Hodag Alpine competes at Mt. Zion

The Rhinelander/Northland Pines Alpine ski and snowboard team took part in the second Northern Conference race of the season Tuesday, Jan. 13 at Mt. Zion in Ironwood, Mich.

Similar to the opener, a lack of clean finishes cost the Hodags in skiing as the boys’ team finished in second. The girls squad, down two skiers due to injury, finished fourth. The Hodags swept the team and individual titles in snowboarding. 

Slalom and giant slalom were once again troublesome for the Hodag boys, with coach Rod Olson saying that the course setup did not suit his squad. The host team is responsible for setting the courses during the conference season.

“It was our first time at Mt. Zion and having the host that they did and the courses for slalom and giant slalom were set very poorly. Our three best boys, failed again to finish the slalom. It was set for maybe 8-to-10-year olds, just too tight for, 150-to-220-pound kids. So that hurt us,” he said. “You can see where we got to Super G where we could have less offset and less power through the turn, and you could see that it kind of evened itself out as far as team competition. Our boys won super G, event-wise. But that was the only race where we had all clean finishes — namely because the course, they didn’t have to put the physical demands on it.”

The Hodag boys won Super G and, despite the troubles, were only two points behind Wausau United in slalom. Mishaps cost the Hodags 44 points to Wausau in giant slalom, which ultimately determined the outcome of the meet. 

Wyler Koput was the top finisher for the Hodag boys, taking eighth overall. He struggled in giant slalom and Super G, but was one of the few Hodags to survive the slalom cleanly, as he finished fourth in that event. Ben Olson won the Super G, and was fifth in giant slalom, but wasn’t so fortunate in slalom as a crash relegated him to ninth overall on the day. Holden Schmitz came home 10th, aided by a ninth-place finish in slalom and a 10th in Super G.

Eli Repenshek was 19th on the day, Henry Schmitz was 25th, Charlie Johnson took 26th and Ryley Hull was 27th.

“Ben took first and Super G. Eli and Wyler both had rough days. Holden had a good day on Super G. He improved,” coach Olson noted. “Very tough to try and strategize and gear them back. They just don’t know how to go that slow. There were turns where you’re almost going uphill. And the snow conditions made it worse. It was so soft. After the first eight girls racers. We already had like a one foot hole at a couple of the turns.”

Lucy Eddy was Rhinelander’s top finisher in the girls’ division, she had top-10 runs in slalom and Super G to finish ninth overall, right ahead of teammate Aila Bergman, who was sixth in Super G and ninth in giant slalom, but was forced to hike after missing a gate in slalom. The 16th-place finish in that event relegated her to 10th on the day. Karlie Yunkers finished 12th, highlighted by a ninth-place run in giant slalom. 

The Hodags were forced to take a 100-point penalty in each event with only three skiers competing on Tuesday. The top four finishers score team points. Coach Olson said the team will likely be looking at the penalty for the remainder of the season unless if finds another skier. Tests last week confirmed that both junior Lindsey Hoerchler and sophomore Jessica Linn sustained season-ending knee injuries. 

In boys’ snowboarding, the Hodags claimed four of the top five spots overall to take the team title running away over Wausau United. Senior Soren Dumar swept the slalom and giant slalom races to take first overall. Sophomore Kamden Kostrova was third on the day, junior Marshal Durkee was fourth and senior Ayden Myers was fifth. 

“Soren was first for the snowboarders. He had a good day,” coach Olson said. “Not very challenging for them. We had to set on a very gentle slope, but nonetheless, they all boarded very clean. Ayden Myers had a good first showing. We just brought him out this year, and he’s going to contribute.”

Sydney Sarkauskus swept girls’ snowboard in dominant fashion, winning slalom by 7.56 seconds and giant slalom by 6.89 seconds.

In middle school competition, Riley Butler was the runner-up in girls’ skiing while Malaya Bach was fifth. Vaun Koput, Colin Butler and Cameron Olson were third, fourth and fifth in boys’ skiing. Eli Sarkauskus and Julius Siewer went 1-2 in boys’ snowboarding.

“We’ve got some good competition there. There’s good numbers … We’ve got a lot of promise on that junior high squad,” coach Olson said.

The Hodags were scheduled to be back in action Monday at Mt. Ashwabay in Bayfield, though there was some question as of press time whether that race would go off as planned due to the day’s bitterly-cold forecast. Rhinelander will host the fourth round of the Northern Conference season this coming Saturday at Ski Brule in Iron River, Mich.