January 19, 2018 at 1:19 p.m.
Hodag gymnasts fall to Antigo in GNC crossover
Hodag gymnasts fall to Antigo in GNC crossover
Rhinelander was neither flawless or injury-free on Thursday night as it lost a Great Northern Conference crossover dual to the Robins 123.425-114.05 at Sheldon Fieldhouse.
The Hodags edged Antigo on the floor exercise and were within a point of the Robins on vault. Antigo won the dual with its performances on balance beam and uneven bars. They were more than four points better than Rhinelander in both events.
"Beam was still not our friend and (we had) a lot of mistakes on bars today," Rhinelander co-coach Heather Sturtevant said. "The score still was a 114 with the mistakes and things, but we were really hoping for higher."
Rhinelander took 11 falls on balance beam, its final event of the night, and took to the apparatus without junior Raven Sturtevant, who tweaked her ankle in pre-match warmups and re-aggravated it during her floor exercise routine.
"She was a little sketchy throughout the meet and then took a pretty big fall with her last pass on floor. I couldn't risk injuring further by forcing beam," said Heather Sturtevant, Raven's mother.
While the injury is not believed to be overly serious, Heather Sturtevant said Raven's availability for Saturday's invite in Rice Lake is up in the air.
Despite an off night for the team, senior Stephanie Kuester had a big night individually, taking the individual all-around with a score of 31.5 points. She edged out Antigo's Emma Jansen by 0.05 points for the overall title. Madi Langseth finished third for the Robins with a 31.125.
Kuester won the vaulting competition with a score of 8.5, placed second on the floor exercise (8.2), third on the uneven bars (7.825) and fourth on balance beam (6.975).
"Stephanie had a very clean meet, which was nice to see her put everything together all at the same time," coach Sturtevant said. "It was really nice that she put up some great scores. She was essentially flawless on vault because she just did the front handspring, and that's out of an 8.6 (maximum score)."
Floor was by far Rhinelander's best event of the night as it placed four gymnasts in the top six overall. Freshmen Autumn Shafer (7.75) and Bridget Koser (7.7) finished third and fourth, respectively. Despite a fall, Raven Sturtevant managed a sixth-place finish (7.55).
"Steph had a great routine and Autumn and Bridget both had really nice, clean routines that threw up some big numbers, that was nice," Heather Sturtevant said.
Raven Sturtevant added a fourth-place finish on uneven bars (7.4) and was fifth on the vault (7.9).
Rhinelander was also without Makayla Kuester, Stephanie's twin sister, for the dual due to injury.
Thursday's meet marked exactly five weeks before the Hodags return to Antigo for a WIAA Division 2 sectional where Ashland is the prohibitive favorite to win.
The top two teams qualify for the WIAA state meet March 2-3 in Wisconsin Rapids.
Based on scores so far this season, Antigo and Rhinelander appear to be the two most likely candidates for the runner-up spot in an eight-team field that also includes the rest of the GNC Small Division as well as Washburn.
"That definitely is our goal," coach Sturtevant said. "We go back to Antigo for their invite in a week (Jan. 27). The girls really want to go back and redeem (themselves)."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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