Hodag skiers up to challenge at CAVOC

For the first time since 2024 the Northwoods Nordic Ski Club hosted the Hodag Challenge high school and middle school Nordic ski races at the Cedric A. Vig Outdoor Classroom Saturday, Jan. 17 and Sunday, Jan. 18.

The races — which were nixed the last two years due to poor snow conditions — attracted 232 racers from 18 different squads representing Wisconsin and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. 

“It was just a glorious weekend with the weather. Everything just aligned perfectly. The trails were fantastic,” Hodag coach John Gillen said. “Nice to have a great group of skiers and many, many teams here, and our Hodags really performed well over the weekend.”

Overall, the Hodags were 11th out of 12 qualifying teams in the high school boys’ division over the weekend while the Hodag girls were fifth out of the five times who had at least three skiers compete both days.

On the middle school side, the Hodag girls were third out of eight teams while the Hodag boys took eighth of nine qualifying squads. 

The teams raced in the classic technique on Saturday, with high schoolers racing over a 5-kilometer loop and the middle schools racing a 3.3-kilometer course. The teams raced the same courses on Sunday in the skate technique, with the aggregate times for skiers from both races accounting for their final results. 

In the high school boys’ competition, Aaron Calhoun was the fastest over the weekend for the Hodags, finishing 55th with a combined time of 37 minutes, 31 seconds. He was followed by Jonathan Calhoun in 59th (38:00) and Sam Loomis in 69th (42:37). 

    Hodag Nordic’s Mya Gillen climbs a hill near the start of the Hodag Challenge skate race at the Cedric A. Vig Outdoor Classroom in Pelican Sunday, Jan. 18. (Contributed photograph)
  

Kayla Skubal paced the Hodag girls in 24th overall (42:17), followed by Noelle Mayo in 35th (45:26), Bekah Koch in 43rd (53:20) and Mya Gillen in 45th (58:09).

Pearl Calhoun was tops for the Hodag middle school girls, finishing eighth overall (27:53). Evelyn MacFarland was 17th (30:49), Scarlet Hartmann took 20th (31:37) and Quinn Williams was 28th (34:15). 

Emmett Tuckey was the top finisher for the Hodag middle school boys, placing 19th (27:40). He was followed by Jacob MacFarland in 22nd (27:39), Urban Beuning in 37th (31:04) and Kenny Koch in 40th (33:34).

Aaron Calhoun (52nd, 19:27), Skubal (23rd, 21:58), Jacob MacFarland (21st, 14:42) and Pearl Calhoun (eighth, 14:32) were the team’s top performers in Saturday’s classic race. Aaron Calhoun (61st, 18:04), Skubal (26th, 20:19), Tuckey (18th, 12:37) and Pearl Calhoun (ninth, 13:21) led the Hodags in the skate race. 

Evelyn MacFarland made the podium in Sunday’s competition, with the third-fastest time among fifth-and-sixth graders in the skate (14th, 14:07). She was also fifth fastest overall among the younger middle school group.

“They all raced really hard. I think every athlete was pretty darn satisfied with how their events went,” coach Gillen said.

After three straight weekends of racing, the Hodags are idle this weekend. They’ll return to action Tuesday, Jan. 27 in the Wisconsin Nordic Ski League’s Northern Conference Meet, held at Minocqua Winter Park. That will be a precursor to the WNSL’s sprint state championships Feb. 2 and 3 in Brillion and its state distance championships Feb. 9 and 10 in Cable.