Sports Digest

Hodag DE Sieker named to WFCA All-Star Game

Rhinelander High School senior Caden Sieker has been selected to represent the North large school team during the Wisconsin Football Coaches Association’s All-Star weekend which will take place in July at UW-Oshkosh. 

The 6-foot-2, 245-pound defensive end was a first-team All-Great Northern Conference selection this past fall despite missing the final three games of the season due to a shoulder injury. Sieker was tied for fifth on the team with 29 tackles this past season, and led the team with 10 tackles for loss and 3 1/2 sacks. 

Sieker, who recently signed to play NCAA Division II Winona (Minn.) State University, is the first Hodag to take part in the All-Star Game since 2022, when Cayden Neri and Joe Fugle took part in the event. 

Sieker is one of three players from the Great Northern Conference on the preliminary large school roster, joining Merrill’s Josh Gustum and Noah Klug. Tomahawk’s Ethan Gibeault and Rex Reilly are on the North’s small school roster. 

The North All-Stars will face the South All-Stars in eight-man, small and large school contests during the weekend. The large school game is set for 4 p.m. Saturday, July 18 at UW-Oshkosh’s Titan Stadium.

Rhinelander’s Olson named to Team Wisconsin Alpine squad

Senior Ben Olson, member of the Rhinelander/Northland Pines Alpine Ski team has been named to Team Wisconsin for the Western High School Nationals ski meet, the Hodag team announced late last week. 

Olson earned a spot on the team by virtue of his top-10 finish in Super G during the WIARA State Meet in La Crosse Feb. 16 and 17. 

Olson scored two top-20 finishes at the state meet and was the overall runner-up in the WIARA’s Northern Conference this season. He was the conference’s top skier in Super G and slalom.  

The Western High School Nationals will take place March 15-18 in Loveland, Colo.

Five Hodag lifters qualify in last chance meet

The Rhinelander High School powerlifting club held a Wisconsin High School Powerlifting Association Region 6 last chance qualifier meet Saturday, Feb. 21 at Rhinelander High School. The meet was for lifters who had yet to reach the state qualifying standard for total combined pounds in the bench press, squat and deadlift in their respective weight classes.

The Hodags had seven wrestlers compete, five of whom achieved the standards and qualified for the WHSPA state meet. On the boys’ side, Isaac Rossing qualified at 181 points, meeting the standard of 1,085 pounds to qualify. 

Rhinelander also advanced all four girls it had compete in the last chance meet. Madison Soulier advanced at 132 (565), while Brookelynn Marten, Taylor McKinney and Claire Ourada all hit the 630-pound standard to advance at 181.

“This brings our total team of qualified lifters to 25 athletes — 14 girls and 11 boys,” coach Drake Biolo said. “Two amazing things to look back on our growth as a team. Four years ago when this program started we had 22 lifters total as a team. That means we are sending more kids to state this year than we had as a full team just four years ago. Along those same lines with the 14 girls we are sending, that is almost three times as many total girls we had on our team four years ago. It truly has been amazing to watch this team grow in this short timespan.”

The WHSPA state meet will take place March 6-8 in Appleton.

Rhinelander native Retzlaff takes runner-up in Atlanta NASCAR race

Rhinelander native Parker Retzlaff matched his career-best finish in NASCAR’s second-tier O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Saturday, Feb. 21, taking second place in the series’ 250-miler at EchoPark Speedway in Hampton, Ga. 

Retzlaff was running in the lead pack on the final lap and avoided a near wreck when leaders Ross Chastain and Austin Hill made contact going into the next-to-last corner. Sheldon Creed got clear of the incident first and beat Retzlaff to the finish line by 0.309 seconds. 

“These boys brought a fast @kyrodistillery @funkaway @vkngmotorsports #99,” Retzalff posted on social medial afterward. “Got stage points the first 2 stages & then wound up with a spring in my nose. Pitted for the damage with 30 to go. My spotter Doug (Campbell) did a heck of a job getting me back to the front. Thank you @funkaway, @kyrodistillery, @vkngmotorsports & all of our partners, supporters & team members. So proud of this group and their commitment towards our goal — winning. Would be nothing without them.”

