All-GNC: Aubryn Clark named girls’ hoops POTY

Rhinelander High School junior Aubryn Clark was not the Great Northern Conference’s leading scorer, nor did she play on the conference championship team, but a strong argument could be made she was the one player in the conference that drew the most attention from opposing defenses. That fact helped her earn the league’s top honor.

Clark was named the conference player of the year and was one of three unanimous first-team all-conference selections when the All-GNC girls’ basketball team was announced Monday morning by the conference. 

Clark averaged 19.4 points per game in the GNC, and finished 43 points behind fellow unanimous first-teamer, Medford junior Taylor Klingbeil, for the GNC scoring title. Clark led the GNC with 42 made 3-pointers and a 72.6% success rate from the foul line. Additionally, she was second in the conference in assists (49) and was among the top 10 in steals (42).

Other nominees for player of the year included Klingbeil, Mosinee’s Paetyn Jirschele and Tomahawk’s Freya Alberg. Coach Ryan Clark, Aubryn’s father, said it boiled down to the respect the other coaches in the conference have for Aubryn Clark’s abilities. 

“To get a player of the year and be third in the conference was a pretty good accomplishment,” he said. “Our conference has some really good top level talent. Taylor Klingbeil from Medford is really good. Jirschele (from Mosinee is a) very good guard, very athletic, very strong. Those two to me are really heavy hitters … But I think what helps Aubryn, I think she’s the most skilled basketball player in the conference and she requires the most defensive attention. Even if she doesn’t have the highest shooting percentage this year, just her ability where teams can’t pressure us. Teams can’t press us. She can just run the whole show for us.”

It marked Aubryn Clark’s third consecutive appearance on the all-conference list. She was a first-team honoree as a freshman and received honorable mention last year despite missing the final seven games of the conference season — and final 12 overall — due to a back injury. 

“Really proud of her just because, you know, last year she missed (time). I think she played five conference games, missed the second half of the year. It was a long, long recovery to come back. So really excited for all the work she put in,” coach Clark said.

Aubryn wasn’t the only Clark on the all-conference list. Her younger sister, freshman Teagan, earned second-team honors while juniors Vivian Lamers and Lexi Beran both received honorable mention.

Teagan Clark was seventh in the league in scoring this season, averaging 14 points per game. She was also second in the conference, behind her sister, in made 3-pointers (33), fifth in the conference in assists (42) and tied for fourth with 3.1 steals per game.

“Happy for her. She came in, confident as a freshman, was ready for the moment and, so she was pretty excited to get second team,” coach Clark said. “Teagan was deserving of second team. I thought, some games, she really kind of carried us offensively. But she just brings so much to the table. She’s a great secondary option to Aubryn, but she defends really well. She’s got high energy. She had a really, really good year.”

Lamers received honorable mention in the GNC for a third consecutive year after finishing 12th in the conference with 10.1 points per game. She was tied with Teagan Clark for fifth in the GNC at 3.1 steals per contest. 

“She’s right there, borderline second-team players. Just that there’s a lot of really good players,” coach Clark said. “We took third in the conference, but, she had some games where they would, you know, triangle-and-2 Aubryn and Teagan and Vivian kind of got teams out of that as the year went on because she could score. She defends. She’s a hustle player. Especially I think the second half of the season, Vivian’s been playing really well.”

Beran is a first time all-conference honoree. She averaged only 3.9 points per game in league play, but her 6.6 rebounds per game were tops on the team, and seventh overall in the GNC. Coach Clark said Beran, who scored what proved to be the game-winning basket following an offensive rebound in the Feb. 28 regional final win at Marinette, has worked hard to earn the right to be named an all-conference player. 

“Lexi, super happy for her because she’s the kid that just keeps working really hard,” he said. “A lot of kids say they love basketball, but she’s the kid that stays after every practice, works on her skill, works on every little detail. You can give her ideas to work on. She does on her own, just a self-starter, really disciplined. So it’s just cool to see a kid that works so hard and is also a really good teammate, get recognized. She’s gotten better. She just keeps getting better every year.”

