By Jalen Maki
Tomahawk Leader Editor
TOMAHAWK – The Tomahawk Hatchet cross country team will head into the 2021 season with a host of key athletes returning and many young runners looking to make contributions as they gain varsity experience.
The team is led by head coach John Zuelsdorf, who has been at the helm for 30 seasons. Assistant coaches Bill Turgeon, Connor Ahrens, Steph Welke, Justin Lund, and Kurt Reinke round out the coaching staff.
Athletes lost to graduation, injury
The Hatchets lost numerous athletes key to its success in 2020.
On the girls’ team, Tianna Gerstenberger and Autumn Peissig graduated, while sophomore number two runner Greta Tjugum was lost to injury. Zuelsdorf hopes Tjugum will return for the 2022 season.
Numerous athletes from the boys’ team were also lost to graduation. Two-time individual state qualifier Noah Buckwalter is currently competing at Michigan Tech, and sub-16:50 5K runner Drew Bolder is competing at St. Norbert College. All-Conference athlete Alex Norman, as well as Ethan Liebnitz, Hunter Borchardt, and Hunter VanRyen, also graduated earlier this year.
Returning, new runners
Despite the departure of central team members, many key athletes are set to return, and new runners are looking to make an impact.
The girls will be led by returning letter winners Ava Dragosh, Emily Lacina, Macey Mann, Kate Reilly, and Geena Wanta, all seniors with state-level experience.
“They will get a lot of varsity-level support from underclass letter winners and 2020 State qualifiers Morgan Hansmann (junior), Rachael Reilly (sophomore) and 2019 State qualifier Serena Reinke (junior),” Zuelsdorf said, noting that the group could be challenged for their varsity spots by sophomores Robin Schmidt, Kambyl Mattke, and Halle Derleth, “who are coming off solid spring track seasons and put in a lot of miles this summer.”
Zuelsdorf said the girls’ team has several runners set to be key role players as the season progresses, noting that with “miles and high school-level training under their belts, they could turn a few heads.”
“To be successful in the tournament series, we will need to stay healthy and avoid injury,” Zuelsdorf stated. “Many of these girls have been through the training and peaking process numerous times, so they should be used to it.”
With improved numbers and a solid nucleus with varsity experience returning, the girls’ team will look to challenge Medford in the Great Northern Conference (GNC) and the Sectional.
“One new change this year is that Tomahawk was moved out of the East Central Sectional (Freedom, Xavier, Little Chute, etc.) and placed in the Southwest Sectional (La Crosse Logan, Gale-Ettrick Trempealeau, Colby, etc.), so that will be a big change as far as being familiar with programs and athletes,” Zuelsdorf explained. “We hope to get to compete against many of those schools throughout the season at various invites.”
The boys’ team will look to rebuild around its three returning runners with varsity experience after the graduation of key seniors and the addition of many new athletes.
The team will be led by its lone senior captain, Arden Ziert, who has been on the varsity team since his freshman year and is a two-time All-Conference athlete, as well as two sophomores who saw regular varsity competition last year: 2nd-team All-Conference runner Owen Dickrell and Presley Gutbrod.
With the leadership of Ziert, Dickrell and Gutbrod, “we will look to improve as the season progresses and be ready to defend our two-time GNC Champions and finish in the upper part of our Sectional,” Zuelsdorf stated.
The early stages of the season could be “interesting,” Zuelsdorf said, due to the large number of runners without varsity experience.
“It’s been quite a few years since the boys have been this thin,” he stated. “Our numbers haven’t been this low since the early 1980s. The first year I volunteered in 1984, we had nine boys. Since the late ‘80s, we have averaged over two dozen boys a year, with a high of over 40 in the mid 2000s.”
Zuelsdorf said he expects numerous athletes to challenge for remaining scoring positions, including Jacob Towle (junior), Brett Borchardt (sophomore) and Sam Zastrow (freshman). Others vying to fill varsity spots will be Taje Casey (junior), John Mark Hawley (junior) and newcomer Ty Anthes (junior).
“We will be inexperienced as a whole on the varsity level, but the boys will look to continue a Hatchet tradition of being competitive at each opportunity,” Zuelsdorf said.
Runners to watch
Zuelsdorf pointed to numerous Hatchet runners to keep an eye on this season.
“Freshman newcomer Alli Palmer and sophomores Halle Derleth, Lizzy Lee, and Sophie Urmann could all see varsity-level competition as they adapt to competing at the 5K distance and get some races under their belts,” the coach said. “Sam Zastrow (freshman) is our top incoming runner from our middle level program and looked solid at our 5K Pow Wow Days race this summer. Brett Borchardt (sophomore) put in some good miles this summer and will be much improved over last year.”
Conference outlook
Both the girls’ and boys’ teams will face solid competition within the GNC.
On the girls’ side, “Medford, Lakeland, Rhinelander and Mosinee will bring solid programs to the table, and Pines will have the top runner in possibly the state this year in Gremban,” Zuelsdorf said. “The GNC has traditionally been well-represented at the State level in the last two decades.”
Zuelsdorf said Lakeland’s boys’ team “will be the early season favorite, especially on their home course this year, if they return all of their underclass runners.”
“One can never count out Medford, and Rhinelander could be the dark horse,” he added. “Our boys will work hard to ‘three-peat’ and won’t give it up without a battle.”
Expectations
The girls’ team continues to have a solid work ethic, Zuelsdorf said, noting that the group “has done what it takes to be one of the best in northern Wisconsin.”
“After two straight State-qualifying efforts, this will be the last hurrah for the nucleus, and I know that they have high aspirations,” he stated.
Although the boys’ team is young and inexperienced heading into the season, Zuelsdorf believes that “when things ‘click’ and they get some varsity-level racing experience, they have the potential to surprise some area teams that are writing us off this year.”
“The critical component to this group’s success will be staying healthy with very little depth, understanding the importance of classroom over athletics to stay academically eligible, and taking pride in carrying on the strong Hatchet CC tradition that their predecessors have historically laid out,” Zuelsdorf stated.