Hodag Highlights

BOB MAINHARDT PHOTOS

Hodag boys cross country heads to state

The Hodag boys cross country team is headed to the state meet in Wisconsin Rapids Saturday. The sectional meet was held in Colby Friday afternoon and the Hodags needed to place at least second overall in order to go as a team. The top three teams going into the meet were New London, Lakeland and Rhinelander. Last weekend Lakeland won the conference meet over the Hodags and the rest of the conference.

New London won the meet with 76 points with only one top 10 finisher but had runners finish in 12th, 18, 19, and 20th place. The Hodags had senior Greyson Gremban in third place, sophomore Avrom Barr in fourth, Brody Kowieski 15th, Jackson Weinzatl in 24th and for Rhinelander’s final points, Ayden Myers was 40th  for a score of 86. Third place Lakeland scored 101 points with Ashton Bremer finishing in second place, advancing to state.

On the girls side, the Hodags placed sixth as Tomahawk took first place and will be going to state. Sophomore Macy Myers placed eighth and missed by one spot for a trip to state. Senior Brynn Teter was also in the top 10, placing ninth, three seconds behind Myers. Also scoring for the Hodags was Sophia Miljevich, Gretchen Fiebke and Hayley Schiek.

SWIMMING

The conference girls swim meet took place at Colby on Friday with the Hodags projected to win their sixth straight conference title. Projections were correct as the Hodags had two in the top three of each of the individual events except the 500 yard freestyle. The Hodags won all three relays and also placed second in both the 200 yard medley relay and the 400 yard freestyle relay. Celia Francis was a four-event winner as she won the 200 yard IM and the 100 yard backstroke, and was on two of the winning relays. The Hodags scored 415 points while second place Medford scored 267.5 points.

The Hodags next swim Nov. 9 in Menomonie in the sectional meet.

VOLLEYBALL

Regional volleyball play began last Tuesday for the Hodag girls as they played at Merrill. Unfortunately, this was the last game for the five seniors. The Hodags held leads in the first two sets and even began the second set with a 7-0 run but the Merrill Bluejays fought their way back and took the first two sets by 20-25 scores and then lost the third 16-25. The five seniors are Macey Schmoeger, Lucy Lindner, Kelsi Beran, Callie Hoerchler and Jordan Opsal.

SOCCER

The Hodags boys soccer team played a regional tournament game in New London on Thursday and lost 4-1 to end their season. The Hodags outplayed New London in the second half but could not overcome the 0-3 deficit from the first half. Aidan Lueder scored Rhinelander’s only score on a free kick in the second half. Rhinelander had a chance to score on another penalty kick, but that one, by Michael Schiek, sailed over the crossbar.

New London scored late in the second half, their fourth goal, after the Hodags lost two players for being red carded.