Alpine ski team hands out awards

The Rhinelander/Northland Pines Alpine ski and snowboard team convened one final time for the 2024-25 season on Sunday as it held its awards banquet and party at Eagle Lanes in Eagle River.

The team handed out a number of awards on the evening to its top performing and most improved athletes. 

The headline award of the evening went to boys’ ski team captain Jason Linn, a senior from Northland Pines, who was presented with the coaches award by head coach Rod Olson and assistant Greg McGuire. 

Linn was one of the top performers for the Rhinelander/Northland Pines boys this season, taking 10th overall in the Northern Conference standings while placing seventh individually in slalom. He was also the team’s top finisher at the WIARA state meet in La Crosse this past February, taking 43rd overall in a field of 158 skiers. 

Moreover, coach Olson said, Jason Linn served as a leader of the squad, both on and off the snow. 

“There are a number of things that a coach looks for in an athlete and a leader,” he said during Sunday’s banquet. “We have one individual that stands out. He’s a gentleman. He’s an ambassador for the sport. He’s almost like a player-coach. He takes care of a lot of things that the coaches don’t have to worry about … He takes care of making sure tuning happens. He makes sure his teammates at Northland Pines are working out. He’s been a great leader on the hill as well, getting things organized, getting equipment out of the trailer, getting equipment back into the trailer. He’s just a fine example of what a varsity athlete should be.”

Six different athletes earned the team’s top performer awards in the respective disciplines this season while three others captured most improved awards. 

Junior Ben Olson swept the top performer honors in boys’ skiing, having the best cumulative performances of the season in slalom, giant slalom and Super G. The same was true for Northland Pines freshman Jessica Linn in girls’ skiing and Northland Pines junior Sydney Sarkauskas in girls’ snowboarding. 

The top performer award in boys’ snowboarding was split among three competitors. Junior Soren Dumar won the honor in boardercross, sophomore Marshal Durkee in giant slalom and freshman Kamden Kostrova in slalom. 

Ben Olson was fourth overall in the Northern Conference boys’ standings, with the third-best point total in giant slalom, the fourth-best in slalom and the fourth-best in Super G. He also had the Hodags’ best individual run at state, taking 22nd in Super G as he recovered from a crash in the slalom race to take 73rd overall at state. 

Jessica Linn was sixth in giant slalom, seventh in slalom and eighth in Super G as she placed seventh in the Northern Conference girls’ standings. Sarkauskas, as the lone girls’ snowboarder on the squad, won both top performer and most improved by default, but posted strong numbers during the 2025 season. She won the Northern Conference title in girls’ snowboarding — winning every individual run during the conference season to take home top honors in slalom, giant slalom and boardercross. She followed it up with an 11th-place showing at the WIARA state meet. 

Coach Olson said the team awarded top performers in lieu of most valuable athletes because of the value of all members of the team.

“We do not have what you’d call an MVP on our team,” he said. “The reason is you can’t score team points with only one person. We believe every athlete is just as important as the other — and that goes all the way from the junior high up to the varsity rank.”

Durkee took home most improved honors in boys’ snowboarding while Rhinelander freshman Michael Brunette and Northland Pines senior Eliana Conrad earned the awards in boys’ and girls’ skiing. 

Durkee had the top overall finish for the Hodag snowboarders at state, placing eighth overall. Brunette was able to crack the varsity lineup at state, competing in the giant slalom for the Hodags and Conrad finished 95th at the state meet. 

“This is probably what I consider the most important award that you can win,” coach Olson noted. “We keep track of, not only on the black and white side, whether you finished much higher, but whether you have improved in the weight room, in attitude, in fitness. A number of different things go into most improved.”

Rhinelander/Northland Pines honored its five captains for the season — Jason Linn, Ben Olson, Callie Hoerchler, Sarkauskas and Conrad — and handed out a few other awards on Sunday. 

Hoerchler and Dumar, who have had injury-plagued careers, received the “Pushing the Limits” award. Northland Pines freshman Eli Repenshek won the transformer award and the team honored Durkee, Ben Olson, Jason Linn, Aila Bergman, and Holden Schmitz for their practice habits with the Most Turns per Run Award. 

The Hodags won the Northern Conference title in boys’ snowboarding this year while finishing as the conference runners-up in both boys’ and girls’ skiing. The Hodags were third in Division 2, and 11th overall, in boys’ skiing at the WIARA state meet while the Hodag girls were fifth in D2 and 19th overall. The Hodags finished sixth in boys’ snowboarding team standings at state. 

“We had a really good year. And I don’t mean that just by performances and trophies and medals and things like that, coach Olson said. “We had an excellent year, one of my funnest years and coach Greg would agree also. We had a really good team atmosphere.” 

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].