February 4, 2021 at 8:25 a.m.
Hodag gymnasts down Lakeland, finish 3-1 in GNC Small
Hodag gymnasts down Lakeland, finish 3-1 in GNC Small
Lilli Bishop won two events and the all-around, and the Hodags had the top two finishers in all four events as they knocked off Lakeland 114.55-92.3 in a Great Northern Conference Small Division dual at the Hodag Dome.
The score is roughly 2 1/2 points off the Hodags' season high, and slightly lower than the team's performance in a close win on the road last Thursday at Mosinee. Coach Heather Sturtevant said the scores and the judges' feedback made it clear the Hodags have some fine tuning to do ahead of next Saturday's GNC meet.
"It's a win that we needed and the nice thing was getting that last feedback (from the judges)," she said. "We have nine days until conference. We know we've been getting a little lax on some things and that's really what hit us today - not fully rotating jumps, stepping out of things. Now we know what to really clean up before conference."
Bishop, a senior, shined in her final regular season meet in front of the home fans. She scored a career-high 8.55 to win the floor exercise and added a win in uneven bars (6.8) as she took the individual all-around with a score of 30.25.
Fellow senior Bridget Koser won the balance beam (7.4) and was second in the all-around (29.05) while freshman Alexa Lukes won the vault (8.05) and finished third in the all-around (28.6).
"Lilli had an amazing floor routine, a personal best for her. We had a couple of other girls that tied there personal bests," Sturtevant said. "We're seeing more personality on floor. That was nice. The girls, our younger girls, are starting to show more personality and a little more entertainment to go with just the skills. It's nice to see that growth at this part of the season."
Bishop added runner-up finishes for the Hodags on beam (7.0) and vault, where she tied with teammate Payton Rudawski (7.9). Koser and Lukes tied for second on floor (7.8). Koser finished third on uneven bars (6.35) while Lukes was third (6.25).
Sturtevant noted the Hodags had solid nights on both vault and balance beam.
"Our vault, we're getting really close to almost averaging those 8s. Alexa did clear the 8. Lilli and Payton were right behind with a 7.9," she said. "We had four (falls) for our varsity (beam) and we only had to take three of them. That was good. We were a little more solid, but we want to get more of those bonuses. We're missing those connections that will hopefully tighten up by next time."
Anna Thompson scored Lakeland's only top-three finish on the night, taking third on beam (6.9) as she finished fourth in the all-around (25.9).
Rhinelander closes GNC Small dual play 3-1 and will likely enter next Saturday's GNC meet two points behind Medford, pending the result of a dual meet between the Raiders and Mosinee that occurred Thursday after today's edition went to press.
Sturtevant said her team is relishing more than a full week to practice for the conference meet, and the subsequent WIAA Division 2 sectional round that Rhinelander will host in the Hodag Dome on Feb. 18.
"We can just put our head down. I saw some of the girls already writing down their goals for the next week, or even the rest of this week," she said. "I think they're really motivated to get back to kind of that rise that we (had) earlier in the season where each time we were just chipping away, getting to that higher score. Now we know what to do. We've definitely gotten the feedback that we can't take it for granted that we got credit for things at the beginning of the season. We've got to keep our crispness."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
Comments:
You must login to comment.