Weather halts Hodags in home invite

The Rhinelander High School track team hoped to show off in front of the home fans Thursday night in its final tuneup prior to championship season. Mother Nature had other plans, but not before the Hodags at least turned in some highlights. 

Rhinelander was leading the standings in both the boys’ and girls’ divisions of the Hodag Invitational at Mike Webster Stadium when the meet was suspended, and eventually called, due to thunderstorms.

With bad weather in the forecast, the officials moved the start time to 3:30 p.m. with field and running events starting simultaneously. That allowed most of the field events to be completed and the runners to get through the 400-meter dash before lightning was spotted to the west just before 5:40 p.m., ultimately ending the night’s festivities. 

Mother Nature hasn’t been kind to the Hodags the last few of years for home meets. The team’s early-season Hodag Hybrid meet was canceled in 2023, and again this spring, due to cold conditions. Thursday marked the second time the team’s late-season meet has been impacted by weather in the last four years. The event was canceled completely in 2022 when a pop-up thunderstorm rolled through right as the meet was scheduled to begin.

“It is something that we’ve been dealing with the last couple of years, and it’s sad, because our athletes work really hard to hone their craft and to show off to their community. And sometimes they don’t get the opportunity to do that,” Hodag boys’ coach Aaron Kraemer said. “We saw a lot of good things tonight, too, before everything got shut down.”

Hodag girls’ coach Andy Wyss said he didn’t play his lineup differently, despite the threat of storms and a strong southerly breeze was right in the face of those running the 100-meter dash and the 100/110 hurdles. While he would have liked to have gotten the whole meet in, Wyss said his team got enough of a competitive workout in to be ready for this afternoon’s Great Northern Conference meet in Mosinee. 

“In all honesty, you know, when we’re getting this close to conference, if the kids got out there — and I think nearly all of them got something in, in a meet-like setting where they had to do a full warm-up and they got up to full speed and they had to compete even if they did half of their events — hopefully they got something in where it’s fine-tuning us up a little bit for the next couple meets here,” he said.

There were several highlights for the team before the storms came. On the boys’ side, junior Ayden Myers continued to establish himself as a contender for the GNC title in pole vault as he won that event with a vault of 13 feet. 

“And 13 feet, is no joke. We haven’t had a guy, like I said, at 13 feet since probably Vince Berry,” Kraemer said of the Hodag who set the GNC pole vault record at 14 feet in 2013. “So that’s huge. I’m really proud of Ayden, and I’m really happy he’s out and I’m really happy that he’s having a great season and finally getting healthy, doing his thing and showing what he can do.”

    Rhinelander’s Bo Stott prepares to throw the discus during the Hodag Invitational track meet at Mike Webster Stadium Thursday, May 15. (Weston Kibler for the River News)
  

The Hodag boys had another strong day in the throws. Logan Schwinger, Bo Stott, Reid Schultz and David Houg went 1-3-4-5 in the shot put, with Schwinger’s throw of 46-11 winning the event. 

Schwinger also had the second-best throw in the discus (126-6), before that event was cut short due to weather. 

“All four of those guys in the top flight came out with something to prove at home and they did a nice job. Not a bunch of PRs, but at the same time, it’s winning meets and trying the best they can to score points for their team, and they’re doing that,” Kraemer said. “I think a tough thing for them was that things felt a little bit rushed. You know, they we’re trying to get everything in. But for the most part, I think they did a great job.”

The Hodag boys won the 4x800 with their top quartet of Shawn Denis, Jackson Weinzatl, Greyson Gremban and Avrom Barr (8:51.03). Myles Eagleson (38-11 1/2) and Landon Catlin (38-6 1/2) went 1-2 in the triple jump and Eagleson was second in the long jump (19-9). 

Amos Bergman (18.85) and Ryley Hull (19.19) went 2-3 in the 100 hurdles. Ben Olson  (12.13) and Sam Zwaard (12.33) were second and fifth, respectively, in the 100 and the Hodags added a fifth-place finish with their B entry in the 4x800 of Dean Gillingham, Konner Bex, Wyatt Crowell and Jonathan Campbell (9:47.07).

In the girls’ side, the Hodags finished 1-2-4 in the 100 hurdles with Aila Bergman (16.68), Averie West (18.04) and Eva Heck (20.64). Violet Biolo added a win in the 100 (13.62). Libbey Buchmann won the discus (112-5) and was leading the shot put with a toss of 34-3 1/2 when that event was called. 

It was also a good day in the jumps for the Hodag girls. Freshman Addison Fish finished second in the long jump (14-1 1/2) and third in the triple jump (29-6 1/2). Freshman Mady Treder added a runner-up finish in the triple jump (29-7) and senior Callie Hoerchler was third for this in the high jump (4-6).

“I think from our, some of our younger jumpers up to our to be regional entries, I think everybody in this last couple of weeks have really started to put it together, especially somebody like Addison,” Wyss said. “That was kind of some ups and downs and then kind of once we got to Tomahawk, like, it just clicked with her. We put it together.”

In addition to serving as a final dress rehearsal for conference, the meet was also an opportunity for several athletes to compete in different events, possibly for the final time this season. 

“We want kids to be able to do things that they want to try and that they want to show off,” Kraemer said. “I think we were able to accomplish that for the most part. Obviously, I think if it weren’t for one crack of thunder, we probably would have gotten about an hour or more of the meet in. But we got what we could in, and we’re at least thankful to have that home meet and give the kids the opportunity.”

After today’s conference meet, the Hodags will have one more regular season meet —Thursday’s Dale Peterson Invite in Antigo — before hosting a WIAA Division 2 regional at Mike Webster Stadium the day after Memorial Day.

Kraemer said he’s hopeful that the weather gods will finally smile on the Hodags when they host that meet. 

“The thankful thing is that they have a home meet in a few weeks that there’s really no way of getting around it,” he said. “It’s got to get in. Hopefully we have good weather for regionals, and lots of good times and distances.”  

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].