Cross country: Hodag boys edge Lakeland for Three Lakes win

THREE LAKES — While Lakeland may be the odds-on favorite to repeat as Great Northern Conference boys’ cross country champions next month, the Rhinelander Hodags showed Thursday they are not out of the conversation. 

Rhinelander placed three runners in the top 10 and clipped Lakeland by seven markers for the title at the 10-team Three Lakes Invite at Big Stone Golf Course. Lakeland also had three runners in the top 10, but the Hodags had a little more depth against a banged-up T-Bird squad as Rhinelander took the event which featured a mix of GNC and Northern Lakes squads.

“That was our goal day was to just keep taking steps, keep taking steps. You don’t ever want to diminish anything your kids do really well — and they did a great job today, so I’m really proud of that,” Hodag coach M.J. Laggis said. “Lakeland was down their No. 1 runner and their No. 5 guy, his ankle hurt. But that’s not what we need to worry about. We just keep worrying about doing our thing. We know they’re going to be a really tough, tough, tough team at the end, and the heavy favorite, but we just keep getting better and see how much we can continue to close it.”

Avrom Barr cruised to a runner-up finish for Rhinelander, covering the 5-kilometer course in 17 minutes, 18.9 seconds. That was roughly 53 seconds behind race-winner Nolan Waltz of Three Lakes. Barr pulled away from Laona/Wabeno’s Gavin Peterson during the second half of the race and took second by more than 21 seconds. 

“I tell you Avrom made a great comment. He said, ‘What a crazy night. Nolan was out of sight and there was nobody behind me. I was just was out there running alone.’ You know, typical runner moment right there,” Laggis said. “I don’t think Avrom has had his best races the last two races, and that’s OK, because I know he’s going to be at his best when it matters the most. But he just keeps fighting through on a night when he wasn’t perfect, he’s still, you know, 17:18, and took off five seconds from last year, and the No. 2 guy (overall).”

Jackson Weinzatl reached the podium for Rhinelander with an eighth-place finish (18:41.1), as did Jonathan Campbell (19:05.9) as he held off a hard-charging Ethan Potrykus of Three Lakes for the 10th and final podium spot. Grant Gremban finished 16th (16:16.6) and Michael Brunette was 17th (19:26.5).

“I have seen such leadership out of (Weinzatl) and the things that he’s done. He’s been in the two hole and the encouragement and the way he’s worked and ran (is fantastic),” Laggis noted. “Johnny Campbell just keeps getting better. He had a fantastic finish tonight. Johnny just turned it on the last 400 or so. And I’ll tell you what, Grant Gremban, really, really, I thought, had a breakout race and so proud of his effort.”

Wyatt Crowell (32nd, 21:25.6) and Chasin Wallmow (40th, 22:09.7) rounded out the varsity contingent.

    Rhinelander’s Kara Monk runs near the mile mark of the Three Lakes Invite cross country race at Big Stone Golf Course Thursday, Sept. 25. Monk finished fifth overall, one of two top-five finishers for the Hodags as they finished second in the girls’ standings. (Jeremy Mayo/River News)
  

The Hodag girls were second out of four complete teams and had two runners reach the podium. Macy Myers ran to a runner-up finish overall, finishing at 21:15.0. That was 23 seconds behind race winner Emerson Rubo of Lakeland. Kara Monk put together another strong race for the Hodags to come home fifth (22:02.6).

“Kara looked as strong as anyone on our team today. Macy was in that one hole for us, obviously, and was fantastic. But Kara looked so strong,” Laggis said. “There were points in the race early on, I thought Kara was going to possibly catch Macy. But they just both had fantastic races and I can’t say enough about both of those two and how they’re coming on right now.”

Noelle Mayo finished 15th for Rhinelander (24:27.1). Gabby Wanta, back in the lineup for the first time since Sept. 2 while dealing with a knee injury, was 19th (26:01.3). Emily Schiek was 30th (28:13.6), Grace Cornelius finished 34th (28:40.8) and Adeline Olson was 37th (29:37.0).

“Really happy with Gabby, being able to run again today, I thought, Gabby had a nice race,” Laggis noted. 

Three Lakes bear Rhinelander 26-42 for the girls’ title, with Antigo taking third. Tomahawk, which fielded a mainly JV roster for the race, took fourth. 

Rhinelander is back in action this coming Thursday at the Medford 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].