Hodag girls win Otto Bacher

MERRILL — The Rhinelander High School girls’ track team is hoping to do something it has never done before and could potentially set the stage for the team to achieve something else it has never accomplished.

The Hodags won six events Friday night and walked away with the championship at the 38th annual Otto Bacher Invitational in Merrill.

It’s the first time the Hodag girls have won the early-May meet that brings out some of the best programs in the Northwoods. All seven Great Northern Conference schools were there in some capacity on Friday. 

Rhinelander edged defending GNC champion Tomahawk by 18 1/2 points Friday night, as it hopes to set the stage at a run at the first girls’ track conference title in program history one week from today in Mosinee. 

“I think it’s a pretty big deal for these girls,” Hodag girls’ coach Andy Wyss said. “I’m very happy for them. We were able to do a lot of things in a lot of different events and put together a pretty well-rounded lineup. It was good to see.”

Junior Aila Bergman nearly had a perfect day, scoring 38 out of a possible 40 points in her events. That included a new school record as she won one of her signature events, the 300-meter hurdles. Bergman dusted the field and put down a time of 46.28 seconds. That was 0.42 seconds faster than her previous school mark, set last year at sectionals when she missed qualifying for the WIAA Division 2 state meet in the event by 0.02 seconds. 

Bergman added a win in the 100 hurdles (16.31), was runner-up in the long jump (16 feet, 2 1/4 inches) and ran the leadoff leg of the Hodags’ victorious 4x400 relay with Violet Biolo, Lucy Eddy and Macy Myers (4:18.20).

“Our hurdlers really took advantage of this meet, all across the board. Aila was no exception, did really well in the 100s and then came back in her 300,” Wyss said. “Really glad to see that out of her at this time at this meet. I think that it’s going to set the stage for the postseason really well.”

Myers added another victory in the pole vault (10-6) as part of a grueling program for her during the second half of the meet. After clearing a preliminary height in the pole vault, she checked out of that event to run the 800 meters, where she placed second (2:27.94). Following a brief breather, she was back in the pole vault pit where she outdueled a trio of vaulters who bowed out at 10 feet. Myers then cleared 10-6 before missing on three attempts at 11 feet and a new school record. 

She wrapped up pole vault just in time to head to the opposite end of the field and prepared to run the anchor leg of the 4x400.

“We pushed her limits today for sure,” Wyss said. “At some point you’re like she’s got a break right? She can’t keep up this pace and keep doing all these things and then somehow she finds a way to do it. You know, she kind of joked like, ‘Oh I’m pretty tired. I’ll probably split a 1:07 here in this 4x4.’ And then she came back and ran a 1:02. What she’s capable of, we haven’t found the limit yet.”

The Hodags had a strong day in the throwing events. Junior Libbey Buchmann claimed the discus (120-8) and led a 1-2-4 finish for the Hodags in the shot put. Buchmann’s mark of 33-9 1/4 bested teammate Jalyn Zadnik (32-2) while freshman Tatiana Vadis came home fourth (29-7).

“I was so thrilled to see what those girls were able to put down over there, to go 1-2-4 and this meet. We know what Libbey’s capable of. She’s our top thrower for sure, but to see those younger girls, Tatiana and Jalyn like step up like that, and know, both of them are over 30 and climbing higher,” Wyss said. “That’s what I was probably most excited about when I saw those results come in. They’ve been putting a lot of work in over there and it’s really paying off.”

Rhinelander fared well in the sprints. Biolo came home second in the 100 meters (13.32) and was third in the 200 (27.65). Shyanne Hueckstaedt also made the finals in the 100, finishing seventh (13.78). Eddy added a fourth-place run in the 400 (1:03.16) and the Hodags were third in the 4x200 relay with Reese Gehrig, Addison Fish, Teagan Turcotte and Karly Gillingham. 

Senior Callie Hoerchler, who missed last season due to a knee injury, came home with a third-place finish in the high jump, clearing 4-8 for the first time in her career. 

“I know that she has been fighting long injuries for a long period of time,” Wyss said. “For some of these (results), it’s like, I’m excited for our team and what they add to our team. But that one, I was just excited for Callie. It was so good to see her back up there, jumping the best that she has at this point. That was just great to see.”

Averie West added a fourth-place run for the Hodags in the 100 hurdles. Brynn Teter was fifth in the 1,600 and fifth as part of the 4x800 relay with Kara Monk, Gretchen Fiebke and Luna Grage. 

Rhinelander outpaced Tomahawk 144-125.5 for the team title with Wausau Newman a distant third at 81 points. While encouraging, Wyss said he expects next Tuesday’s conference meet to be a dogfight between a number of teams, including Lakeland, which fielded only a handful of entries in Friday’s meet. 

“That’s something that kind of looms in the back of your head where, yeah, we did great but how are things going shake out when you add in another team of competitors,” Wyss said. “We’re just going to keep doing the work we know how to do and run to the best of our ability.”

Rhinelander will have two more dress rehearsals prior to conference, beginning with the Hatchet Invite this afternoon in Tomahawk followed by the Hodag Invite Thursday at Mike Webster Stadium. 

“Tuesday will be a good opportunity to get maybe them a down meet whether maybe doing one event, or maybe even no events, and get that next level an opportunity,” Wyss said. “Thursday we’re hoping to kind of give everybody a shot. We are at a home meet in front of the home crowd so kind of those final preparations for conference.”

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].