Track teams take runner-up at Pines

EAGLE RIVER — Placing well in the team standings was not exactly the goal on Thursday for the Rhinelander High School track team. But, when you have as much depth as the Hodags do, results just seem to fall into place. 

That proved to be the case as both the Hodag boys’ and girls’ squads — despite limiting or resting a number of key athletes — still finished second in the nine-team Northland Pines Indoor meet in Eagle River. 

The Hodags boys were 53 points behind the hosting Eagles for the win and the Hodag girls, who didn’t field any entries in the final two events of the night, were edged by 16 1/2 points by Tomahawk for the top spot. Girls’ coach Andy Wyss said the team’s gameplan in the early-season meet was much less about going for the win than it was making sure plenty of athletes had a chance to compete.

“It’s a nice surprise when that’s not the intention, and then at the end of the night when there’s a couple events left and you check out the scores and you’re like, ‘Well, we actually have a chance to win this,’ when that’s not the intent,” he said. “It shows our depth a little bit. It makes you feel a little better, knowing that we left a lot of points at sitting at home, and we can still do that well.”

    Rhinelander’s Myles Eagleson makes his approach in the triple jump during the Northland Pines Indoor Invite in Eagle River Thursday, March 26. Eagleson won the event with a leap of 37 feet, 7 inches. (Jeremy Mayo/River News)
  

The Hodags had a handful of athletes make their season debuts on Thursday. Myles Eagleson, a sectional qualifier last year in the long and triple jump, took the triple jump Thursday with a leap of 37 feet, 7 inches. While far from a personal best, boys’ coach Rod Olson said it was a good starting point for the senior.

“There’s making your mark and getting your PRs, and then there’s winning on the date, like, what do you gotta do to win tonight,” he said. “I’m just real excited that Myles is healthy this year … Last year, we suffered with ankles, and the year before, a deep cut when he was a sophomore, and he still had competed well as a sophomore. So I’m pretty excited for him this year to get back into form, and start putting up some bigger marks.” 

On the girls’ side, the Hodags won three events, sweeping at least the top two spots in all three. That included a dominating night in the hurdles. Senior Aila Bergman took the 55 hurdles (9.92 seconds) with juniors and first-year hurdlers Alexis Smith and Emeline Hintz taking second and third. Bergman didn’t run the 200 hurdles, but Hintz and Smith went 1-2 in that event, with Hintz getting the win (34.26) by 0.33 seconds over her teammate.

“Rod does a great job with those hurdlers and seeing that sea of green coming at you at one, two, three, right off the last hurdle that’s fun,” Wyss said.

    Rhinelander’s Macy Myers clears 10 feet, 6 inches in the pole vault during the Northland Pines Indoor Invite in Eagle River Thursday, March 26. Myers won the event as the Hodags placed second as a team. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

Rhinelander also went 1-2 in the pole vault as the junior duo of Macy Myers and Hintz matched heights for the second time in three days. This time, both cleared 10-6, with Myers doing it in fewer attempts to score the win.

“That’s going to be a really good, I think, season-long battle between those two and I’m glad they have each other,” Wyss said. “They come at it a little bit different. Emeline’s looking really fast right now, so she’s getting those higher heights right away at the beginning of the season. Macy’s starting to build that back what she had last year and I think, more so than last year, I think they’re going to go back and forth.”

    Rhinelander’s Ryley Hull competes in the 55-meter hurdles during the Northland Pines Indoor Invite in Eagle River Thursday, March 26. Hull won the event as the Hodags placed second as a team. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

The Hodags boys also had a solid night in the hurdle events. Junior Ryley Hull claimed the 55 hurdles (9.03) and was the runner-up in the 200 hurdles (28.83). Junior Amos Bergman, who false started out of the 55, came back with a third-place showing in the 200. 

The Hodag girls had eight runner-up finishes to go along with their three wins. Three of those second-place showings came from sophomore Mady Treder, who was second in the high jump (4-6), long jump (14-1 1/2) and the triple jump (30-9 1/2). She added a fourth-place finish in the 200 meters. 

“This was also our first time high jumping at a meet. She was also a little nervous, like, ‘coach, that’s kind of a lot of jumps.’ So we monitored it and she just jumped well,” Wyss said. “She’s got a lot of potential. She’s another one too, where we were kind of pigeonholed into a couple events. She did the long and the triple, and now if we can extend that out a little bit, add another event ... we were kind of weak in the high jump anyway, losing our seniors coming back. So if we can pick up somebody like Mady that could, that can get up there and give us some points, I think that just, again shows her ability.”

Junior Lucy Eddy, a state relay qualifier from last season, was second in the 400 meters in her first race of the spring. Junior Kara Monk added a runner-up finish in the 800. Senior Millie Gruett came home fifth in the 400 and senior Tori Stella was fifth in the shot put. 

The Hodag boys, even with top pole vaulter Ayden Myers sitting Thursday out, showed well in that event. Sophomore Paul Denis and junior Charlie Antonuk both cleared 10 feet, 6 inches to take second and third. 

“We’re deep there, and we need to be deep. We’re going to have to use that pole vault to (gain some points),” Olson said. “A lot of programs will have a pole vaulter, but it seems like they’ll have one outstanding one. But I think we can keep three on that top five to eight places that every time we compete, that would be a great amount of points from a really solid group of vaulters.” 

Avrom Barr added a runner-up finish in the 800 and was part of a second-place run in the 4x400 with Denis, Dean Gillingham and Jonathan Campbell. Jackson Weinzatl was third in the 1,600 and fourth in the 3,200 meters. Rhinelander finished fourth with its 4x800 relay of Konner Bex, Wyatt Crowell, Michael Brunette and Logan Creapeau. Brock Sternitzky came home fifth in the shot put with a personal-best toss of 38-6. 

“That was awesome. It was a couple more feet than we expected him to do,” Olson noted. “So I think once you have any athlete experience that, ‘Hey, I just did this,’ and kind of been doing the same program, and all of a sudden, you pop one off, you know that you’re kind of in control of your own destiny. So I think that was great for his confidence, and great to push his teammates, too.”

Most of the GNC, with the exception of Medford and Mosinee, was in attendance at Thursday’s meet. Northland Pines, Rhinelander and Tomahawk made up the top three on the boys’ side while Tomahawk, Rhinelander and Pines finished 1-2-3 in the girls’ division. Northern Lakes Conference schools Three Lakes and Crandon, and Phillips from the Marawood North, rounded out the nine-team field. 

The Hodags are back in action tonight in an indoor invite at Merrill. Both Olson and Wyss said their squad will likely limit a number of their top athletes again in preparation for the WISCTA State Indoor Championships at UW-Whitewater and the Stevens Point Distance Carnival, both of which will take place this coming Saturday. 

“Merrill will be another repeat of kind of what we did tonight,” Olson said. “Merrill has a very small track, and not a great place to put the laps on. It seems like you always have 50 laps left if you’re running longer races. We’ll kind of feel out what we’ve got for the younger guys, and then really get some good training for that group that’ll go to Point and Whitewater next week.”

In the interest of full disclosure, the River News notes 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].