Hodag track sweeps home hybrid

The Rhinelander High School boys’ and girls’ track teams showcased their depth in front of the home crowd for the first time of the season on Tuesday, with strong results.

The Hodag boys won five events, while the Hodag girls claimed six, and both squads walked away with first place in the 11-team Hodag Hybrid meet in Rhinelander. 

The meet marked a transition into the outdoor season for the squad. All the running events were staged outside at Mike Webster Stadium while the field events took place inside the Hodag Dome. Most everybody on the roster had a chance to compete in at least one event and the team racked up top five finishes by the bundle.

“It’s a good start to the outdoor season, get a little taste of both indoor and outdoor at the same time with this meet,” Hodag girls’ track coach Andy Wyss said. “We had a lot of entries between the boys and girls. We had 205 in. There was always something happening for the Hodags, so it was a lot of fun to see. There was always something going on and just good to kind of get that outdoor experience. You could tell we were kind of sick of being inside. So it was fun meet.”

There were several standout performances on the boys’ side. Juniors Amos Bergman and Ryley Hull went 1-2 in the 110-meter hurdles, with Bergman (17.48 seconds) scoring the win by 0.18 seconds over his teammate. Hull came home second in the 300 hurdles while Bergman finished third. 

The Hodags flexed some muscle in the sprints as well. The squad of Ben Olson, Matthew Haselton, Evan Shoeder and Cyrus Leisure claimed the 4x200 in a time of 1:34.57, which according to Athletic.net was the 25th-best time overall in the state so far this spring. Leisure added a win in the 200 (23.61) while Haselton finished third and Zwaard took fourth. Zwaard cracked 12 seconds (11.99) in a third-place run in the 100 meters, with Ben Olson fourth and Haselton in fifth. 

“The boys ran kind of the A crew (in hurdles) and they did good. You know, we know we need to improve on our speed endurance there. They did pretty, pretty well,” RHS boys’ coach Rod Olson said. “Our boys 4x2 PR’ed over their sectional time last year, the first outdoor meet. So those guys are pumped. We kind of ran our A crew for that. And they were pretty excited about that.”

    Rhinelander’s Millie Gruett hands the baton to teammate Addison Fish in the 4x400-meter relay during the Hodag Hybrid track meet at Mike Webster Stadium Tuesday, April 14. The Hodags won the event, and two other relays as they took the team title. (Jeremy Mayo/River News)
  

Not to be outdone, the Hodag girls shined in the sprints as well, sweeping the 4x100, 4x200 and 4x400 relays. Shyanne Hueckstaedt, Teagan Clark, Olivia Ruetz and Violet Biolo took the 4x100 (52.57). Hueckstaedt, Addison Fish, Alexis Smith and Lucy Eddy claimed the 4x200 (1:54.97) in a photo finish over Ladysmith, winning the lean to the tape by .05 seconds. The Hodags went wire-to-wire in the 4x400 with Aila Bergman, Millie Gruett, Fish and Lucy Eddy (4:27.78). Both the winning 4x100 and 4x200 times were within the top 30 overall in the state.

“We are developing quite a stable of sprinters, both on the boys’ and girls’ side, where maybe that’s the fastest group, maybe not,” Wyss said. “Maybe there’s still more we can tweak and work on. We just kind of started outdoor handoffs yesterday, but we got really good sprint coaches working on those helping out and getting everybody’s situated and where they should be. We’re just more prepared coming in with that first meet than we were last year.”

The Hodags girls also performed well showed in the individual sprints. Aila Bergman skipped the hurdles on Tuesday for the open sprints, coming home second in both the 100 and the 200. Biolo was third in both events. Hueckstaedt added a fourth in the 100 and the Hodags took spots 2-6 in the 200 with Marsadies Williams fourth, followed by Macy Myers in fifth and Mady Treder in sixth.

“We have a lot of speed and it’s gonna be fun as the season progresses,” Wyss said.

