Dome’s collapse, return top local sports story of ‘25

It would be one thing to say that March 30, 2025 started out like any other day but, in the Northwoods, that was not the case. 

Things were already off to a rocky start as an ice storm was pelting the Northwoods. Not only did it leave tens of thousands without power, it set forth a change of events that dealt a temporary, yet significant blow to the Rhinelander community. 

With the main power out, and a back up generator failing to deploy, the Hodag Dome was losing air and, eventually, the membrane was breached. 

Over the next two months local sports teams adjusted, the School District of Rhinelander worked quickly with insurance and the dome’s manufacturer and, by the time “Pomp and Circumstance” played for the Rhinelander High School Class of 2025, the dome was back. 

The deflation of the Hodag Dome, its aftermath and reopening, is our top local sports story of 2025, by a landslide.

By mid-morning on March 30, the damage to the dome was evident as a large tear was present on the west side of the 128,000-square-foot facility, among with other small tears in the membrane. The dome, erected in 2020, was allowed to manually deflate in an effort to mitigate any further damage. 

In addition to community events, all six of Rhinelander High School’s WIAA-sanctioned spring sports were using the facility for practices and/or games prior to the spring thaw. A number of those teams had equipment trapped inside the dome.

“I’m going through my garage. I have a lot of parents who have volunteered to drop off balls that they have. We’re just trying to figure out how to make things work,” RHS softball coach Ali Bender said after the majority of the team’s gear was trapped in the dome. 

Once the damage was assessed and insurance approved, work to repair the dome took place relatively quickly. Holes in the membrane were patched, lighting was replaced and, by Memorial Day weekend, the dome was fully inflated again. Its first public event after the incident was Sunday, June 1 as it hosted RHS graduation.

“The fact that we’re up in two months, we’re able to have graduation is that was always a goal. Let’s get it up by graduation. And we did. So, we’re very thankful,” SDR superintendent Eric Burke said. “It sure is a celebration, and we’re going to talk about all the greatness of this class today — all the fantastic kids, athletics, activities and academics. But the dome is a big part of this community, and two months ago, it went down. It impacted our community, and we had to figure out a way to get it back up and it truly was a team effort.” 

Here’s a look at the other top sports stories of the season:

2. Hodag track on top of GNC

    In this May 22, 2205 file photo, the Rhinelander High School boys’ and girls’ track teams pose with their respective Great Northern Conference championships in Mosinee. It marked the first girls’ conference championship in program history, the third in the last seven years for the Hodag boys and the first time since 2021 that a school won both the boys’ and girls’ conference titles in track and field. (Jeremy Mayo/River News)
  

The Rhinelander High School boys’ track team had been resurgent in the Great Northern Conference for several seasons. While the Hodag girls’ track team had some individual successes in that span, it couldn’t match the team success of its boys’ counterparts — until this year. 

Both the Hodag boys’ and girls’ reached the top of the GNC this year, the first time that’s happened since 2021 when Mosinee accomplished the feat. For the Rhinelander boys, it was the third conference title in seven years. For the Hodag girls, it was the programs first ever conference title. 

It was an incredible year for the Hodags, and it started in the offseason, when coach Aaron Kraemer brought on former Three Lakes and Marshfield Columbus coaches Andy and Jayme Wyss. 

“I felt a little pressure coming into this thing because I knew that what was already laid was a great foundation that we needed to grow even better,” Andy Wyss, who took over as the girls’ team head coach, said during the program’s year-end banquet. 

The boys had plenty of success, edging Medford for nine points for the GNC title, having the conference runner of the year in senior Greyson Gremban — who swept the 800, 1,600 and 3,200 meters at conference. The boys followed that up by winning the WIAA D2 regional title by 12 points over Hayward, sending 12 entries to seconds and one, senior Truman Lamers in the high jump, to state. 

But the success of the Hodag boys was matched, if not surpassed, by the Hodag girls. They won eight events and conference — including three in record fashion to take the title by 31 points over Lakeland. Libbey Buchmann set one of those records as she was named GNC field athlete of the year. 

