separated by seven points after the long jump was scored, going into the final race of the night — the 4x400. 

Medford and Rhinelander were tied for third going into the final race, but Medford won it to pull ahead while Rhinelander finished fifth. Meanwhile, Lakeland’s runner-up finish in the 4x4 coupled with Northland Pines’ fourth-place showing put the two schools in a dead heat for the conference title — marking the first time that the GNC has had co-champions at its outdoor meet. 

While the Hodags had a few of key athletes either out or slowed by injury — including sprinter Payton Campbell (out, hamstring), jumper Truman Lamers (ankle) and distance runner Greyson Gremban (foot) — Kraemer said he was hard-pressed to find where the Hodags could have scored more points, considering the lineup they had on Tuesday.

“I think we picked each other up well tonight,” he said. “I don’t know if there’s anywhere that we could have scored more. I don’t know if there’s any blame to be placed anywhere. They did pretty much what they could, the best they could to the best of their ability.”

    Rhinelander’s Aila Bergman races Medford’s Jaylin Machon in the finals of the 100-meter hurdles during the Great Northern Conference track meet in Medford Tuesday, May 14. Bergman won both hurdle events and score four top-five finishes for the Hodags on the night. (Matt Frey/Star News)
  

Aila Bergman had another big night for the Hodag girls. Not only did she defend her conference title in the 300-meter hurdles (49.09 seconds), she won the 100 hurdles at conference for the first time (16.68) after getting knocked out of that event early last year due to a false start. She added a fourth-place run in the 200 meters and finished fifth in the long jump.

“Aila did everything she could have possibly done for the team tonight,” Kraemer said. “She doesn’t normally run the 200. She ran the 200 tonight. She won the 100 hurdles, she won the 300 hurdles and took a top 10 finish in the long jump. She’s a warrior and someone who’s hurting a lot. She dances and does a lot of (other) things too, but she put the team on her back with some great efforts.”

    Rhinelander’s Libbey Buchmann competes in shot put during the Great Northern Conference track meet in Medford Tuesday, May 14. Buchmann finished as the runner-up in that event and won the discus with a personal-best toss of 122 feet, 8 inches. (Matt Frey/Star News)
  

Sophomore Libbey Buchmann finished one spot better than she did last year in the discus, winning that event with a throw of 122 feet, 8 inches. That smashed her previous personal best, set at last week’s Hodag Invite, by nearly four feet. She finished as the runner-up in the shot put for the second year in a row with a toss of 31-0 1/2.

“I’m really, really proud of her,” Kraemer said. “As a sophomore, she’s got a lot of room to grow and I can see her doing a lot of special things down the line — not only breaking meet records, but chasing our school discus record too. Second in the shot put’s nothing to sneeze at, either. (Shot put winner) Carly Huelskamp from Northland Pines is a great thrower, but Libbey, she’s been great all year long.”

The Hodag girls also fared very well in the relays. Rhinelander won the conference title in the 4x100 with Lexi Bishop, Olivia Ruetz, Violet Biolo and Lena Timphus (51.91) and then claimed the 4x400 at the end of the night with Biolo, Ruetz, Lucy Eddy and Kyleah Hartman (4:24.40). The Hodags added a runner-up showing in the 4x200 with Shyanne Huecksteadt, Nicole Long, Karly Gillingham and Emma Deede.

“They came through tonight and that’s what they needed to do,” Kraemer said. “We knew that a lot of teams were going to thin themselves out with their open events, so we wanted to put out most-talented runners in our relays. We did that. We had a first, first, second, and fourth in our four relays. We were extremely impressive in those events. 

“They put down some really fast times in those relays. The handoffs were excellent tonight and coach Rod (Olson) did an excellent job getting them prepare to do as well as they did.”

