Track members stretch legs in Whitewater, Stevens Point

Select members of the Rhinelander High School track team hit the road this past weekend, taking part in two separate meets.

Nine members of the Hodag distance crew were in Stevens Point last Friday night for the inaugural Point Indoor Distance Carnival while 14 members of the squad went to Whitewater on Saturday to take part in the Wisconsin Indoor State Distance Championships. 

Both meets attracted top-level talent from around the state and allowed the Hodags a chance to see where they stack up heading into the outdoor season.

“I think it’s just really good to be at that level of competition,” Hodag girls’ track coach Andy Wyss said. “I think not only do we want to use this meet as a good experience, good competition, it’s also kind of a bit of foreshadowing. These are the kids that we see at that level and they belong amongst this competition. The hope is that they also see themselves, now that they’re there in that environment, they see themselves in it. Now outdoor state is an attainable reality.”

State Indoor

Six members of the Hodag girls’ squad and eight Hodag boys took part in the State Indoor in Whitewater, earning their way to the event by achieving qualifying marks either last season or during the indoor portion of this season. 

Neither squad scored any points in the meet, reserved for the top eight finishers in each event. 

Junior Aila Bergman came the closest to finishing in the points, placing 12th overall in the 60-meter hurdles. Bergman qualified ninth out of 59 athletes in the preliminary round, clocking in at 9.50 seconds, which advanced her to one of two semifinal heats. Her time was a little slower in the semis (9.67), which placed her 12th overall. Only the top eight from the semifinals advanced to the finals.

“She put herself in a really good position and she didn’t run as strong of a time in the semis as she did in the prelims,” Wyss said. “She still ran really well, it was still a good race and had she run that exact same time, I think she might’ve made it. At least she knows now after having gone through she’s at that level and, if she can put a good race together, she’s as good as anybody in the state.”

Junior Libbey Buchmann came home 28th in the shot put with a throw of 32 feet, 7 1/4 inches in her final toss of the preliminaries. 

“That was a personal best for her, indoors, and almost near her lifetime personal best outdoors event,” Wyss said. “She threw well. It didn’t start out that way, but she eventually put something together, so that was good. She had a really, really good meet.”

Both Bergman and Buchmann were state qualifiers last year, as was the Hodags’ 4x100 relay team. Three members of that quartet was represented on Saturday in the 4x200 relay. Bergman joined returning relay members Violet Biolo, Olivia Ruetz and Lexi Bishop to take 27th of 45 teams in the race (1:54.14). 

“That was a really good race. Violet was just running really strong. Aila was running really strong. Olivia was coming out of the 400, so she was bringing a little fatigue into that, but still a good leg for us and then Lexi Bishop with the finish,” Wyss said. “I think adding Aila is a good component to that race because, given her hurdle background, she has such strong block starts. Putting her at the start of that race really got us off to a good start. Then Violet had a good second leg. It was just a good race for those girls, the best time they ran all season. Lots of good things on the girls’ side.”

Sophomore Lucy Eddy was 47th in the 400 meters (1:06.22), Ruetz took 56th in that event (1:08.42) and Biolo was 80th in the 60 meters (8.46).

On the boys’ side, senior Truman Lamers competed in three jumping events Saturday, taking 24th in the high jump (5-10), 51st in the triple jump (38-8) and 87th in the long jump (17-8 1/2).

“It’s nice to see him, finally, you doing all three,” Hodag boys’ coach Aaron Kraemer said, noting it was Lamers’s first competition in long jump and triple jump this year. “He will tell you, and I’ll say the same thing, he hasn’t been in the sand all year … so he’s maybe not necessarily prepared for that today. I think he’s just going to continue to get better as the year goes on, and a major thing for him is just load management. We want to make sure that he’s healthy all season long and that he’s doing the best that he can and jumping the best that he can.”

    Rhinelander’s Reid Schultz throws the shot during the Wisconsin Indoor State Championship track and field meet in Whitewater Saturday, April 5. (Andy Wyss/Submitted)
  

The Hodag boys had three shot putters compete on Saturday. Logan Schwinger came home 47th out of 106 throwers who recorded a mark (44-3 1/2) while Reid Schultz was 74th (41-9 3/4). Bo Stott did not place after failing to land a qualifying throw in bounds during his three attempts in preliminaries. 

“Bo would be disappointed today. Something was right with him, but we’re going to get it right,” Kraemer said. “And, as far as Logan and Reid, they’ve been doing this for a long time. They’re to the point in their career where it’s small things that you’re working on, and sometimes the small things to be the hardest things to fix.”

Myles Eagleson took 86th in the long jump (17-9) and was on the 4x200 meter relay team that placed 28th with Ben Olson, Sam Zwaard and Matthew Haselton (1:41.45). 

Olson (7.74) and Zwaard (7.76) were 131st and 132nd, respectively, in the 60 meters. Haselton, a freshman, was 63rd in the 400 (58.78).

“I’m happy to get a kid like Matthew Haselton a run down here at state,” Kraemer said. “As a freshman, you remember those moments … I think that he had a really, really solid team with Ben, with Sam and with Myles. They’re pretty veteran in their own right and they’ve run with each other for quite some time. They’re comfortable with each other and they did a great job, bringing him in and teaching him the ropes and showing them what he needed to do and he did a great job.”

Point Distance Carnival

A handful of RHS track team members traveled to Stevens Point Friday for the Point Indoor Distance Carnival at UWSP.

On the boys’ side, senior Shawn Denis was the Hodags’ top finisher in the 800-meter run, taking 39th out of 183 runners (2:17.37). Avrom Barr was 27th in a field of 128 in the 1,600 (4:54.10) and Greyson Gremban took 16 out of 39 runners in the 3,200 (10:38.83).

Brynn Teter was 28th in a field of 129 in the girls’ 800 meters (2:42.74) while Kara Monk was 29th out of 66 in the 1,600 (6:17.90). 

Additionally Jackson Weinzatl was 84th in the 800 (2:25.24) and 34th in the 3,200 (11:55.00), Michael Brunette was 35th in the 3,200 (11:56.10), Jonathan Campbell was 94th in the 800 (2:27.71) and Konner Bex was 121st in the 800 (2:35.28). 

“I think that’s a fun thing for them,” Wyss said. “This being the first year for that, I’m really glad that we got in because I think that they had really good attendance for it and, I think in the future, that might be limited to what teams are invited and what the times are or how many entries you can have, so I’m really glad we got a foot in the door this year. It’s something we can look forward to bringing our distance to every year.”

The Hodag girls were back in action yesterday in the Wausau West Indoor that concluded after press time. The Hodag boys travel to Wausau today for their portion of the West Indoor.

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].