Broken records were a theme all season for the Hodag girls. The pole vault record was broken six times during the course of the year, eventually landing at 11-3 with Macy Myers. She went on to finish eighth at state with a vault of 11 feet. 

Hurdler Aila Bergman, who finished fourth in the 300-meter hurdlers at state with a school-record time of 44.79 seconds. She was the highest placing of the Hodag girls’ five state qualifying entries. 

The Hodags also broke school records in the 4x100, 4x200 and 4x400-meter relays at sectionals, qualifying for state in all of those events. 

3. Hodag Hoops repeats as conference champs

    In this Feb. 27, 2025 file photo, the Rhinelander High School boys’ basketball team poses with the Great Northern Conference championship trophy after defeating Medford 51-43 in Medford. Pictured, from left to right, are head coach Derek Lemmens, Greyson Gremban, Dominic Lehmann, Jackson Weinzatl, Rowan Wizcek coach Kurt Zalewski, Abe Gretzinger, Seth Nofftz, Evan Shoeder, Jaryn Barkus, Caden Sieker, Devon Feck, Truman Lamers, Dylan Hopfensperger, Myles Eagleson, Hayden Schommer, coach Chad Bolkema, coach Nick Karaba and coach Brandon Karaba. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

For the second straight year, the Rhinelander High School boys’ basketball team authored a late-season run that lead to a dramatic finish in the Great Northern Conference, and another conference championship trophy in the trophy case. 

After a 72-64 loss at Antigo, the Hodags found themselves at 6-2 in the GNC, staring up at Medford and Mosinee and needing an Aaron Rodgers-esque “run the table” finish to earn a conference repeat. 

Wins over Tomahawk and Lakeland gave Rhinelander a chance, and then withstood a late rally from Mosinee to win 64-61 and set up a winner-take-all championship game at Medford Feb. 27.

Rhinelander led that contest nearly wire-to-wire and relied on defense down the stretch. Though the Hodags went nearly eight minutes between field goals in the second half, a 13-point lead never shrunk below five as Rhinelander prevailed 51-43 to claim the conference title. 

“It’s a great feeling. Toward the start of the second half of this conference, we kind of stumbled a little bit and I think the way that they responded to that adversity and that stumble is the reason that we are what we are able to be right now,” Hodag coach Derek Lemmens said. “They finished strong because they realized, you know, we can’t just go out and win. We’ve got to fight and they’ve established that fighter mentality.”

4. Peewee As win state title

    In this March 9, 2025 file photo, the Rhinelander Ice Association’s Peewee A hockey team poses with the WAHA Class 3A championship trophy and banner after defeating Somerset 3-2 in overtime in Waupun. Pictured in the front row are Quinn Burton, left, and Owen Wallerman, right. In the second row, from left to right, and Nick Schneider, Sawyer Peters, Cason Burnis and Hugh Anunson. In the back row are coach Chris Burnis, coach Ryan Gartmann, Collin Jorata, Jacob Baumann, Teagan Drake, Gage Chavez, Easton Ostrom, Ben Gehrmann, Max Cahee, head coach Randy Ostrom and coach Dan Baumann. (Jeremy Mayo/River News)
  

Also on our list of top games of the year, the Rhinelander Ice Association’s run to the WAHA 3A state championship provides hope for the future for Hodag hockey.

Rhinelander went 27-15-2 at the Peewee (12U) A level last year, capped off by a thrilling 3-2 overtime victory over Somerset in the state championship game in Waupun. 

“We literally talked about this in my preseason team meeting with the kids,” coach Randy Ostrom said after the Hodags won the state title. “We had a whole session where we sat down and we went through an entire PowerPoint of our goals for the year, and one of them was a picture where all the banners are right now with the blank spot up there, and I circled it and I put a big thing right there that said this could be you.”

It was Ostrom’s son, Easton, who scored the championship-winning goal for the Hodags — throwing a puck from behind the net off a Somerset defender’s legs and into the goal less than 90 seconds into the extra session. 

