Hodag harriers finish top 4 in home invite

In the season-opening race for the Rhinelander High School cross country team, some things went according to plan and there were some pleasant surprises. Ultimately, the Hodags wound up third out of 10 teams on the boys’ side and fourth out of nine teams on the girls’ side in the Hodag Invite Thursday in front of RHS.

Not surprisingly for Rhinelander, senior Greyson Gremban wound up on the podium, taking fifth in the boys’ race. But the Hodags also got podium finishes from sophomore Avrom Barr on the boys’ side and senior Brynn Teter on the girls’ side, setting the stage as both squads try to work themselves into the mix in a competitive Great Northern Conference by season’s end. 

“Now we have something we can look at. We can see where we’re at and talk about things,” coach M.J. Laggis said afterward. “It’s August. It’s not October. We did things yesterday — more miles and worked lower body in the weight room — that we would normally never do the day before a race. We did it because we’re using this as a training day and we’re staying on our mission here.”

    Rhinelander’s Avrom Barr runs in the woods during the Hodag Invite cross country race in Rhinelander Thursday, Aug. 29. Barr finished overall in the race as the Hodags placed third out of 10 scoring teams in the meet. (Jeremy Mayo/River News)
  

Gremban was near the front virtually the entire race, never venturing outside the top 10. He completed the 5-kilometer course in a time of 18 minutes, 7.7 seconds. Gremban was the top GNC runner in the field and finished a minute behind meet winner Taylor Karcz of Crandon. Barr was the second-fastest GNC runner and clocked in sixth overall at 18:17.9. That was three seconds ahead of last year’s GNC runner-up, Ashton Bremer of Lakeland. 

“The thing about Avrom is he just climbed that entire race,” Laggis said, noting that Barr trained hard during the summer, logging more than 300 miles. “Greyson was about where I thought he would be, given the talent pool here today. He had a good, solid opening race.” 

Sophomore Jackson Weinzatl and senior Brody Kowieski — in his first race back since injuring his knee last September — finished 31st and 32nd, respectively for the Hodags. Augustus Porter was 46th, followed by a pair of freshmen — Michael Brunette in 48th and Grant Gremban in 56th.

“Between Jackson and Brody, they were about where I thought. They were a good 3-4 combo,” Laggis said. “I think our biggest thing on the boys’ side is we’ve just got to solidify a really strong four, five and six and keep moving on. Again, we’re training pretty hard, so I think we’re going to drop time as we go here.”

The Hodag girls were led by two girls who weren’t among Rhinelander’s top seven at last year’s conference meet. 

Teter, who struggled with a knee injury toward the end of last season, had a breakout race on Thursday. She sat in the top 15 much of the way and made a late surge into the top 10, coming home seventh overall at 23:22.6. She was the fifth-fastest GNC runner in the field and roughly 1:54 off the pace of race winner Lillian L’Esperance of Antigo. 

“Brynn I thought just looked super strong. She led (us) from the opening gun,” Laggis said. “More than just her time or where she was, I thought she looked really smooth and strong.”

Behind Teter was sophomore Macy Myers, making her first career cross country start. She worked her way up from around 30th place in the mid-going and came home 15th at 24:31.0.

“I did not suspect that out of her at all,” Laggis said. “I thought, early in the race, she looked like somebody that was just kind of pacing it and trying to figure it out a little bit. I feel like throughout the race, she just figured out what she wanted to do. She had huge growth, throughout the race today even.”

Returning sophomore Hayley Schiek was 16th, just four-tenths of a second behind Myers. Sophomore Kara Monk was 22nd, followed by senior Sophie Miljevich in 24th, sophomore Ella Miljevich in 31st and newcomer Gabby Wanta, a sophomore, in 44th.

“The way Hayley Schiek started and the way Macy started, and then the way they came on, was really, really impressive how they finished,” Laggis noted. “Kara Monk had a really nice race. Sophie and Ella got stronger as it went.”

Though the Hodag girls finished fourth, they were only 14 markers behind meet winner Lakeland. Reigning GNC girls’ champion Tomahawk took third, six points ahead of Rhinelander. While plenty of talent returns on the girls’ side of the GNC, Thursday’s results had Laggis optimistic about his team’s chances following a fourth-place finish in conference last year.

“That’s something we’ve really got to shoot for,” he said. “Tomahawk would have been my pick to win it before season, but Lakeland just always seems to reload. Everything you think they won’t, they reload. Medford’s always strong but, I agree, I think we have a shot if we keep working.”

Despite graduating a number of seniors off of last year’s squad, Defending GNC boys’ champion Lakeland placed five runners in the top 28 to finish second on the day behind D.C. Everest. The Hodags took third, 35 points behind the T-Birds.

The Hodags are back in action today in the Mosinee Invite at Nine Mile Forest in Wausau. 

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].