Barr captures Mosinee Invite

Rhinelander High School junior Avrom Barr held off a battle from Edgar’s Cade Koch and won the boys’ division of the Mosinee Invite cross country race Tuesday at Nine Mile Forest in Wausau.

Barr led the Hodag boys to a fourth-place finish out of 10 qualifying teams. The Hodag girls also took fourth, with eight schools fielding enough runners to earn a team score in that division. 

“It was another learning type day for the boys, for sure. We finished fourth. Saw a lot of good things into some areas where we kind of bonked a little bit and didn’t have our best day,” Hodag coach M.J. Laggis said. “Good progress for the girls. That was really nice to see.”

Barr positioned himself near the front of the field much of the way on Tuesday and got to the tape first with a time of 17 minutes, 42 seconds over the course of the five-kilometer course — beating Koch by roughly one second. The two put some distance on Edgar’s Dillan Sondelski late, who finished third, another 15 seconds up the trail.

“Avrom was really solid, to say the least. He won the race and really did a nice job,” Laggis said. “He was the strongest runner there, and he finished the job today, so it was great to see him get a first place for the boys. He battled those two Edgar guys big time.”

Sophomore Michael Brunette was Rhinelander’s No. 2 runner on the day, coming home 19th at 19:56. Junior Jonathan Campbell and sophomore Matthew Wood continued their strong starts to the year, placing as the Hodags’ Nos. 3 and 4 runners. Campbell came home 21st (20:06) and Wood was 32nd (20:56).

“Michael Brunette, was really had a better race today for sure and was solid,” Laggis said. “Johnny was our No. 3 and was solid. Maybe not his best day, but solid. Matt Wood, for a sophomore, just continues to improve, really droping time overall and just getting confidence.”

Grant Gremban was 35th overall (21:05), Jackson Weinzatl finished 37th (21:19) and freshman Espen McMahon rounded out the Hodags’ varsity seven with a 62nd-place finish (23:19). 

The Hodag girls were led by junior Macy Myers, who came home fourth on the day with a time of 21:17. It was her second straight top-five finish to begin the season, after taking second in the home Hodag Invite Aug. 28. She was followed by junior Kara Monk in 13th (23:21), freshman Noelle Mayo in 24th (24:38) and junior Gabby Wanta in 29th (25:11).

“Macy Myers had a really nice day again today. She was a fourth overall,” Laggis said. Kara Monk really had a kind of a breakout day, I thought. She looked light on her feet, quick. She finished the race.

“Noelle Mayo had a very nice day. Again, (she’s a) freshman that just continues to improve. She was pesky out there today. She ran really hard. Her and Gabby ran the whole race together and maybe the two-mile mark … Even though Noelle took Gabby, Gabby just hung in there and fought.”

With a couple of runners out of the lineup, there were some different runners who rounded out the varsity. Freshman Adeline Olson (29:59), senior Grace Cornelius (30:04) and junior Morgan Cahee (30:12) came home 58th, 59th and 60th, respectively. 

Lakeland placed three runners in the top six as it took the boys’ division title by 12 points over Stratford. Wausau East edged Rhinelander by three points for second. Medford (fifth), Mosinee (seventh), Northland Pines (eighth) and Antigo (ninth) rounded out the GNC schools in the field. 

“Lakeland’s very good. They won it going away today, but I’ll tell you, we got a goal. We have a goal at the end of conference and at the sectional,” Laggis said. “So we just got to keep working away and improving. That’s our focus, is just trying to get better and trying to get our depth to get better as we go. We have some really good kids. We just got to keep getting experience and keep getting faster week in and week out.”

Medford won the girls’ title by 12 points over Wausau East, with Medford’s Lindsay Kahn (20:07) led an all-GNC top five in the girls’ race. She was followed by Lakeland’s Emerson Rubo and Addison Eggen, Myers and Medford’s Morgan Liske. 

Mosinee and Antigo finished sixth and seventh in the girls’ standings while Lakeland and Northland Pines did not have enough runners to qualify for a team score. 

Next up, the Hodags travel to Wildwood Park in Marshfield Tuesday, Sept. 9 for the Marshfield Invite. 

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].