RHS/Pines ski team brings experienced teams back to slopes

The Rhinelander/Northland Pines Alpine ski and snowboard team returns a number of upperclassmen from last season, giving coach Rod Olson optimism going into the 2026 racing season.

“For this year, things are looking good,” he said. 

The Hodags are looking to build on strong results with their boys’ ski team, which was runner-up in the Wisconsin Interscholastic Alpine Racing Association’s Northern Conference last year and then skied to a third-place finish in Division 2 at the WIARA state meet in La Crosse. The Hodag girls were also conference runners up and finished sixth in D2 at state. The Hodag boys’ snowboard team brings most of its squad back from a team that won the Northern Conference last year and finished sixth at state. 

The 2026 Northern Conference season kicks off Jan. 8 at Christie Mt. in Bruce. Unlike last year, the Hodags did not go out west of the holidays, though some individuals did camps on their own. Luckily, Mother Nature has been a bit kinder back home for the Hodags this year, allowing them to get a number of on-snow practices in leading up to the race season. 

“The athletes are making great improvements in just, we’ve had four practices now,” coach Olson told the River News prior to the holiday break, which included several additional on-snow practices for the squad. “They’ve done real well. I did take our third place boys team, the returning members from that team to a specific giant slalom camp at Granite Peak, and then (assistant coach) Greg (McGuire) took the girls to another camp on not as demanding of terrain, and the snowboarders to (Ski) Brule last Friday.” 

Senior Ben Olson leads a veteran boys’ ski squad that returns five of the seven skiers who competed at state last February. Olson took fourth in the individual Northern Conference standings and, if not for a mishap in slalom, was in line for a possible top 20 finish overall at state. He was 15th in giant slalom and 22nd in super G in La Crosse. 

Also returning for the Hodags are brothers Holden and Henry Schmitz, along with Northland Pines skiers Wyler Koput and Eli Repenshek. Repenshek had the team’s best finish at state last year, taking 38th overall, while Koput took 11th in the final Northern Conference standings. Coach Olson noted the team has also picked up a pair of juniors in Ryley Hull and Charlie Johnson who will provide additional depth. 

“It’s a veteran group. They’ve been skiing together for a while. They’ve got some good results. They’re all fast,” he said. “I believe we can still be on the podium with the boys’ ski team. It’s going to be falling, that’s gonna take us out of it. As these guys mature, we get more consistent finishes. I structure our seeding so I know my who my gunslingers are and who my solid safeties are. And right now, as far as their mental aggressiveness, those boys are all gunslingers … So I’m going to have to get these guys a lot of reps at fast speed. So if I need them to find that 95% that they’re there.” 

    In this Feb. 8, 2025 file photo, Rhinelander’s Aila Bergman competes in slalom during a WIARA Northern Conference ski meet at Ski Brule in Iron River, Mich. Bergman, a senior, is one of five returning skiers for the Hodag girls’ team. (Jeremy Mayo/River News)
  

Jessica Linn, a sophomore from Northland Pines, is the top returning skier for the Hodag girls. She was seventh in the Northern Conference standings last year and 68th at the state meet. Other returning skiers for the Hodags include seniors Aila Bergman and Karlie Yunkers and juniors Lucy Eddy and Lindsey Hoerchler. 

“(Jessica) was the leader last year, however, Aila is coming on good. She’s developing. She’s getting to a comfort level where she could be not so much trying to refine her technique and skills, but just getting to a point where she’s going to be more competitive,” coach Olson said. “Lucy Eddy’s is skiing out of her mind. Last year she was on some recreational boots and race keys, but this year we got her professionally fitted over in Minneapolis, and she is on fire. She is really coming on quickly, so we expect her to have some results as well.”

    In this Feb. 8, 2025 file photo, Rhinelander’s Soren Dumar competes in border giant slalom during a WIARA Northern Conference ski meet at Ski Brule in Iron River, Mich. Dumar, a senior, was the Northern Conference runner-up last year and finished second at state in the boardercross competition. (Jeremy Mayo/River News)
  

The Hodags have all four of their boys’ snowboarders back from last year, led by senior Soren Dumar, junior Marshal Durkee and sophomore Kamdyn Kostrova. They finished 1-2-3 overall in the Northern Conference last year with Durkee beating out Dumar and Kostrova for the conference title. Durkee had the best overall finish of the three at state, placing eighth, while Dumar reached the podium with a runner-up finish in the boardercross event. 

Coach Olson noted that Dumar and Kostrova have converted over to harder racing boards, which are faster but also come with a steeper learning curve. 

“(Soren) switching late in a senior year, that’s a tough thing to learn, because it is different than the traditional snowboard, but he really picked it up quick,” coach Olson noted. “Kamden, who’s a sophomore, also switched to a hard board, he picked it up quick too. So, with Marshal, the trio of hardboarders are doing excellent.”

The Hodags will have additional depth this year with the addition of Ayden Myers and Nathan Olds to the squad. 

Coach Olson said that depth, and a little more consistency, could be all the Hodags need to not only repeat as Northern Conference champs, but make more noise at state.

“I know that we can more than likely take conference, but I really want to see us build on our team placement last year. We had some good performances at state, but we also had some crashes,” he said. “Our slalom and giant slalom our finish rate was not good there … I’m looking forward to seeing where we stack up, you know, on that boy snowboard side.” 

Northland Pines senior Sydney Sarkauskas remains the lone girls’ snowboarder on the team. She’s the reigning Northern Conference champion and finished 11th overall at state a season ago.

“Statewide, she’s in a tough group of girls. Not many of them have graduated. But she’s, snowboarding real fine. She’s got a real passion for it,” coach Olson noted. 

The five-race Northern Conference season will be contested over a span of 29 days, beginning at Christie Mt. and ending Feb. 5 at Granite Peak in Wausau. Rhinelander will host the fourth race of the conference season Jan. 24 at Ski Brule in Iron River, Mich. The team will also take part in an invite at Snow River Resort in Wakefield, Mich. Jan. 27 and coach Olson said he plans to enter his snowboarders in a pair of USASA races to gain a little more race experience. 

The WIARA state meet will be held Feb. 14-16 at Mt. La Crosse.

TEAM SCHEDULE

Date    Event    Time

1/8    NC Meet No. 1 at Christie Mt.*    9 a.m.

1/13    NC Meet No. 2 at Mt. Zion*    9 a.m.

1/19    NC Meet No. 3 at Mt. Ashwabay*    9 a.m.

1/24    NC MEET NO. 4 at SKI BRULE*    9 a.m.

1/27    Snow River Invite    9 a.m.

2/2    WIARA State Scrimmage at La Crosse    TBA

2/5    NC Meet No. 5 at Granite Peak*    9 a.m.

2/14-16    WIARA State Meet at La Crosse    8 a.m.

* Conference meet | HOME MEET IN CAPS