Hodag Alpine takes second in season debut

The Rhinelander/Northland Pines Alpine Ski team turned in a solid debut Tuesday, finishing second in both the boys’ and girls’ divisions in the Northern Conference opener at Christie Mountain in Bruce.

The Hodags didn’t have enough top-end speed to catch the Wausau co-op in either division but showcased plenty of depth, placing seven skiers in the top 17 on the girls side and seven in the top 19 on the boys’ side. 

“There was a lot of learning going on,” Hodag coach Rod Olson said. “The courses that were set were challenging — just between the course and the way the mountain is. There were a lot of things for the athletes to learn. The snow was awesome. It was probably the best snow we’ve ever seen for a race.”

Northland Pines senior Jason Linn led the Hodag boys’ squad with a solid day, placing in the top 10 in all three runs as he finished eighth overall. Rhinelander freshman Wyler Koput took ninth in his debut, which included an eighth-place run in slalom. Rhinelander junior Ben Olson had the top two individual races for the Hodags, taking third in Super G and fourth in slalom, but a bobble in giant slalom relegated him to 27th in that race and 10th overall on the day. 

Holden Schmitz was 13th overall for Rhinelander, Henry Schmitz took 16th, Eli Repenshek was 18th and Robert Guolee was 19th.

“Ben had one bobble and we had a couple of other glitches. We still did pretty well,” coach Olson said. “I think Super G was probably about the best event team-wise. Most of the boys did pretty well, about where I thought they would perform it. I do think that we can jump up a few places on each athlete though.”

Northland Pines freshman Jessica Linn finished seventh in her varsity debut on Tuesday. She was sixth in giant slalom, seventh in slalom and eighth in Super G. Rhinelander senior Callie Hoerchler was 10th on the day in her first race in nearly two years. She missed the 2024 season for the Hodags due to a knee injury. 

“Callie had a couple of bobbles coming back from knee surgery, but I think she was pretty happy with how her day went,” coach Olson said. “Jessica Linn still has got a lot to learn, but she had a good day for a freshman.”

Lyndsey Hoerchler finished 12th, leading a string of Hodags. Northland Pines senior Eliana Conrad, the team’s top returning skier in the conference standings from last year, was 13th. Aila Bergman finished 14th, Karlie Younkers was 16th and Lucy Eddy finished 17th. 

“Our girls, I was real impressed by them. All of them did well. They were very competitive,” coach Olson said. “You know their skill development still needs to come up quite a bit, but I think that they are really interested in it and they’re really in tune with what’s going on with each other’s performances, and ski within their own technical ability. I think it went well for a majority of them.”

Despite a warm spell that hindered training over the Christmas break a bit, coach Olson said the benefit being able to be on the snow more often thanks to the weather in December served everyone well in the opener. 

“You could see everybody was ready to race. You know after the first race we usually see a lot of improvement,” he said.

The Northern Conference did not run snowboard races at Christie Mountain. Coach Olson said the entire season for the boarders will be conducted during two meets — Jan. 23 at Snow River and Feb. 8 at Ski Brule. 

The next Northern Conference race takes place this coming Monday at Granite Peak in Rib Mountain.

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].