5. Little League All-Stars go to state

    In this July 15, 2025 file photo, the Rhinelander Little League’s 12U All-Star team poses with its District 5 championship banner following Tuesday’s game. In the front row, from left to right, are Blake Sundby, Kolt Taylor, Griffin Rady, Jaxon Eades, Rylan Pasanen, Cooper Clark, Jeter Vander Galien and Mason Paulson. In the back row are coach Kevin Eades, Will Sundby, Easton Sieker, Eli Bauer, Nick Schneider and manager Josh Clark. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

Perhaps the most emotional story on our list checks in at No. 5 where a group of 11- and 12-year-old boys overcame an unthinkable tragedy to make it back to the Wisconsin Little League state tournament in honor of their coach. 

That was the case for Rhinelander’s 12U All-Stars, who downed Wausau American 3-1 in a winner-take-all championship game to reach the state tournament. 

Dan Bauer, who led many of the same kids to the 10U state championship series two years prior, passed away unexpectedly in November 2024, leaving it up to his players to fulfill the destiny he had set out for them to make it back to state. 

On that team was Eli Bauer, Dan Bauer’s second-oldest son. He played a significant role in the District championship game. Eli Bauer scored the tying run in the fifth-inning of that game and struck out five in a complete game-effort to help move the Hodags to state.

“We thought of him, the entire team did, throughout the whole tournament, and there’s stuff where plays that happen, I can literally hear him yelling something or his big smile after the game here and all that stuff,” coach Josh Clark said. “It’s obviously a very tough situation, and this is still his team, and his son is a stud in the reason that we’ve won a lot of games.”

Rhinelander went on to drop all three of its games at state. 

6. The beat goes on for Hodag swim, boys’ tennis

Success for the Rhinelander High School swim and tennis teams have been a constant for the better part of a decade, and that continued to be the case in 2025 with Great Northern Conference titles for the Hodags in boys’ swimming, boys’ tennis and girls’ swimming. 

In boys’ tennis, the Hodags achieved a significant milestone this spring, winning their 11th consecutive Great Northern Conference title. That matches Mosinee softball (2009-2019) for the most consecutive titles for a team in a single sport in conference history. The Hodags went 4-0 in conference duals and then beat Lakeland 34-30 in the conference tournament to win the title by 14 points overall. 

“There was kind of a buzz around, you know, we’re going for 11 conference titles in a row,” coach Matt Nichols said. “And that, you know, created a very driven atmosphere, and I think it around that goal, you really connected the team together.”

The Hodag boys’ swim team won its seventh straight conference title last winter and followed that up its seventh straight sectional title and another runner-up finish at the WIAA Division 2 state meet. Rhinelander, with a senior-heavy squad, edged Whitefish Bay by 12 points for the silver trophy. Rhinelander took second in the 200 freestyle relay and fourth in both the 200 medley and 400 freestyle relays. 

Matthias Fugle was third in the 100 freestyle and fourth in the 50 freestyle, Dolan O’Malley took fourth in the 100 backstroke and sixth in the 200 individual medley and Samson Shinners was sixth in the 200 freestyle. 

On the girls’ side, despite graduating podium finishers Lily Thorsen and Ellyse Younker from the 2024 state meet and seeing two-time defending 200 IM state champion Celia Francis transfer out of state, the Hodags put together another strong season. Like the boys, the Hodags made it seven straight titles at conference and sectionals this year and, despite the losses, managed to match their third-place team finish from the 2024 state meet. 

Vivian Lamers was the runner-up in the 100 freestyle and took fourth in the 50 freestyle, Ella Heck was third in the 100 breaststroke and Millie Gruett took fifth in the 100 butterfly. The Hodags were second in the 200 medley relay, third in the 400 freestyle relay and fourth in the 200 freestyle relay.

After the boys’ state swim meet, coach Jenny Heck reflected for a moment about the strong run the Hodags have had at the state level since 2019.

“I hope it really inspires the younger people and club swimmers and younger kids to keep swimming hard and shooting high because, you know, people didn’t know about Rhinelander a few years ago in the swimming world. Now we we’re kind of expected to be here,” she said. 

