Hodag Alpine takes second in Northern Conference

NOTE: Snowboarding results were received by the River News Sunday following press time for the print edition of the paper. The Rhinelander/Northland Pines boys won Saturday meet and the Northern Conference championship with Marshal Durkee winning the individual conference title. Sydney Sarkauskas won the individual girls' conference title. A follow-up story on the snowboarders will be published in the Friday, Feb. 11 edition of the River News. 

IRON RIVER, Mich. —The Rhinelander/Northland Pines Alpine Ski team wrapped up a solid Northern Conference season on Saturday. 

The Hodag girls, taking advantage of a short-handed Wausau squad, won the Northern Conference finale at Ski Brule while the Hodag boys edged Ashwabay for the runner-up spot.

The battle between the Hodag and Ashwabay boys also determined second place in the final conference standings, with it coming down to the final event to decide the winner of the battle. The Hodag girls, thanks to their win, locked up second overall in the conference as well. 

“The boys knew that they were in contention and for the second place, and I think they did a good job of holding it together balancing aggression with standing up,” coach Rod Olson said. “The girls’ ski team did real well. They had a real good race today. We had some sicknesses (with) Wausau and I think we they had a real good day.”

Dead even in the team standings through the first four meets of the season, and trailing Ashwabay by there points on the day going into slalom, the Hodag boys were able to put together enough clean runs to beat Ashwabay by 19 points in the event to lock up second place. 

“I think they won Super G and we won GS, you know, against each other. So it was down to this race, so it was exciting,” coach Olson said. “Not what the coach wants, but the crowd loves it”

Individually, Rhinelander junior Ben Olson took fourth on the day with consistent solid performances. He took third in giant slalom and was fourth in both slalom and Super G. Rhinelander freshman Wyler Koput was ninth on the day. He bounced back from a 16th-place finish in Super G to take fifth in GS and ninth in slalom. 

Jason Linn was 10th overall for the squad, followed by Eli Repenshek in 13th, Holden Schmitz in 16th, Henry Schmitz in 34th and Robert Guolee in 35th.

    Rhinelander’s Callie Hoerchler crosses the finish line in the giant slalom portion of a Northern Conference Alpine ski meet at Ski Brule in Iron River, Mich. Saturday, Feb. 8. Hoerchler finished seventh on the day and 10th in the overall Northern Conference standings. (Jeremy Mayo/River News)
  

The Hodag girls took advantage of some Wausau absences as they placed five skiers in the top 12 on the day, led by Northland Pines freshman Jessica Linn in sixth place. She placed in the top eight in all three races on Saturday, highlighted by a fifth-place run in giant slalom. 

Rhinelander senior Callie Hoerchler finished right behind Linn in seventh place. Not only did Hoerchler avoid a significant arm injury following a crash in the previous race at Ashwabay, she was in the top eight in every run Saturday, highlighted by a sixth-place showing in GS. 

Coach Olson said the biggest reward of the season is getting Hoerchler, who has been plagued by injuries the last two seasons, to the state meet in La Crosse. 

“I think the theme of the season was really getting Callie to the state meet,” he said. “She’s been injured every year … You know, she tries hard, and she’s just such a good kid, so I’m glad that she’s able to compete for the whole year.”

Lyndsey Hoerchler, Callie’s younger sister, was ninth on the day followed by Aila Bergman in 11th, Eliana Conrad in 12th, Lucy Eddy in 22nd and Karlie Yunkers in 23rd. 

All-Conference awards

The Hodags had several athletes make the top 10 and earn all-conference recognition either in the combined standings or in an individual event. 

    Rhinelander’s Wyler Koput competes in the giant slalom portion of a Northern Conference Alpine ski meet at Ski Brule in Iron River, Mich. Saturday, Feb. 8. (Jeremy Mayo/River News)
  

Ben Olson finished fourth overall in the boys’ standings while Jason Linn claimed the 10th and final all-conference spot, edging out Koput in a tiebreaker. On the girls’ side, Jessica Linn was seventh in the final standings while Callie Hoerchler placed 10th.

Ben Olson earned all-conference recognition in all three individual events, with the third-best point total in giant slalom, the fourth-best in slalom and the fourth-best in Super G. Jason Linn took seventh in the slalom standings while Koput was 10th in both giant slalom and Super G. 

On the girls’ side, Jessica Linn was sixth in giant slalom, seventh in slalom and eighth in Super G. Callie Hoerchler was ninth in GS and 10th in Super G. 

Additionally, Rhinelander High School finished second in the girls’ school cup and third in the boys’ school cup — which factors in scores from each school individually as opposed to the co-ops that mainly comprise the Northern Conference.

State ahead

By virtue of the team’s placement in the Northern Conference, the boys’ ski, girls ski and snowboard teams all qualified for the WIARA State Meet in La Crosse this weekend. 

The Hodags traveled to Mt. La Crosse last Monday for a scrimmage and coach Olson said the training went well. 

“The boys skied real well,” coach Olson said, noting that the team has tried to simulate Mt. La Crosse’s steep headwall as well as it can in practice. “We went on something that we could find that was similar to La Crosse, so the guys could get in the air to land and then make a turn. We really focused on that and it really showed up. We really were tons more confident and our training there was really good. 

“We have some young girls. We’ve only got two years of experience on the girls’ team and there were things. They were making some of the same mistakes with some of the sets and some of the tricky things they do with the gates, but the girls really learned a lot.” 

 The snowboarding portion of the competition takes place on Saturday with the skiing portion on Sunday and Monday.

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].