February 17, 2017 at 2:56 p.m.
Injury-plagued Hodag gymnasts beat Chequamegon
RHS 2nd heading into GNC meet
Injury-plagued Hodag gymnasts beat Chequamegon
The Hodags were far from 100 percent on Thursday but still had more than enough to defeat Chequamegon 109.8-100.825 at the Jim Miazga Community Gymnasium. The win moves Rhinelander to 3-1 in the GNC Small and second in the division standings entering Saturday's conference meet in Mosinee.
The Hodags will have to finish ahead of first-place Medford on Saturday to earn at least a share of the conference title, which could be a tall order. Rhinelander was without all-arounders Stephanie Kuester (head/neck) and Alyssa Mitchell (arm) Thursday, and neither will be healthy enough to compete on Saturday.
"We had a lot of injuries and illness," Hodag co-coach April Denis said. "I knew the girls could pull together, and we've been proving that the last couple years, and I was pleased that they were able to pull in some bigger numbers."
Raven Sturtevant and Makayla Kuester led Rhinelander's cobbled together lineup on Thursday, finishing 1-2 in three of the four events. Sturtevant won the individual all-around, while Kuester won two of the three events she entered.
Sturtevant had a combined score of 29.325 in the four events, 2.1 points better than Chequamegon's Ashley Lustig. Sturtevant finished in the top three in all four events, highlighted by a win on the floor exercise (7.825).
"Raven's floor, it was very beautiful to watch. She was starting to hit some of her skills and controlling them," Denis said.
Makayla Kuester won the vault (8.375), the uneven bars (7.1) and took second on the floor (7.65).
"On bars, Makayla really came through and really had a nice, clean routine. It flowed well," Denis noted.
Floor was Rhinelander's best event as the Hodags claimed five of the top six spots. Mikayla Evenstad was fourth, Harlie Zimmermann was fifth and Emily Radke finished sixth. Zimmermann took third on uneven bars to complete a top-three sweep for the Hodags in that event.
"We had three solid 7s (on floor) and that's what we need just nice, solid, consistent numbers," Denis said. "They were very fun to watch and, again, we had a lot of them coming back from a lot of illness, injury. It was fun to watch them on floor.
"Bars, I was pleased with the bars and there are some girls who this is their first meet they've competed in. They had to come over some of their jitters."
The Hodags struggled with balance beam, which has been the team's nemesis all season. The Eagles outscored the Hodags 25.5-24.25 in the event as Rhinelander's five gymnasts combined to fall off the beam 11 times. Each fall is a half-point deduction.
"We struggled a little bit with balance beam, not so much the skills we just need to stay on the balance beam," Denis said. "Every fall we take is a pretty big hit. Tomorrow we're going to be focusing on balance beam. If they can stay on and have clean routines, we'll be all right."
Evenstad (23.675) took sixth in the all-around for the Hodags.
The injuries meant an increased workload for some of Rhinelander's younger gymnasts, including Radke, Cassie Choinski and Mattia Beske. Denis said they performed well under the circumstances.
"I think they kind of wanted to (be on varsity) and I think this way they were kind of forced a little bit," she said. "They've practiced for it and now they actually get to show what they've practiced. With the team backing them and helping them out, encouraging them, I think that's what helped them overcome these fears."
Still the Hodags will likely need to pick up their score if they want to retain the GNC Small division crown on Saturday. Medford scored at least 114 points in three of its four conference dual so far this season. The Hodags narrowly lost to Medford 114.75-114.525 Jan. 31 in Medford to give the Raiders the upper hand in the conference race.
"At this point I think we're just going to look at the individual girls to do their best," Denis said. "If they're sick or they're injured, there's nothing we can do and the other girls are still part of the team. They just need to do their best and it will be what it is. I think we're going to look at more individual and if you do your individual best, that's when the team scores start going up."
The conference meet gets underway at 10 a.m. Saturday at Mosinee High School.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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