It was just the second race for Retzlaff in the No. 99 Chevrolet of Viking Motorsports and followed up a 14th-place run in the season opener Feb. 14 in Daytona Beach, Fla. 

The result matched the runner-up finish he scored at Rockingham, N.C. last April as his best finish in the O’Reilly Series. It was his fifth career top-five, and 16th-career top 10 finish in the series. All five of his top-five finishes have come at drafting-style race tracks — Daytona, EchoPark and Talladega (Ala.). 

Retzlaff sits fifth in the driver standings through two races of the 33-race schedule. The top 12 drivers after 24 races will compete in a final nine-race chase for the championship. 

The series is back in action tomorrow at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas. 

Local skiers compete in Birkie Week races

Several skiers from the Rhinelander area traveled to Hayward last week to take part in 52nd annual American Birkebeiner ski weekend. 

A number of participants took on the full Birkie Classic or Birkie Skate races, trekking from Cable to Hayward. While others competed in the Kortelopet or the Prince Haakon.

At right are results for racers with listed Rhinelander or Harshaw addresses:

Birkebeiner Skate

Gen. Place / Name    Age    Gender    Time

580    Anoszko, Elias    38    M    2:35:37.41 

620    Cook, Chris    45    M    2:37:25.13

624    Hagen, Daniel    30    M    2:37:32.02 

1059    Versch, Noel    52    M    2:53:17.45

1287    Teclaw, Steve    37    M    3:01:56.83

1516    Rumney, Iain    18    M    3:10:56.95

299    Teter, Brynn    18    F    3:13:11.87

550    Dobbins, Gretchen    36    F    3:48:08.78

2418    Harris, Andrew    43    M    4:02:24.46

Birkebeiner Classic

Gen. Place / Name    Age    Gender    Time

117    Anderson, Brian    38    M    3:00:16     

428    Smith, Levi    24    M    3:44:13 

528    Calhoun, Josh    51    M    3:57:41

784    Bartelt, Christopher    35    M    4:20:05

664    Schreiber, Caleb    43    M    4:24:20

341    Gillen, Olivia    21    F    6:18:53

1090    Evelo, Michael    70    M    6:47:19

Kortelopet skate

Gen. Place / Name    Age    Gender    Time

171    Calhoun, Jonathan    16    M    1:31:44

149    Katz, Karen    38    F    1:44:05

357    Campbell, Matthew    35    M    1:48:30 

376    Teter, Shane    51    M    1:50:08

211    Campbell, Rebecca    34    F    1:51:04

228    Bassette, Elizabeth    34    F    1:52:18 

296    Teclaw, Steph    36    F    2:01:12

549    Gehrke, Aaron    27    M    2:07:49

363    Gillen, Mya    17    F    2:08:25

Korteloppet Classic

Gen. Place / Name    Age    Gender    Time

44    Calhoun, Aaron    15    M    1:47:38

139    Mosley, Drew    36    M    2:18:26

442    Rumney, Neil    54    M    2:50:35

517    Driscoll, Sarah    33    F    2:57:30

Prince Haakon

Gen. Place / Name    Age    Gender    Time

30    Mayo, Noelle    14    F    1:04:33

41    Taylor, Tanya    40    F    1:09:56

Birkie Open Track Skate

Ovr.    Name    Age    Gender    Time    

242.    Cook, Robert    71    M    5:41:06

243.    Cook, Karen    72    F    5:41:09

Birkie Open Track Classic

Ovr.    Name    Age    Gender    Time    

78.    Mode, Mitch    76    M    6:10:13

Korte Open Track skate

Ovr.    Name    Age    Gender    Time    

76.    Buntrock, Collin    36    M    3:01:18

79.    Wall, Deb    64    F    3:02:39

Prince Haakon Open Track

Ovr.    Name    Age    Gender    Time    

70.    Hintzke, James    71    M    5:03:37