    Rhinelander’s Ayden Myers clears 13 feet, 6 inches in the pole vault during the Hodag Hybrid track meet in the Hodag Dome Tuesday, April 14. Myers won the event with a personal-best performance. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

Ayden Myers added a win for the Hodag boys in the pole vault, clearing 13 feet, 6 inches. Freshman Cade Goffe took the triple jump (37-8 1/2). Sophomore Eric Parish had a strong day in the throws, taking second in the shot put, cracking the 40-foot milestone for the first time in competition with a toss of 40-9. He added a third-place throw in the discus 111-6.

“That’s huge. You know, we had to, an unofficial 39 at one of our meets where there was some judging issues … but for him to get a 40, that just, validates what he did throw back then. So that’s real good,” coach Olson said. 

Macy Myers was tops for the Hodag girls in the pole vault (10-6) while seniors Jalyn Zadnik and Libbey Buchmann went 1-2 in the shot put. Zadnik popped off a personal best throw of 36-7 to win that event. 

“That was a big PR for Jalyn. She did well, and I think she’s still nursing a little bit of an injury, so she can go even further, and it’s good. Honestly, that’s good for Libbey, pushes her a little bit further, gives her a little saltiness to keep going and try to beat Jalyn now,” Wyss said.

    Rhinelander’s Libbey Buchmann throws the discus during the Hodag Hybrid track meet in the Hodag Dome Tuesday, April 14. Buchmann won the event with a toss of 118 feet, 11 inches. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

Buchmann scored the win in the discus with a throw of 118-11.

Rhinelander’s boys distance crew flexed its muscle in some different events on Tuesday. Paul Denis, Dean Gillingham, Jonathan Campbell and Avrom Barr sprinted to a runner-up finish in both the 4x100 (49.93) and the 4x400 (3:48.76). Barr added a fifth-place performance in the long jump (18-8 3/4) to go along with a runner-up showing in the 800 (2:09.02).

“Avrom, he talked to me at the beginning of the year. He’s like, ‘I’d like to try to do some of these speed things. I’d like the long jump and stuff.’ He’s got a combination of that long distance ability plus some fast twitch, so he’s an impressive athlete,” coach Olson said. “The end here in the 4x4 with the distance crew, they had some good times, some good splits. So that was awesome to see.”

Jackson Weinzatl was third in the 800 for Rhinelander while Michael Brunette took third in the 3,200 and Campbell came home fourth in the 1,600. Rhinelander was third with its B entries in both the 4x100 and 4x400, Denis tied for third in the pole vault while Charlie Antonuk took fifth in that event. Wyatt Crowell and Konner Bex finished fourth and fifth in the 400 and the Hodags were fifth in the 4x800.

On the girls’ side, freshman Noelle Mayo closed with a strong final lap to edge Chequamegon’s Mady Ernst for the runner-up spot in the 3,200. She was also on the third-place crew in the 4x800 with Millie Gruett, Emily Schiek and Gretchen Fiebke. 

Smith tied for third in the pole vault, Williams was fourth in the 100 hurdles, Gruett took fifth in the 400, Fish was fifth in the triple jump, Treder took fifth in the long jump and Sam Aschenbrenner was fifth in the shot put. The Hodags added a fourth-place finish with its B entry in the 4x200. 

Mother Nature finally cooperated for an event that has had a checkered history with weather during its brief five years in existence. Last year’s meet was canceled after the Hodag Dome was damaged due to a power outage resulting from an ice storm. The event was also canceled in 2023 and only field events were held, indoors, in 2022 due to poor weather conditions. 

“Running a 200 indoors versus outdoors, running a two-mile indoors versus outdoors, it’s a whole different (feeling)... this just feels so much better. Feels so much better being out here. It wasn’t raining, it wasn’t freezing. It was a good outdoor meet,” Wyss said.

The Hodags were back in action Thursday afternoon at Marathon and will travel to Wausau West on Tuesday, April 21.

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

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].