7. Big events putting Hodag BMX on the map

    In this Sept. 7, 2025 file photo, Rhinelander’s Eddie Bauer catches air on a jump during the Wisconsin BMX State Championships at Hodag BMX in Rhinelander. Hodag BMX has been selected to host the 2026 USA BMX North Central Regional championship. (Kate Reichl/Lakeland Times)
  

The Hodag BMX Club celebrated 25 years in 2024 and followed that up in 2025 by hosting arguably the biggest event in the track’s history to date when it staged the Wisconsin BMX State Championships. The event attracted hundreds of riders and showcased the track, situated inside Rhinelander’s West Side Park to a large audience. 

“It was a phenomenal event,” track operator Robbie Deede said. “We had collectively, throughout the course of the weekend, over 500 entries. We had our big state championship race on Sunday — approximately 300 participants that day alone. And we saw riders all over the Midwest. We, obviously, had a large contingency from Wisconsin, but it wasn’t just limited to that. We had riders from Michigan, Minnesota, Illinois. We even had riders from as far as Maryland in attendance to race our state final.”

Individually, the club fared well, claiming championships in 12 different classes. 

On the heels of hosting state, the club learned it will host an even bigger event in 2026 when it plays host to the USABMX Gold Cup North Central Regional Championship. Sept. 11-13. The event, which will bring in riders from Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Michigan, Iowa, North Dakota, Nebraska, South Dakota and Wisconsin, is expected to draw well in excess of 500 riders to the Northwoods. 

“This is this was the goal, man. This is where this is where we wanted to be, and now the next step is put on one of the best Gold Cup finals that we possibly can and then look to become a standing national-caliber site that USABMX visits routinely,” Deede said.

8. RHS establishes girls’ golf team

    In this Aug. 12, 2025 file photo, members of the Rhinelander High School girls’ golf team meet with coach Adam Schmidt prior to the start of the team's first practice at Northwood Golf Club. (Jeremy Mayo/River News)
  

For only the second time in nearly two decades, Rhinelander High School added a WIAA-sanctioned sport to its offerings when it established a girls’ golf team that held its inaugural season in 2025.

After several years of conversation, the program finally got off the ground this fall after a student survey indicated enough interest in the sport this past spring. 

Adam Schmidt, also the head coach of the Hodag boys’ team, was brought in as head coach and the inaugural squad had seven golfers. 

The team played its maiden match Aug. 25 in Wisconsin Rapids and won its first meet Sept. 4 when it bested a pair of varsity reserve squads from Wausau East/West at Northwood Golf Club.

“The growth from the experience of playing was really good. It was nice having the girls. All of them are very polite. It was just a fun time. I really enjoyed coaching them,” Schmidt said. “The girls are just so much (fun). They’re just so relaxed. And they’re just excited to improve, and they did. They improved a lot from the first day.” 

Senior Nevaeh Anderson led the squad this season, with a scoring average of 51.7 strokes per nine holes. She was Rhinelander’s top golfer at regionals, taking 23rd with a round of 99.

“I’ve been trying to do this since I was in sixth grade, so I was really excited to get to be part of this team, and I’m sure all the other seniors on this team are too,” Anderson said when the team had its first practice. “I think we’re all really happy that people actually went through with it and we have enough numbers for a team.”

9. Individual achievements

    In this Nov. 1, 2025 file photo, Rhinelander’s Macy Myers battles Two Rivers’ Allie Gallagher (134) near the two-mile mark of the WIAA Division 2 state girls’ cross country race in Wisconsin Rapids. (Jeremy Mayo/River News)
  

In addition to the state qualifiers mentioned previously, the Hodags had several other individual successes during the course of the year. 

In wrestling, Logan Schwinger qualified for the WIAA state meet following a third-place finish at sectionals. He did not place after going 0-2 in Madison.

