Track: Hodag girls claim Eagle Relays, boys 2nd

EAGLE RIVER — The depth of the Rhinelander High School track team was on full display Friday afternoon in Eagle River. 

The Hodag girls won 10 of 18 events as they cruised to the victory in the Eagle Relays hosted by Northland Pines High School. The Hodag boys had six wins on the day, and were tied for first heading to the final event, before settling for the runner-up spot behind the hosting Eagles.

The majority of the running events were conducted in relay format, with the exception of the 100/110- and 300-meter hurdles — which used the aggregate of a team’s three-best times to determine team scores. The same aggregate format was used in all of the field events. 

Among events with an individual component, the Hodag girls had six individual victories while the Hodag boys had four. 

“I love these meets. I wish we had more of them. It kind of takes a little strategy too. We’re still trying to get everybody opportunities to run, but it definitely shows the depth of your program,” Hodag boys’ coach Rod Olson said.

Junior Macy Myers had a strong meet for the Hodags, capped by a school record in the pole vault. After matching her previous record of 11 feet, 3 inches in her third and final attempt, Myers broke the mark with a vault of 11-4 and then bettered it with an 11-6 before failing three attempts at 11-9. 

Moments later, Myers was on the track as the anchor leg of the team’s 4x400-meter relay. Rhinelander won that race going away as the group of Shyanne Hueckstaedt, Olivia Ruetz, Lucy Eddy and Myers posted a season-best time of 4 minutes, 21.23 seconds, taking that event by nearly 21 seconds over runner-up Northland Pines. 

“She caps it off with that, and it was like, ‘All right, hey, look at that, not a bad night.’ So it was a good a good way to end it,” Hodag girls’ coach Andy Wyss said of Myers’ record-setting performance. 

Myers also started the afternoon with a win, running the leadoff leg of the 4x1,600 relay. Millie Gruett, Noelle Mayo and Gretchen Fiebke made up the remainder of a squad that finished in a time of 26:19.13 and beat runner-up Tomahawk by nearly a minute and a half. 

Aila Bergman won all three events she entered, claiming the 100 hurdles (16.68), the 300 hurdles (47.74) and the triple jump (31-10 1/2). Senior thrower Libbey Buchmann added individual wins in the discus (127-3) and the shot put (37-0 1/2).

Both of Buchmann’s marks, Bergman’s times in the hurdle events and Myers’ pole vault set new meet records. The Hodags also broke meet records in the 4x100 with Hueckstaedt, Marsadies Williams, Eddy and Mady Treder (53.10) and the 4x400.

“It’s always enjoyable to go up to a rival school, one of your closer competitors and kind of leave your mark on their place. I find a little enjoyment in that,” Wyss said.

Alexis Smith finished second behind Bergman in the 300 hurdles and the two were joined by freshman Hailey Novak to win the team portion of that event. Rhinelander also claimed the team win in all six girls’ field events. 

Williams took the long jump individually (14-11 1/2) as she, Smith and Ruetz won that event. Myers, Williams and Tori Stella took the pole vault relay. Bergman, Treder and Addison Fish won the triple jump relay, going 1-4-5 overall. Hueckstaedt, Treder and Ruetz won the high jump relay. Buchmann, Jalyn Zadnik and Sam Aschenbrenner went 1-2-4 as the Hodags claimed the shot put relay. Buchmann, Kaydence Walters and Josie Stella won the discus relay. 

    Rhinelander’s Matthew Haselton, left, prepares to take the baton from teammate Ben Olson, right during the Eagle Relays track meet in Eagle River Friday, April 24. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

The Hodag boys had success in both sprints and distance on Friday. Ben Olson, Matthew Haselton, Evan Shoeder and Cyrus Leisure made up the wining quartet in the 4x200 (1:36.19), while Leisure, Sam Zwaard, Avrom Barr and Ben Olson claimed the 4x400 (3:43.82).

“The boys’ 4x2 ran well. The boys 4x4 ran well, and they even kind of backed off because they had some cushion there,” coach Olson said. “It was fun for Avrom, that distance component to work with the sprint component, you know, that was cool to see tonight in this type of meet.” 

Barr was also on the winning 4x1,600 squad with Jackson Weinzatl, Logan Creapeau and Michael Brunette (21:07.29). Jonathan Campbell, Michael Tredupp, Konner Bex and Collin Rappley took the 4x800 (10:01.28). 

Ayden Myers tied for first individually in the boys’ pole vault (12-6) and was part of the winning team with Paul Denis and Charlie Antonuk, who both tied for third with vaults of 10-6. Senior Myles Eagleson swept the long jump (18-10) and the triple jump (37-9 1/2). Rhinelander won the triple jump as a team with Landon Catlin and Cade Goffe also placing in the top six. Ryley Hull took first individually in the 300 hurdles (44.43).

“Myles did well, so hopefully that’s confidence for him. It’s good to have his contributions on the books again,” coach Olson noted. 

Friday was the coolest of the four outdoor meets Rhinelander has had so far this season, with cloudy, breezy conditions for much of the afternoon and a temp in the lower 50s. Wyss said while the conditions affected performance a bit, it was a good experience for the team.

“I feel like we needed to go through that. And so even though the performances weren’t great, I’d rather have us kind of get acclimated to kind of that scenario,” he said. “Not every meet is going to be sunshine in 70. There are going to be meets where we’re going to have to compete in the wind, and the rain, and the cold. I think it was, it was a better dose of reality, this meet.”

The meet was also an opportunity to try athletes in different types of events. On the girls’ side the team had a handful of throwers in its 4x800 and a couple of distance runners in its 4x200. On the boys’ side, Ayden Myers won the junior varsity shot put in his first ever try at the event. His throw of 40-6 1/2 was further than any of Rhinelander’s varsity entries and would have been good enough for fourth in the varsity field.

“He’s just such a good natural athlete and is just very strong,” coach Olson noted. “His family, they really have an emphasis on working out … combined with his natural athletic ability and strength training. I mean, look what he did in snowboarding … just real, cool kid to work with and learns quick.”

The Hodags are back home tonight hosting Three Lakes and Lakeland in the inaugural Oneida County Triangular at Mike Webster Stadium. Wyss said the Hodags will likely look to showcase their depth in that event as well prior to heading to Kaukauna Friday, May 1 in what will be the team’s first serious tune-up for championship season.

“The next couple weeks is going to be like that,” Wyss said. “Tuesday just kind of doing the things you want to do, getting everybody opportunities, and then Friday … those are kind of kind of be some ones where we play with lineups and see, maybe some conference pieces, regional pieces, and what that might look like. I’m looking forward to the next couple weeks.”

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].