February 15, 2021 at 7:39 a.m.
RHS gymnasts set season high in GNC meet
RHS gymnasts set season high in GNC meet
The Hodags scored 119.475 to finish second in the meet, and in the division overall. But they were no match for Medford which put up a 134.9 in its home gym to take the competition running away.
Because of Medford's dominance, the Hodags had no all-conference honors. The Raiders took the top four spots in the all-around and had at least two of the top three finishers in all four events.
"Talk about a time to peak. It was just a bummer that we had to peak behind a 134," Rhinelander coach Heather Sturtevant said. "We kind of knew we were going in getting second. Mosinee threw up highest scores, so it wasn't a gimme. We did what we did to walk away very proud that we were second."
The Hodags finished four points ahead of Mosinee for the runner-up spot and totaled 11 personal-best scores on the day.
Senior Lilli Bishop and freshman Alexa Lukes posted career-best all-around scores, but finished seventh and ninth, respectively, in the meet. Bishop scored a 30.9 that also included a personal-best in vault (8.225). Lukes set personal-bests in three events as she cracked the 30-point mark in the all-around for the first time with a score of 30.575.
"Alexa finally broke the 8 that she's been trying all season," Sturtevant noted. "We knew she could. It was so fabulous to see. She actually had more fun today. She had more personality to match her tumbling. It was so nice to see."
Individually, Bishop and Lukes recorded Rhinelander's best finishes of the day, taking fourth and fifth, respectively, on the floor exercise. Bishop was also Rhinelander's top performer on uneven bars (8th, 7.0). Lukes was tops for the Hodags on the vault (6th, 8.325) and sophomore Payton Rudawski led the Hodags with an eighth-place finish on balance beam (7.45).
Senior Bridget Koser placed 10th for the Hodags in the all-around.
The team score was nearly two points higher than the Hodags' previous season best, of 117.65 set in a GNC Large-Small crossover dual against Antigo Jan. 21.
"The girls just really took to heart working on perfecting some things, those little things that we can control and it just worked," Sturtevant said. "They're not super technical routines, but we could get some decent scores by being clean and it worked."
Sectionals ahead
The focus now turns to Thursday's WIAA Division 2 sectional competition, that will take place in the Hodag Dome. It's Rhinelander's first time hosting the sectional competition since 2006.
"We're very excited about that, really excited to show off the dome to a lot more teams," Sturtevant said. "Talking today with a bunch of the judges that haven't been up there yet, they're excited to see what we can do hosting a fairly large event."
The nine-team field will consist of the entire GNC Small division, plus Antigo, Ashland, Grantsburg and Rice Lake. Those teams will add to an already fierce competition for the two team state qualifying spots and the battle for the individual positions, which will go to the top five and ties in each event and the all-around - regardless of if they are or are not on a state qualifying team.
Sturtevant said her squad knows that it's a longshot, at best, to send any individuals to the WIAA state tournament, but that may actually make things easier for the squad come Thursday.
"We don't have pressure on ourselves with any expectations of (saying), 'You have to get this so you can go to state,'" she said. "It's more like, 'I want to do the best I can and see if I can get close, or the chips fall and I do go.'"
For the Hodags, personal bests will be the goal Thursday, with the team goal of an overall score of 120 or better.
"That is our goal for Thursday. Just a few very small tweaks in the next few days of practice and we're really trying to have that be our goal," she said.
Thursday's meet will be split into two sessions. Ashland, Chequamegon, Grantsburg, Medford and Rice Lake will compete in the 2 p.m. session with Rhinelander, Antigo, Lakeland and Mosinee competing at 6 p.m. The scores from the two sessions will be combined to determine the sectionals team and individual state qualifiers.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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