The Hodag cross country team sent three athletes to state this year. On the boys’ side juniors Avrom Barr and Jackson Weinzatl both punched their tickets to Wisconsin Rapids. Barr, who also won the Great Northern Conference and WIAA sectional titles, came home 41st at state while Weinzatl, who advanced with a seventh-place finish at sectionals, came home 83rd.

Macy Myers became the first Hodag to qualify for state since Alayna Franson in 2017. She finished 32nd at state, following a fourth-place finish at sectionals.

Myers’ sectional time of 19 minutes, 29.98 seconds established a new school record in the girls’ 5,000 meters. Myers first got the record Oct. 11 at Tomahawk, when she went 19:30.4, eclipsing Franson’s mark of 19:31 set in 2017.

“I definitely didn’t expect to break a record, so that was pretty cool. I didn’t really know the record was that, so that’s fun. Yeah, I’m really happy about that,” Myers said after breaking the record. “I was really surprised, honestly, because this course is flatter and I tend to do better on hills. But I think I really worked on my stride today, and just lengthening that, and that helped me go faster.”

10. Hodag football last team in playoffs

    In this Oct. 17, 2025 file photo Rhinelander’s Cyrus Leisure catches a pass against the coverage of Merrill’s Brody Klebenow on a fourth-and-33 play during the fourth quarter of a GNC football game at Merrill. Despite a loss to the Bluejays in the final week of the regular season, the Hodags were the 32nd and final qualifier in Division 3 for the WIAA football playoffs. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

A new way of determining the field for the WIAA playoffs worked to the benefit of the Rhinelander High School football team which, despite a 3-6 overall record and a 2-5 mark in the GNC, was the last team in the field for the Division 3 tournament. 

In a plan advanced by the Wisconsin Football Coaches Association in late 2024, and ratified by the WIAA going into the season, teams were assigned divisions prior to the season and a computer formula was used to rank and seed the teams.

The Hodags went into the final game of the regular season sitting in the 32nd and final spot in Division 3 and, despite a 27-13 loss at Merrill, held on to the 32nd spot. That’s because the majority of the teams around the cutline lost in Week 9 and Wausau East’s win over Antigo bumped Rhinelander’s strength of victory metric just high enough to keep it in the tournament field.  

Under the old playoff format, Rhinelander 2-5 conference record would have not been good enough to qualify for the postseason, however, the new formula accounted for all games. It rewarded teams who beat larger schools and teams with better overall records.

“Obviously, we wanted to win last night and we wanted to push our seeding up and, you know, maybe get a six seed or a seven seed, but it doesn’t matter. We’re in and we live to fight another day,” Hodag head coach Aaron Kraemer said after the Hodags officially made the tournament.

The Hodags drew Madison Edgewood — the closest of the No. 1 seeds in Division 3, geographically, to Rhinelander — and lost 35-7 in a Level 1 contest. It was the fifth trip to the postseason in the last seven years for the Hodags.

Honorable mentions

A few noteworthy stories fell just outside the top 10. The Rhinelander High School girls’ soccer team earned a share of its first Great Northern Conference title since 2018, splitting the title with Lakeland. Rhinelander defeated Lakeland 1-0 in Minocqua early in the season to give it a leg up in the conference race and had a chance to clinch the title all to itself in the final game of the regular season, but lost 2-0 to the T-Birds at Mike Webster Stadium … Rhinelander gymnastics continues to improve — evidenced by a scored of 125.65 points in its season opener earlier this month, which marked the team’s best performance since 2012. Part of that success can be attributed by the strong club program established by the YMCA of the Northwoods. That club team competed in the YMCA Nationals in Green Bay this past June, finishing 11th of 19 teams in the Platinum division. Alexis Smith, now a junior at RHS, won the national title in vaulting at the event … While not many examples have made it to the Northwoods yet, the evolution of interscholastic sports continued this year as the WIAA membership approved name, image and likeness (NIL) language back in April. The member schools voted down a similar measure in 2024. Locally, Rhinelander, Tomahawk and Lakeland all voted for the proposal — with Rhinelander and Tomahawk flipping their votes from the previous year.

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].