January 31, 2022 at 9:53 a.m.
Banged-up Hodag gymnastics takes 9th in Antigo
Banged-up Hodag gymnastics takes 9th in Antigo
With nearly half of the team's athletes either limited or absent due to various ailments, the Hodags managed a 102.75 team score in the 10-team event.
Attrition took its toll on a small roster last week with both Payton Rudawski (back, elbow) and Sophie Miljevich (hand) battling through injuries and Annabelle Huff out sick. That prompted the team to back out of a Great Northern Conference crossover dual at Wisconsin Rapids last Tuesday.
Rudawski and Miljevich both competed in limited roles on Saturday as the Hodags did what they could to field a full lineup.
"This being an invite, this is the time to try things, so I'm very proud of the girls that they did," coach Heather Sturtevant said. "That was the biggest thing, that they all went for more."
Rhinelander did get a bit of help as senior Abby Belbot competed in her first meet in nearly two years. She led the Hodags in two events Saturday and was the team's top scorer in the all-around at 25.45 points.
Belbot had a career-high score on vault (7.85) to lead Rhinelander and also had the Hodags' best mark on balance beam (6.8).
"She's been working very hard (in practice), but still overcoming a year and half of a season (without competition), she threw up a great all-around for us this meet and had a personal best on vault," Sturtevant said. "That definitely helped get us into the triple digits."
Freshman Wendy Fronk had Rhinelander's top floor exercise score (7.2) and was 26th in the all-around (25.25). Claire Wilberding was 28th in the all-around (23.2). Sturtevant said both showed improvement Saturday on uneven bars.
"Wendy got a personal best on bars. We're inching toward more continuity of our skills, no starts and stops. The routine is becoming more fluid, so hopefully we'll see that score continue to (go) up," she said. "We're going to see (Claire's) bars score improve because she's adding a required element and we can work from there. With one kip, we can add another, and those are really going to help her starting values. That was exciting to see her get that."
Leta Cole led the Hodags on uneven bars with a 5.35. Rudawski competed in three events Saturday with a high score of 7.8 on vault. Miljevich was able to compete only on balance beam, where she finished right behind Belbot with a 6.75.
"We were able to put together a pretty good beam routine, but we had to pull her from everything else," Sturtevant said. "It's still unknown, other than beam, what she'll be able to do next week."
Sturtevant noted though the team had 10 falls on balance beam, it picked up some bonus superior moves that will help its scores moving forward.
Rhinelander travels to Lakeland tonight for a GNC Small division dual. That could be a close meet, considering Lakeland scored a season-high 101.5 in its last competition Jan. 18 against Medford.
"Lakeland will still be interesting," Sturtevant said. "We're not sure who's going to be doing what, but we've still got some fight in these girls and I know we can get that score up more."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
WEATHER SPONSORED BY
E-Editions
Latest News
E-Editions
Events
August
To Submit an Event Sign in first
Today's Events
No calendar events have been scheduled for today.
Comments:
You must login to comment.