    Rhinelander’s Myles Eagleson competes in long jump during the Great Northern Conference track meet in Medford Tuesday, May 14. Eagleson finished second in that event, and won the triple jump. (Matt Frey/Star News)
  

Myles Eagleson led the list of all-conference performers on the boys’ side. He smashed his personal-best performance in the triple jump, taking that event with a leap of 40 feet, 10 inches. He added a runner-up showing in the long jump with a leap of 19-8 that stood as the mark to beat until it was eclipsed at the very end of the finals by Mosinee’s Omar Bailey.

“He was jacked up to get over 40. That’s a big PR. He had never been over 40, high 39s some meets. Huge PR for him. I was extremely proud of him in the triple,” Kraemer said. “In the long jump, the last jump in the finals took him. He was, I think, 1 1/2 inches away from being the field athlete of the year in the GNC. That’s saying something, being a sophomore. I’m really proud of him. He had a great meet.”

The Hodag boys also claimed victory in the 4x100 with the quartet of Zach Germain, Ben Olson, Sam Zwaard and Paul Van Camp. They went 45.85 in that event, winning by nearly 1 3/4 seconds. 

While falling short of a team conference title stung, Kraemer said taking the fastest relay race was a very satisfying consolation prize. 

“I’m really excited about that for the boys. They put down a big time, 45.85,” he said. “If they can drop time going into the regional, they’ll have a shot of going through to sectionals and anything can happen there. That race is all about clean handoffs and trust. They threw it down tonight.”

Junior Logan Schwinger turned in a pair of all-conference performances in the throws. He was runner-up in the shot put (44-1 1/2) and took third in the discus (126-0). That was part of another solid night for the Hodag throwers. Reid Schultz finished fourth in the shot and sixth in the discus while Sam Balge was fifth in the shot and seventh in the discus.

“Getting all three to the finals in both the shot put and the discus is impressive enough, but then for all of them to score points and two top-three finishes is really, really good,” Kraemer said. “I don’t think their best throws are behind them yet. I think they’re going to get even better as they go into the regional.”

Abe Barlog and Connor Dumpprope finished second and third for the Hodags in the 300 hurdles, Rhinelander was runner-up in the boys’ 4x800 with Shawn Denis, Jackson Weinzatl, Gremban and Avrom Barr. Germain added a third-place showing in the 100 meters. 

Lamers narrowly missed all-conference recognition, taking fourth in both the high jump and the triple jump. Rhinelander was also fourth in the 4x200. Barlog added a fifth-place run in the 110 hurdles, Denis was fifth in the 800. Olson qualified for the finals in the 100, placing seventh and Ryley Hull placed seventh after making the finals in the 110 hurdles. 

On the girls’ side, Eva Heck matched her personal best in the high jump, clearing 4-8 as she tied four fourth. Bishop was fourth in the 100 and fifth in the 200. Averie West was fourth in the 100 hurdles and the Hodags were fourth in the 4x800. 

Hartman qualified for the finals in the 100 hurdles, taking seventh. Biolo was ninth in the 100 after making the finals and Maddie Legrey made the finals in the triple jump, taking ninth. 

Tomahawk completed a last-to-first turnaround on the girls’ side, winning the conference meet by 21 points over Northland Pines. 

In a weird schedule twist, the Hodags had one more meet between conference and regionals, competing in the Dale Peterson Invite in Antigo Thursday after press time for today’s edition. Kraemer said the team would likely limit varsity participation in that meet. WIAA regionals take place Monday in Rice Lake. In addition to seeing Lakeland, Northland Pines and Tomahawk from the GNC, the D2 regional will include a number of strong programs from the northwest part of the state — Rice Lake, Hayward, Ashland, Northwestern and Spooner. 

“I still think we’ve yet to see our best,” Kraemer said, looking ahead to next week. “We’ve got to get back to full strength. Right now we’re ailing a little bit, not only with the pollen in the air but also the injury bug a little bit. We’ve got to get everyone back and ready to go. Once we do that, we’ll be set.”

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].