Hodag Highlights: Track teams repeat as conference champions; multiple athletes qualify for state

The Rhinelander High School boys and girls track teams both repeated as conference champions at the Great Northern Conference meet hosted in Rhinelander on May 19, kicking off a successful postseason run that will send several Hodag athletes to the state meet in La Crosse on June 5-6.
Sixteen Rhinelander athletes earned all-conference recognition at the meet. Among the standout performances, Macy Myers shattered both the conference and school records in the pole vault with a clearance of 11 feet, 7 inches. Aila Bergman broke her own school record in the 300 meter hurdles while also winning the 100 meter hurdles. On the boys side, Avrom Barr swept all three distance races and was named the conference Runner of the Year.
The Hodags carried their momentum into the regional meet May 26 in Medford, where both the boys and girls teams again won the team title and advanced numerous entries to the sectional. Bergman had a dominant day at the regional, winning the 100 and 300 meter hurdles, the triple jump, and running a leg on the winning 4x400 relay.
At the sectional meet May 29 in Rice Lake, the Hodags set three school records on the girls side. Bergman broke the school record in the triple jump, and two relay teams rewrote the record books as well. The 4x200 relay team of Shyanne Hueckstaedt, Macy Myers, Lucy Eddy and Violet Biolo set a new mark, as did the 4x400 relay team of Hueckstaedt, Myers, Eddy and Bergman.
With the top four finishers in each sectional event advancing to state, Rhinelander will have a strong contingent competing at the La Crosse Center. Bergman qualified in three events — the triple jump, the 300 meter hurdles, and the 4x400 relay. Myers punched her ticket in the pole vault and both relay events, the 4x200 and 4x400. Libbey Buchmann qualified in both the shot put and discus.
The boys will also be represented at state. Ayden Myers earned a state berth with a second-place finish in the pole vault, and the 4x800 relay team of Jackson Weinzatl, Paul Denis, Dean Gillingham and Avrom Barr qualified as well.