Strong times for Hodag runners at Pines Invite

EAGLE RIVER — From a stopwatch perspective, the Rhinelander High School cross country team had one of its strongest meets of the season on Tuesday. 

Times were fast across the board as the Hodags competed at the Northland Pines Invite in Eagle River. Rhinelander placed five runners in the top 18 to finish second in the boys’ division behind Great Northern Conference rival Lakeland while the Hodag girls finished third in the 11-team meet.

“It’s a tribute to their work and them buying into it continually practicing hard,” Hodag coach M.J. Laggis said.

Personal bests were the theme of the night and that included the No. 1 runner for the Hodag boys, Avrom Barr. He ran second most of the way and finished in the runner-up spot on Tuesday, covering the 5-kilometer course in 16 minutes, 35.1 seconds. That was roughly 27 seconds behind winner Nolan Waltz of Three Lakes.

Jackson Weinzatl added his strongest run of the year for Rhinelander, coming home seventh overall at 17:33.5 to give a team a second runner on the podium.

    Rhinelander’s Avrom Barr competes in the final mile of the Northland Pines Invitational cross country race in Eagle River Tuesday, Oct. 7. Barr was the runner-up in the boys’ division with a time of 16 minutes, 35.1 seconds. (Jeremy Mayo/River News)
  

“I thought Avrom ran really, really well. Jackson really asserted himself today in that two hole, and I love to see that,” Laggis said.

Junior Jonathan Campbell overcame a slow start, worked through the pack and came home 11th, cracking the 18-minute mark for the first time (17:56.9). Grant Gremban (15th, 18:29.0) and Michael Brunette (18th, 18:36.7) rounded out the scoring five for the squad. 

“You know, Johnny was about three minutes faster on this course today than last year. That guy just continues to make huge drops,” Laggis said. “He’s not a senior. I mean, he’s got another year. Then you round that out with Grant and Mikey. Grant just continues to pull down in his time.”

Matthew Wood was 34th for the Hodags (19:40.7) and senior Ayden Myers, making his first start of the season, was 36th (19:43.0).

Lakeland had five runners in the top 12 on Tuesday to score a 32-48 win over the Hodags. Laona/Wabeno was a distant third at 130 points. While Laggis said Lakeland continues to be the conference favorite, his squad is continuing to narrow the gap as championship season approaches. 

“We made strides again. We were 16 points from Lakeland today. And I always look at that big picture,” he said. “We started the year getting beat by them by 60 points. Today, we get beat by 16. And we’re just going to keep our goal in mind and keep working for conference. 

“Lakeland is getting their five in before our four or before our three, right in there. And that’s what we got to shore up. There’s no doubt about it. We got to just keep pulling on that and working on that.”

Macy Myers crushed her personal best for the Hodag girls, breaking the 20-minute barrier for the first time. She came home in 19:51.4, good enough for third place on the day. That marked the first time any Rhinelander girl has went under the 20-minute mark since Alayna Franson did it at the WIAA state meet in 2017.

Myers was not the only girl to smash a personal best on Tuesday. Fellow junior Kara Monk went under 21 minutes for the first time, coming home fifth at 20:36.0.

“I know we talk about these two a lot because they’re always up there, but, Macy, she is really confident and she really works hard. And if you notice, she is really smooth. I mean, she just doesn’t have much of a falter throughout her whole race,” Laggis said. “Kara has gotten in that same mold, that Kara has done nothing but tighten it up with Macy, and just super proud about the way those two go about their business and how hard they work.”

Each of Rhinelander’s top six finishers either had season- or career-best times on Tuesday. Gabby Wanta was Rhinelander’s third finisher in 26th overall (23:54.8). She was followed by three runners who broke 26 minutes for the first time —Morgan Cahee in 34th (25:20.2), Adeline Olson in 39th (25:33.8) and Emily Schiek in 41st (25:45.6). Grace Cornelius rounded out the girls’ contingent in 52nd (27:53.8).

“We got a group of girls behind that are making really, really good progress and they’re not quite there yet, but they’re making really good progress. And that’s great to see,” Laggis said. “Morgan, in particular, has just fought through some stuff and looks so strong at practice and getting through her workouts, really happy for her to see her drop sometime. And Addy’s an newbie to this, and just a great attitude. So great as well. I thought Gabby Wanta shows flashes again of what she could be. You know, she’s really improved since she started this whole thing.”

Medford edged Three Lakes 37-45 for the girls’ title while Rhinelander held off Merrill by two points for the third position. Reigning GNC champ Lindsay Kahn of Medford won the race at 19:23.5 with Lakeland freshman Emerson Rubo finishing second (19:37.8).

The Hodags have one final tune-up race on Saturday as they take part in the Hatchet Invite in Tomahawk.

“We’re going to have a good week in practice here, a little recovery and then get ready for Saturday, and then, you know, and then really dial it in and see what we can do at conference,” Laggis said.

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].