Hodag track second at Ashland Indoor

ASHLAND — With much closer to a full lineup on Tuesday, the Rhinelander High School track team made an early statement in its hopes to fare well both in the Great Northern Conference and in WIAA regional competition. 

Both the Hodag boys and girls finished second in the eight-team Oredocker Large School Indoor Invite in Ashland. Rhinelander was edged by Hayward in both divisions, but saw fellow conference mates Lakeland and Northland Pines at the meet as well as Hayward, Ashland and Northwestern, who all will come to Rhinelander at the end of May for Division 2 regionals.

The results have the team excited for what’s to come later this season. 

“I was very, very pleased with what I saw in the first meet here,” Hodag boys’ coach Aaron Kraemer said. “We knew coming back that we had a strong team. We still have pieces at home that didn’t compete today, so I think as the year goes on, you’re going to see this team get stronger and stronger.”

“I think we’re starting from a good position,” Hodag girls’ coach Andy Wyss added. “For majority of these kids they weren’t around during spring break, so this is their first meet. To set this as kind of our baseline standard, that makes me feel good about how we would fare in conference.”

The Hodag boys won three events on the night. Senior Truman Lamers claimed the high jump, senior Bo Stott took the shot put and sophomore Avrom Barr won the 3,200 meters. 

Shot put proved to be the highlight for Rhinelander as both Stott and fellow senior David Houg posted personal bests to finish 1-2 in the event. Stott threw 43 feet, 11 inches while Houg had a toss of 42-11. Another senior, Reid Schultz, took fourth with a throw of 41-11. Add to those results senior Logan Schwinger, who didn’t compete Tuesday but won the Rapids Indoor the previous Thursday with a toss of 43-11 1/2, and, suddenly, the Hodags have an extremely deep throwers unit. 

“That’s a good feeling when you have a team that can score hopefully in the discus as well. That’s a good feeling to have that group together,” Kraemer said. “David and Bo, I think they’re still leaving a lot of a lot of inches and feet in their technique, so we have a lot to work on with those guys, but to take first and second in their first meet, qualify for indoor state, is good for them.”

Lamers, despite feeling a bit under the weather, cleared 6 feet on his second attempt, tied with Hayward’s Brendan Young. Lamers took fewer jumps to clear 5-6, which proved to determine the final result when neither jumper was able to clear 6-1.

    Rhinelander’s Avrom Barr, left, races Northwestern’s Caden Miller in the 3,200-meter run during the Oredocker Large School Indoor Invite track meet in Ashland Tuesday, March 25. Barr won the event with a time of 11 minutes. 8.90 seconds. (Jeremy Mayo/River News)
  

Barr fended off a late charge from Hayward’s Christian Larson in the 3,200. Larson caught Barr at the top of the home straight, but Barr found another gear over the final 50 meters to win that race by 0.95 seconds, clocking in at 11:08.90. Barr added a runner-up finish in the 1,600 earlier in the night (4:57.90) where, in similar fashion, he edged Northwestern’s Liam Gort to the line by 0.06 seconds.

“He’s a kid you saw him growing cross country. Now you see the confidence blooming in him, and he’s only going to get continue to get better as a sophomore,” Kraemer said. “Really, really proud of him. He’s just a kid that’s always got an infectious and contagious smile and he runs that way. He runs like he’s enjoying it.”

While the Hodag girls did not win any events on Tuesday, they came home with four runner-up finishes. The school record in the pole vault fell for the second meet in a row. Sophomore Macy Myers cleared 9-6 to take the crown that had been grabbed five days earlier by fellow sophomore Emeline Hintz with a 9-3 vault in Wisconsin Rapids. Hintz cleared 9 feet Tuesday, tying for third in the event. 

“It went up another three inches today. It’s on the move, and I don’t expect it to be up there long again,” Wyss said. “It’s going to be fun watching it and following it all season. It’s going to be good to watch that battle.”

Junior Aila Bergman, a returning state qualifier in the 100 meter hurdles, finished second in both hurdling events Tuesday to Hayward’s Brianna Hexum. Bergman went 10.06 seconds in the 60 and 30.57 in the 200.

“She comes she’s coming to practice with a very focused attitude,” Wyss said. “She wants to do very well at the hurdles, and so she’s been coming in with that mindset and, kind of first crack at it this season, I think she’s probably chomping at the bit to give back out there again, but I think it’s starting in a good place.”

    Rhinelander’s Gretchen Fiebke runs in the 4x800-meter relay during the Oredocker Large School Indoor Invite track meet in Ashland Tuesday, March 25. The Hodag finished second in the event, one of four runner-up finish for the team as it took second overall. (Jeremy Mayo/River News)
  

Rhinelander also took second in the girls’ 4x800 with the quartet of senior Brynn Teter, freshman Gretchen Fiebke, sophomore Macy Myers and sophomore Kara Monk. 

Landon Catlin added a runner-up finish for the Hodag boys in the triple jump (38-6) while the Hodags took seven in the 4x200 with freshman Matthew Haselton and juniors Sam Zwaard, Ben Olson and Myles Eagleson. 

“Triple jump today with the with Landon Catlin, you talk about a kid who’s been working hard and that cares a lot and that wants to improve,” Kraemer noted. “Over a foot improvement for him, two feet improvement for him from last year to start this meet … The goal is 40 feet by the end of the season, and I think that he can do that.”

Sophomores Ryley Hull and Amos Bergman went 3-4 for the Hodags in the 200 hurdles, Olson was fifth in the 60 meters, freshman Paul Denis was fifth in the pole vault and the Hodags took fourth in the 4x400 relay with Shawn Denis, Eric Kelly, Colton Spaulding and Sebastian Lieder-St. Peter. 

The Hodag girls garnered third-place finishes in the 4x200 and 4x400. Violet Biolo, Lexi Bishop, Reese Gehrig and Callie Hoerchler made up the quartet in the 4x200 while it was freshmen Ellie Cummings, Fiebke and Madelynn Treder with sophomore Lucy Eddy in the 4x400.

    Rhinelander’s Lexi Bishop competes in the 200-meter dash during the Oredocker Large School Indoor Invite track meet in Ashland Tuesday, March 25. Bishop finished fourth in the race and was part of a runner-up effort in the 4x200 relay. (Jeremy Mayo/River News)
  

Cummings took fourth in the triple jump, Bishop was fourth in the 200 and junior Jalyn Zadnik took fourth in her debut in the shot put. 

Biolo took fifth for the Hodags in the 60, freshman Addison Fish was fifth in the triple jump and sophomore Olivia Ruetz came home fifth in the 400.

“I had three girl triple jumpers that had never triple jumped before, and did it for the first time in practice yesterday. They all did really well, and they scored some points for us,” Wyss noted. “It really makes me excited. If this is our baseline, if this is where we’re starting, it makes me excited for the rest of the season.”

On the boys’ side, Lakeland and Northland Pines — last year’s GNC co-champions — finished fifth and sixth, respectively. Lakeland was fourth on the girls’ side while Northland Pines took eighth. Kraemer cautioned not to put too much stock into those results, however, noting that both teams were missing athletes due to spring break. 

“Obviously they’re defending champs, so we’re chasing them down, and the goal is to win. I think it was nice to see both of those teams and where we stack up, but again, we’ll see a lot more when we go outdoors,” he said.

The Hodags will return to action next Thursday at the Northland Pines Indoor Invite. 

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].