In addition to the four player of the year nominees, Lakeland’s Ava Evenhouse rounded out the all-conference first team. Joining Teagan Clark on the second team were Kayla Baumgartner and Rylee Hraby of Medford, and Pacyn Stoffel and Addyson Henrich of Mosinee. Mosinee’s Joshua Hau was named the conference coach of the year.

Voting for the all-conference teams was either done by the conference coaches or determined by results at the conference tournament, depending on the sport. The all-conference boys’ basketball team is due to be released next week. 

Below is a look at the other all-GNC teams.

Boys’ hockey

Rhinelander, which tied for last with Medford with a 1-9-0-0 league mark, was shut out of the all-conference voting this season. 

There were three unanimous first-team selections — forwards Jonah Dickens and Jett Reilly from Tomahawk and defenseman Josh Graves from Northland Pines. Antigo goalie Austin Martinson, Mosinee forward Tyler Baars and Tomahawk defenseman Brayden Lamer rounded out the first-team list. 

Dickens, who ended his career as Wisconsin high school’s all-time leading goal scorer, earned player of the year honors with coach of the year going to Northland Pines bench boss Zach Otto.

Boys’ swimming

All 14 members of the Hodag boys’ swim team earned all-conference honors by placing in the top three in at least one event during the Hodags’ championship performance at the Great Northern Conference meet in Minocqua Feb. 6.

Sophomore Dean Gillingham took first-team honors in four events and was voted the GNC’s swimmer of the year. In addition to winning the 200-yard freestyle and setting a meet record in the 100 breaststroke, he was on the winning 200 medley and 400 freestyle relays. 

Individually, Judson O’Malley claimed first-team honors by winning the 50 freestyle and the 100 freestyle; Charlie Antonuk claimed the 100 butterfly and the 100 backstroke, and freshman Kellen O’Malley won the 200 individual medley.

The O’Malley brothers, Gillingham and Daniel Meier were the winning quartet in the 200 medley relay; Antonuk, the O’Malleys and Elias Simonsen claimed the 200 freestyle really and the 400 freestyle championship team was comprised of Antonuk, Meier, Gillingham and Matthew Wood.

Simonsen (200 IM, 100 backstroke), Kellen O’Malley (100 butterfly), Meier (500 freestyle) and Paul Denis (100 breaststroke) claimed individual second-team honors while Meier (200 freestyle), Christopher Larson (100 butterfly) and Finn Thorsen (500 freestyle) received honorable mention with third-place finishes. 

Rhinelander’s 200 medley relay team of Espen McMahon, Denis, Larson and Thorsen came home with second-team honors, as did its 400 freestyle relay team of Thorsen, Simonsen, McMahon and Larson. Rhinelander received honorable mention with the 200 freestyle relay squad of Konner Bex, Wood, Broden Wagner and Kaleb Lehmann.

The Hodags won their eighth straight conference title this winter in undefeated fashion. Rhinelander coach Jenny Heck was voted the conference’s coach of the year. 

Gymnastics

Rhinelander was well-represented this year on the GNC Small Division all-conference team, which was determined by the results of the conference meet Feb. 21 in Minocqua. 

Alexis Smith was the conference champion on the floor exercise while Emeline Hintz took the vault. Both earned first-team honors for their efforts. Hintz was the runner-up on balance beam and in the all-around, earning second-team honors there, while freshman Marsadies Williams was the conference runner-up on uneven bars. Hintz (floor exercise), Smith (vault) and Addison Fish (balance beam) received honorable mention for their third-place finishes.

Lakeland’s Kaitlyn Miesbauer, who brought the T-Birds to a runner-up finish in the GNC Small this season after the team did not compete in 2024-25 due to low numbers, was voted the division’s coach of the year. 

Wrestling

The Hodag boys’ wrestling team had only three all-conference honorees based on the results of the conference tournament Feb. 7 in Medford. Ivan Loka (132 pounds) and Hoyt Dantoin (138) earned second-team honors based on their runner-up finishes while Anthony Boldt received honorable mention with a third-place finish at 150.

Merrill’s Hunter Opper and Brian Suchocki were the wrestler and coach of the year.

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].