Track: Hodag girls dominate Tomahawk Invite

TOMAHAWK — The weather was about the only thing that could hinder the Rhinelander High School girls’ track team on Tuesday, and even Mother Nature had a hard time keeping the Hodags down. 

Rhinelander won six events and added another 16 top-five finishes as it ran away with title in the 11-team Hatchet Invite in Tomahawk. The Hodags boys scored a lone win and had nine top-five finishes as they took home fourth at Hatchet Field.

A pair of lightning delays pushed the start of the meet back roughly 1 hour, 20 minutes, the temperature plummeted after the storm system moved through and the final running events didn’t wrap up until after 10 p.m. That made for another long, chilly night at the track, something the Hodags have come accustomed to the last couple of weeks. 

“It was tough. But you know, that’s all right. We’re set up for the cold mental prep type of thing if it comes on again, or this (weather) never ends,” Hodag boys’ coach Rod Olson said. “That was tough. But It was OK. We had some. Good performances tonight. We’re mixing all the kids in these meets but I saw some good times.”

The biggest challenge, according to Hodag girls’ coach Andy Wyss was keeping the athletes focused. Moments after the first lightning delay ended, and the National Anthem played, another loud thunderclap sent the teams scurrying back inside Tomahawk’s fieldhouse to wait out another storm cell.

“When you’re going on back-to-back delays, you kind of get the sense like they would rather not be here anymore,” Wyss said. “To be able to kind of work your way out of that and turn things around and realize that everyone’s competing in the same conditions at the same time, you got to flip the switch whether you want to or not. And they did pretty well responding to that.”

The Hodags had several impressive performances, but perhaps none stronger than the shot put, where the team claimed four of the top five spots. Senior Libbey Buchmann won the event (35 feet, 8 3/4 inches), but she had plenty of company. Jalyn Zadnik (34-3 1/2), Tatiana Vadis (32-1 1/2) and Sam Aschenbrenner (31-8) finished in positions 3-5 as they fight for spots on the postseason roster in one of the team’s deepest events.

“Those girls are really working well, and I think feeding off each other a little bit — especially now that we have conference and regionals coming up, and we know that the most spots we can give to that event is three,” Wyss said. “It’s gonna be close and so I think they’re all kind of shooting for those spots.”

Buchmann bounced back into the 130s as she also won the discus, putting up a throw of 131-5. Wyss said the coaches considered scratching Buchmann from that event due to the weather and to give her a bit of a breather, but said she was having none of that idea.

“She would not have a DNS (did not start) next to her name in the shot and disc. She didn’t want to give anybody any ideas. She had to compete and did well,” Wyss said.

Freshman Marsadies Williams continued to impress, placing in the top four of all four of her individual events. She won the long jump (16-5 1/2), took second in the 100-meter hurdles (18.08 seconds), was third in the pole vault (9-0) and fourth in the 200 (27.66).

“She has proven herself to be extremely versatile and, usually if she gets a second chance in any event, it’s gonna be a personal record and worth considering for some of these slots. She’s not making it easy on us,” Wyss said.

    Rhinelander’s Kara Monk competes in the 1,600-meter run during the Hatchet Invitational track meet in Tomahawk Tuesday, May 12. Monk finished third in the event and was the runner-up behind teammate Millie Gruett in the 800. (Jeremy Mayo/River News)
  

The Hodags added a 1-2 finish in the 800 as teammates Millie Gruett and Kara Monk battled to the finish line, with Gruett (2:43.21) winning the lean to the tape by 0.35 seconds. Freshman Noelle Mayo won the opening heat in that race and was seventh overall, less than four seconds behind Gruett (2:47.02).

“Millie’s been running so great all year, and to be right there with Kara, who’s consistently strong, just great to see that out of them as well,” Wyss said.

The Myers siblings swept the pole vault on Tuesday. Macy claimed the girls’ event with a vault of 10-6 while older brother Ayden won the boys’ event with a lifetime-best height of 14 feet. That puts him just six inches off the school record, set by Kevin Langlois in 1998 and matched by Vince Berry in 2014.

“You’re leveling up to state, and changing (expectations). I think conference we’d do quite well in that anyways, but to get that look and that experience, you know, on a crappy night to pole vault (is impressive),” Olson said. “I mean, the first thing we did when we got there was make sure that the pit was facing the other direction because the wind was so strong. With as much as a headwind hurts you, a tailwind can do it too. You’re running faster than you normally were, are you’re going to get pushed into (the bar). So it was good.”

Rhinelander’s girls’ team also claimed the 4x400 with Teagan Clark, Gruett, Shyanne Hueckstaedt and Macy Myers (4:27.78).

Aila Bergman took second in the 200 (26.54) and was third in the 400 (1:01.89). Monk added a third-place run in the 1,600 (5:48.30). Macy Myers was fourth in the 400 (1:02.46), Emeline Hintz was fourth in the pole vault (9-0) and Emily Schiek came home fifth in the 3,200. 

Rhinelander was fourth in the 4x100, and fifth in both the 4x200 and 4x800.

“Kind of put together some relays that I think may or may not be what we use for conference, so getting them getting those four girls on each of those a chance to work together and pass the baton,” Wyss noted. “Just another good prep meet. We didn’t put a lot of pressure on scoring points and things like that. It was just kind of another step in the preparation toward the big meets where we want to be at tip-top shape.”

On the boys’ side, the squad of Dean Gillingham, Jonathan Campbell, Jackson Weinzatl and Avrom Barr finished second in the 4x800. Barr was the runner-up in the 3,200 (10:25.13), Weinzatl was fourth in that race and Gillingham took fourth in the 800. 

Ben Olson added a fourth-place finish in the 400 (53.52) and added a personal-best performance in a seventh-place run in the 100 (11.62).

Rhinelander came home third in the 4x100, fourth in the 4x400 and fifth in the 4x200.

“Ben had two PBs in the 100 and 400. We’re trying out some different combos still working on what we’re going to do in conference, seeing what Lakeland does, Northland Pines, stuff like that,” coach Olson said. “So a lot of positives stick away from the night.”

Rhinelander hosted a home invitational Thursday that concluded after press time for today’s edition. A recap of that meet, plus a preview of next Tuesday’s GNC meet at Mike Webster Stadium will appear in the May 19 edition of the River News. 

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].