Hodag Nordic competes twice, gears up for home race

The Hodag Nordic Ski Team competed in a pair of races this past weekend, traveling to Wausau for the Snekkevik Classic on Saturday, Jan. 10 followed by the Iola Skate Race on Sunday, Jan. 11 in Iola.

The majority of the skiers who competed took part in Saturday’s race, as Sunday’s meet was a bonus add-on race for club skiers. 

The middle school girls led the way for the Hodags, taking fourth out of eight qualifying teams on Saturday, while the middle school boys were fifth out of seven. The high school boys skied to a seventh-place finish while the high school girls, with only two skiers taking part, were unable to receive a team score. 

Mother Nature didn’t allow for the Snekkevik to take place the last couple of years, and tried to interfere again with last week’s thaw/rain event, but race organizers were at least able to hold the middle and high school portions of the race on Saturday. 

“We weren’t sure what was going to happen for Snekkevik until late on Friday, but the race turned out fantastic,” coach John Gillen said. “We had 15 athletes between middle school and high school racing, and really a good event, even with low snow conditions, to get a classic race in before our home race next weekend.” 

Aaron Calhoun led the high school boys’ squad on Saturday, completing the 6-kilometer classic course at Nine Mile Forest in a time of 20 minutes, 39 seconds. Jonathan Calhoun finished right behind his brother in 25th (20:43) while Sam Loomis was 33rd (23.06).

Kayla Skubal was tops for the Hodag girls in the high school division, taking 21st (22:56) while Noelle Mayo was 29th (25:04). 

In middle school action, Pearl Calhoun scored the top finish for the Hodag girls, covering a 3K classic course in 12:18. Evelyn MacFarland finished 13th (13:34), Scarlet Hartmann was 19th (14:06), Quinn Williams took 23rd (14:55) and first-time race Fjola Erickson was 30th (17:30).

Jacob MacFarland led the middle school boys in ninth overall (11:34). Emmett Tuckey took 16th (12:10), Alex Rusch finished 26th (13:50), Sam Rusch was 29th (14:11) and Urban Beuning was 32nd (14:41).

Additionally, two Hodag skiers took part in Sunday’s Iola Skate. Mayo was 17th in the varsity girls’ division, covering a 7.1-kilometer skate course in 25:39. Loomis was 38th in the varsity boys’ division, with a time of 23:39.

“They really put in a fantastic effort. So nice to have a two-day weekend going into our home course next week,” Gillen said.

Next up for the Hodag skiers is a long-awaited event as the Hodag Challenge returns for the first time since 2023 this Saturday and Sunday at the Cedric A. Vig Outdoor Classroom (CAVOC) east of Rhinelander. The last two editions of the Hodag Challenge were nixed due to a lack of snow. 

“Everyone is really looking forward to coming back to Rhinelander. All the league teams really love Rhinelander and after not being there for a couple years, they’re excited — and so are we,” coach Gillen said. “Rhinelander is looking fantastic. We’ve got enough snow base, and if we could squeak out a couple inches of freshing (snow) at all this week, that’d just be frosting on top of the cake. But we’re going to have a great race and it’ll be fun next weekend.” 

Hundreds of middle and high school skiers are expected to race at CAVOC this weekend in one of the biggest interscholastic races on the WNSL calendar. The teams will compete in the classic technique on Saturday with a skate race on Sunday. High School competition will take place in the morning on both days, with middle school racing in the afternoon. Additionally, a 1K youth race will be held Saturday afternoon.