Track: Hodag boys look to use depth in GNC repeat bid

While the Rhinelander High School boys’ track team is dealing with more turnover than its female counterparts, the Hodags still have some high expectations for the 2026 season.

With nine returning sectional qualifiers, as well as nine returning all-conference athletes from last season, Rhinelander will be looking for back-to-back Great Northern Conference titles, and its fourth championship in the last eight seasons, by the time the conference meet comes to Mike Webster Stadium May 19. 

The Hodags did graduate their lone state qualifier from last year, Truman Lamers, as well as five other sectional qualifiers from a season ago. Plus, the team has a new head coach as Rod Olson takes the helm while Aaron Kraemer reduces his role following offseason health concerns. Regardless, coach Olson said the Hodags have the pieces to content in the GNC and beyond once again this year. 

“I think we can push as many numbers through to sectionals from regionals (as last year),” he said. “They might not be the same kids, but I think we definitely can contend for that conference title. We’ll just have to be creative and use our talent to gain some of those points.”

The Hodags appear to have the most depth in its sprint and hurdle departments. Rhinelander returns all four legs of its GNC-champion and sectional-qualifying 4x100-meter relay team in seniors Cyrus Leisure, Sam Zwaard and Ben Olson, along with junior Landon Catlin.

Individually, Leisure was third in the conference in the 400-meter dash and narrowly missed qualifying for sectionals in that event with a fifth-place finish. Ben Olson made it to sectionals in the 200, taking ninth in that event and Zwaard was seventh at regionals in the 100 meters. Additionally, the team brings back senior Evan Shoeder and sophomore Matthew Haselton, who were both on the team’s sectional squad in the 4x200 relay along with Zwaard and Ben Olson.

“We got some good depth there,” coach Olson said. “We just have to find some good combinations of working that out. We’ve got a couple underclassmen that have come up and said ‘I want to do the 400.’ So I’m encouraged by that.”

    In this May 27, 2025 file photo, Rhinelander’s Myles Eagleson competes in the triple jump during a WIAA Division 2 track and field regional at Mike Webster Stadium. Eagleson, a senior, is one of nine returning sectional qualifiers for the Hodag boys’ track team this season. (Jeremy Mayo/River News)
  

Individually, senior Myles Eagleson figures to factor in a number of events. Though he worked through injury last year, he still was the regional champion in the triple jump and also qualifies for sectionals in the long jump. Coach Olson said he figures to score well for the Hodags in the horizontal jumps again, while perhaps working into the sprint group as well.

“I think we can rely on Myles. He’s really done a good job this offseason,” he said. “… I think he’ll have a really good season. Even in the sprint, we had utilized him a couple years ago in the relays and we really couldn’t do that last year trying to hang in there for triple jump. But, in our workouts that we’ve had, he’s really shown some good performance in the training. I think he can help us into relays too.”

In hurdles, junior Ryley Hull is back after finishing runner-up in the conference in the 300 hurdles. Coach Olson said he’s also expecting a breakout season from junior Amos Bergman, who made the finals at regionals in the 110 hurdles and finished ninth. 

“They’re going to be neck and neck, I think Amos and Ryley, so we’re pretty excited about those two in the hurdle events,” coach Olson said.

While the Hodag distance crew took a bit of a hit graduating GNC runner of the year Greyson Gremban and fellow 4x800 teammate Shawn Denis, the team still has a strong nucleus of runners who were part of a runner-up finish in the GNC and a third-place finish in sectionals this past fall for the Hodag cross country team.

That includes reigning GNC and sectional cross-country champion Avrom Barr. The junior finished second in the 1,600 and 3,200 last May and was third in the 800 when Gremban completed the distance triple crown by winning all three of those events at conference. Fellow junior Jackson Weinzatl was also part of the 4x800 relay that finished sixth at sectionals last year and is coming off an individual trip to the WIAA state cross country meet. Juniors Jonathan Campbell and Michael Brunette were key pieces for the Hodag cross country team this fall and sophomore Dean Gillingham, who plays soccer in the fall, took eighth for the Hodags in the 1,600 last spring at regionals.

“A lot of them have really, you know, made a year long commitment from the start across to track season. With hard work, I think we can still be up in the top three across the board for distance,” coach Olson said.

Rhinelander could also steal some points in the pole vault, where senior Ayden Myers took third in the conference last year while junior Charlie Antonuk placed sixth.

“I think that’s there’s tremendous opportunity for anybody that’s going to be on pole vault. We have one of the best coaches, I think, in the country for that event,” Olson said, referring to pole vault coach Jayme Wyss. “And she does a real good job of bringing kids on in their first year and having them be competitive. I think that too is another event, both boys and girls, that we’re going to start to become a program that just produces good pole vaulters every year.”

Triple jump potentially has some depth for Rhinelander. In addition to Eagleson, Catlin finished fifth in the event at regionals last year while Haselton was seventh at conference. Olson noted Shoeder has been working on high jump this year, and potentially my get a couple of other teammates from this year’s RHS boys’ basketball team to join him.

The Hodags’ biggest losses from last year come in the throwing department where the trio of Logan Schwinger, Reid Schultz and Bo Stott all graduated after reaching sectionals in at least one of the throwing events. Rhinelander will also be missing out on points in the high jump, where Lamers was the conference runner-up and eventually made it to state. 

Coach Olson said, that’s where the team may need to rely on quantity over quality as new leaders begin to emerge. 

“I think that the fact that there’s good numbers in there, some inner team competition, and then another year of physical development (will help),” he said. “We’ve got some football players and talent that work hard all year long. The same concept, I think, as we’re faced with in high jump. Let’s try and use our depth. If we can’t secure those one and twos, let’s use depth to gain some points.”

If all of the pieces come together, coach Olson said he hops the team will be ready to go once championship season rolls around in May.

“I feel that we can compete again for being one of the top programs in the conference on both sides, boys and girls,” he said.

In the interest of full disclosure, the River News notes that the author of this story has a family member who is an athlete on the RHS track team.

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected]. 

TEAM SCHEDULE

Date    Event    Time

3/20    Ripon College Indoor    4:30 p.m.

3/24    Ashland Indoor    4 p.m.

3/26    Northland Pines Invite    4:30 p.m.

3/31    Merrill Indoor    4 p.m.

4/4    WISTCA State Indoor at Whitewater    9:30 a.m.

4/4    Stevens Point Distance Carnival    5 p.m.

4/9    Wausau West Indoor (Girls)    4:30 p.m.

4/10    Wausau West Indoor (Boys)    4:30 p.m.

4/14    HODAG HYBRID    4:15 p.m.

4/17    Marathon Invite    4:30 p.m.

4/21    Wausau West Invite    4:30 p.m.

4/24    Northland Pines Relays    4 p.m.

4/28    ONEIDA COUNTY TRIANGULAR    4 p.m.

5/1    Kaukauna Invite    4 p.m.

5/5    Lakeland Invite    4 p.m.

5/8    Otto Bacher Invite    5 p.m.

5/12    Tomahawk Invite    4:15 p.m.

5/14    HODAG INVITE    4 p.m.

5/19    GNC MEET AT RHINELANDER    4 p.m.

5/26    WIAA Regionals at Medford    4 p.m.

5/29    WIAA Sectionals at Rice Lake    4 p.m.

6/5-6    WIAA State at La Crosse    9 a.m.

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