Cross country: Hodag boys take 2nd, girls 3rd at GNC meet

EAGLE RIVER — With less than a mile to go in Saturday’s Great Northern Conference meet, the Rhinelander High School cross country team found itself in position to claim its second conference title in four years. Literally and figuratively, those hopes crumbled over the course of a few fateful minutes.

Rhinelander faded late to a runner-up finish behind Lakeland in the conference meet at Northland Pines. The Hodags girls had their own near miss, edged on a tiebreaker for second on Saturday. Both squads had two top-five finishers and four runners earn all-conference honors by placing inside the top 21.

Greyson Gremban and Avrom Barr finished second and third for the Hodags on the boys’ side. Rhinelander appeared to be in a strong position to take the team title with senior Brody Kowieski running fourth and three other runners pacing in the top 20 with less than a mile remaining. 

However, Rhinelander’s fortunes turned on a unseasonably warm October day when — with less than 400 meters remaining — Kowieski fell coming out of the second-to-last corner. Overcome by exhaustion, he staggered and stumbled, trying to regain his balance as runner after runner raced past. 

Kowieski eventually crawled across the finish line and was tended to at the course before being taken off-site for further treatment. Hodag coach M.J. Laggis said Kowieski began to stabilize once he received some fluids following the race, but the coach was left to wonder what might have been had things gone differently over the final mile.

“At the two-mile mark it looked like we were right where we needed it, if we could hold on, and it just fell apart,” Laggis said. “It’s warm today. A number of kids have gone down on different teams throughout the day here. There were several of those situations today. It was warm, but we were just unable to put it together. It wasn’t for a lack of effort. It wasn’t for a lack of having what we thought was a really good plan.”

Seeing Kowieski’s distress, freshman Grant Gremban grabbed his teammate in the finishing chute and helped drag him across the finish line — a violation in cross country running that resulted in the disqualification of both he and Kowieski from the race. By that point, the damage to Rhinelander’s championship chances had already been done. Laggis commended Gremban’s selflessness, sacrificing a top-21 finish and a spot on the all-conference team, to aid a teammate. 

“You don’t fault a teammate for trying to help a teammate in that particular situation. That means more than anything else that they care for each other,” he said. 

The Hodags figured they would be in a neck-and-neck race with Lakeland in the team standings as the T-Birds’ No. 2 runner, Charlie Ernst, sat out with a lower leg injury. Rhinelander brought the fight to the T-Birds early with Greyson Gremban, Barr, Kowieski and Jackson Weinzatl all in the top eight through the opening half mile. Weinzatl faded over the second half of the race and finished 23rd. 

Asked afterward if he would have done anything different in regard to the team’s training and race strategy going into conference, Laggis said the team committed to the same training plan that yielded the Hodags the GNC title and a WIAA Division 2 state meet appearance in 2021. 

“We made a decision as a team that we were going to hold strong with what we were doing for one more week,” he said. “It didn’t work out for us today. There were a number of factors. Jackson was getting sick in the woods. He was having trouble. We were just unable to put it together today.  

“As a group we decided that’s what we’re going to do. The boys were all-in on that. I guess you wouldn’t change that, but I would change what happened today. That’s for sure.”

    Rhinelander’s Greyson Gremban (86) and Avrom Barr (82) run near the front of the field during the GNC cross country meet in Eagle River Saturday, Oct. 19. Gremban and Barr finished second and third overall for the Hodags. (Jeremy Mayo/River News)
  

Lakeland’s Ashton Bremer took control of the race after the mile mark and cruised to the victory at 16 minutes, 28.1 seconds — roughly 13 seconds ahead of Gremban. Barr was third another 31 seconds up the trail. 

“They both finished really strong today. Hundreds and hundreds of miles in the offseason for those guys in training,” Laggis said. “You can never second-guess that effort and intensity. They finished really, really well. Ashton has been the fastest runner in the conference all year. He proved that again today, credit to him. But I thought Greyson and Avrom looked really good.”

Afterward, Greyson Gremban said the heat — the thermometer crept into the lower 70s at race time — and the stakes made for an intense race. While disappointed with the team’s result he said he could not fault the effort. He described the race as “a battle.”

“It’s difficult. Heat is difficult for some people and the conference race is intimidating,” he said. “Cross country’s not for the faint of heart. I believe my boys embraced that today and put their best foot forward.”

“Everyone was working for one another,” Gremban added. “Every single one of us put our best foot forward today. It wasn’t necessarily our day but we put in the effort and I’m confident in my teammates what we’re going to do the same thing next week.”

Junior Ayden Myers earned second-team all-conference honors for Rhinelander, placing 12th (18:35.2) while freshman Michael Brunette received honorable mention with a 15th-place finish (18:47.8). Weinzatl and Wyatt Crowell (33rd) were the other Hodags credited as finishing the race. 

Lakeland beat Rhinelander 36-55 for the title. Despite the disqualifications, Rhinelander held off third-place Tomahawk by eight points. 

Hodag girls finish third

    Rhinelander’s Macy Myers leads teammate Brynn Teter to the finish line of the GNC cross country meet in Eagle River Saturday, Oct. 19. Myers and Teter earned first team all-conference honors, placing fourth and fifth respectively, as the Hodags placed third as a team. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

Rhinelander’s girls ended up in a tight battle for the runner-up spot in the GNC behind Tomahawk. Medford, Rhinelander and Lakeland were separated by a single point for second, third and fourth. Medford edged Rhinelander on a tiebreaker for second by virtue of a faster sixth runner. 

Sophomore Macy Myers and senior Brynn Teter both secured first-team all-conference honors for the Hodags, placing fourth and fifth, respectively. Teter held fourth for much of the race before Myers made a late surge to pass her and a trio of Lakeland runners down the stretch. Both turned in career-best times, with Myers finishing at 20:48.9 and Teter at 20:50.0.

“We took the first mile really fast. Macy and I worked together and we had a really good race,” Teter said. “That’s a big PR for us. Both of us haven’t broken that barrier yet. We’re really excited about that. Moving on to sectionals next week, we’ll take this energy.”

“I think it was a hard race, but I just really pushed myself,” Myers added. “I saw Brynn ahead of me and kept on running. My dad told me, around the disc golf course there, ‘Macy, you only have like three minutes left to run.’ I just thought about that. It’s only three minutes. That really helped me finished.”

Sophomore Hayley Schiek and senior Sophie Miljevich bookended the runners who received honorable mention. Schiek finished 15th (22:19.5) while Miljevich came home 21st (22:44.3). 

“Brynn looked strong the whole race. Macy had a great kick at the end. Macy and Brynn, both first teamers and really, really happy with that. They had great runs,” Laggis said. “Hayley and Sophie putting in good runs today and getting conference recognition, you always want to see a senior get recognition like that. That’s really cool.”

Gretchen Fiebke came home 23rd for Rhinelander, followed by Luna Grage in 24th, Kara Monk in 28th and Ella Miljevich in 30th. 

Medford’s Lindsay Kahn won the girls’ race (19:41.1) while Tomahawk edged Medford and Rhinelander by 19 points to win their second straight conference title. 

The Hodags will head to Colby this coming Friday for a WIAA Division 2 sectional meet. 

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].