Barr, Hodag boys claim Medford Invite

MEDFORD — Avrom Barr was the class of the field Thursday afternoon, and several of his Hodag teammates weren’t far behind, as the Rhinelander High School boys’ cross country team won the four-team Medford Invite.

Rhinelander had five of the top seven finishers on the boys’ side in a field that included Great Northern Conference rivals Medford, Merrill and Northland Pines. The Hodags had two of the top three finishers in the girls’ race as they finished second as a team behind Medford.

“I thought we raced good. You know, it’s just too small a meet really to gauge much, but I really like our boys going hard. And we had five in the top seven, so that’s right where we want to be,” Hodag coach M.J. Laggis said.

Barr got the whole shot on the start and led wire-to-wire as he covered the roughly 5-kilometer course in 18 minutes, 5.15 seconds. That was good enough for more than a 55-second victory over Northland Pines junior Ethan Miller. 

Jackson Weinzatl came home third for the Hodags (19:21.62), followed by Grant Gremban in fifth (19:52.84), Jonathan Campbell in sixth (20:01.64) and Michael Brunette in seventh (20:14.40).

“I thought Avrom had a nice run with Jackson,” Laggis said. “Grant’s really taking some steps for us lately, and climbing right up in that top group. And then you had Johnny and Mikey to round it out. So really nice job by our five and we just got to keep working on closing that gap for conference time.”

Wyatt Crowell (19th, 21:53.41) and Espen McMahon (22nd, 23:10.35) rounded out the varsity seven for the Hodag boys. 

On the girls’ side, Macy Myers ran to her second runner-up finish in as many races, finishing the course in a time of 21:48.4. That was roughly 13 seconds behind race winner, and defending GNC champion, Lindsay Kahn of Medford. 

“That’s exactly what you wanted — Macy to have that leader from Medford right in her sights, as she did. Credit to (Kahn), she ran really well today, but Macy was right there,” Laggis said.

    Macy Myers, left, and Kara Monk smile with RHS cross country team mascot Henderson the Rooster as they stand on the podium following the Medford Invite Thursday, Oct. 2 in Medford. Myers and Monk finished second and third overall in the girls’ race. (Jeremy Mayo/River News)
  

Kara Monk recorded another top-five finish for the Hodags, placing third overall, just 18 seconds behind Myers (22:06.24).

“Kara Monk was right on Macy’s heels and Kara just continues to improve. She’s really improved her race form all the way around — just the way she looks, the way she carries herself, the whole deal. She looks like a veteran racer right now, and really athletic the way she runs. So we’re just really happy with those two,” Laggis said.

Noelle Mayo was 13th for Rhinelander (26:11.48) followed by Gabby Wanta in 16th (26:54.58), Emily Schiek in 20th (28:58.23) and Morgan Cahee in 23rd (30:00.08).

“I’m happy with the way Noelle and Gabby fought for three and four down there. Neither one of them are 100%, I know that. So a good job by the girls today, and in particular, Macy and Kara just pulling up the front,” Laggis said.

The calendar has turned to the home stretch of the regular season for the Hodags, who will race at the Northland Pines Invite this afternoon in Eagle River before traveling to Tomahawk Saturday for the Hatchet Invite. 

After that, attention will turn of the GNC meet, which the Hodags will host at Northwood Golf Club Saturday, Oct. 17. Laggis said he was able to preview the planned course for the race this past week and is excited about the venue.

“We just drove that GNC course the other night and I was just fired up out of my mind,” he said. “It’s a beautiful backdrop. I’m going to think that on that day, I don’t want to jinx us, but people are going to walk away and say, ‘that was the course for a GNC championship.’”

In the interest of full disclosure, the River News notes that the author of this story has a family member who is an athlete on the RHS cross country team. 

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].