December 14, 2020 at 8:57 a.m.
Dome sweet dome
RHS gymnasts make history, christen new Hodag Dome
Dome sweet dome
The RHS gymnastics team made itself at home in its new venue, defeating Chequamegon 112.0-69.7 Thursday night in the dome's first sporting event. The Hodags followed up on Saturday with a 115.925 score and a third-place finish in a triangular against a pair of GNC Large schools, Marshfield and Wisconsin Rapids.
The Hodags set up on the far court of the four inside the 128,000-square foot facility that also includes a regulation football field. A handful of spectators were able to attend the events, due to capacity restrictions in place because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Overall, coach Heather Sturtevant said the first events inside the new dome were a success.
"We're still figuring out seating, knowing that Chequamegon wasn't bringing many people down," she said following Thursday night's win. "We were figuring out how to spread out our few parents, so we do have a few changes, but otherwise we had plenty of room. I thought it flowed really well. We were able to clean in between each event, even on vault and bars cleaning between gymnasts. I thought that went really well."
As for the performance Thursday night, those went well, too.
Rhinelander senior Lilli Bishop, in her first meet back since a late-season practice injury that cost her the chance to compete at sectionals, won the individual all-around Thursday night. She won three of the four events, including uneven bars - where her season-ending injury last February occurred.
"She hadn't even practiced a flyaway at all yet in practice but came up and said, 'I want you guys to double spot me,' and just threw it, when that is what she got injured on and ended her season last year," Sturtevant said. "To just throw that because she knew she needed it, and to do it so well, I'm just, wow."
Bishop's score of 6.35 in the event tied for first with freshman teammate Alexa Lukes. Bishop also won the balance beam (7.4), the floor exercise (8.15) and finished second on the vault (8.0), as she posted an all-around score of 29.9.
Vault and floor exercise tied for Rhinelander's best scores of the night, as the team scored 30.1 in both events. Bishop and senior teammate Bridget Koser (8.0) went 1-2 on the floor, which Sturtevant called a promising start to the season.
"Bridget and Lilli getting 8s out of the gate on floor for their first meet - they've hit 8s, but never in the first meet of the season - what a way for those seniors to start," she said. "Obviously, our older girls are used to competing, seeing that confidence on the floor, which really showed today in the floor routines. I'm so proud of them, they did better than what I had hoped."
Koser (28.05) finished third in the all-around, and completed a 1-2-3 sweep for the Hodags on uneven bars (6.1). The Hodags also swept the top three spots on the balance beam with Bishop, sophomore Payton Rudawski (7.3) and Lukes (7.15). Rudawski added a third-place finish for Rhinelander on the vault (7.5).
All four freshmen on Rhinelander's roster made their varsity debuts on Thursday. In addition to Lukes, who just returned to the lineup following a preseason foot injury, Emma Chiamulera and Annabelle Huff competed on the floor exercise and Claire Wilberding competed on the uneven bars.
"Alexa Lukes literally got cleared Wednesday morning," Sturtevant said. "We weren't sure if she was able to compete. She was able to do two events. We're working her back in. A few of our freshman obviously had the freshman jitters, but just so much to work with, with that. The routines, it's cleaning up things now. The skills are there, and I'm just so proud of them all."
Chequamegon's Kristina Peterson won the vaulting competition (8.5) and finished second in the all-around (28.6).
Snowflake Invite
Though the Hodags were last of the three teams in the field, they boosted their score by nearly four points from two nights prior and beat their season-high from last season by 0.85 points.
"The girls were amazing," Sturtevant said. "They were much more confident, just really didn't put the pressure on themselves to place necessarily. We were all just trying to clean up a few more things. The girls just nailed it."
Bishop recorded a career-high on Saturday with a 30.725 as she placed third in the all-around. Her day was highlighted by a fourth-place finish on floor exercise (8.325). Koser picked up 1.7 points from Thursday as she placed fifth in the all-around (29.75). Lukes added a fifth-place finish for Rhinelander on the balance beam (7.45).
Beam was a highlight for Rhinelander on Saturday, as the squad combined for only one fall in five varsity routines.
"That's something we've been fighting for the last couple of years, just trying to get our girls to stay on and the did. Beam was their friend today. It was really exciting to see," Sturtevant said.
Marshfield scored a 129.475 to win the triangular, followed by Wisconsin Rapids at 123.3. Marshfield's Hanna Merkel (32.95) took the individual all-around.
Up next
Rhinelander (1-0 GNC Small) heads to Medford Tuesday, Dec. 22 for a dual against the reigning GNC Small champions. The Raiders seem pointed to defend their title after posting a 128.525 this past Tuesday in a GNC crossover dual against Wisconsin Rapids.
"That's a high bar. We're going to do our best," Sturtevant said. "That's quite a jump to go from our 116, but it's just something we're going to be looking at. We have a couple girls working some new skills, we just knew they weren't ready and didn't want to take the falls today. We'll be upping a few things, working on the connections we know we did not get today. We're just going to keep adding to our score and we'll see where we're at."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
Comments:
You must login to comment.