Hodag gymnasts pick up conference win at Lakeland

The Rhinelander High School gymnastics team picked up its first Great Northern Conference win in nearly two years on Tuesday, outscoring Lakeland in every event to take a 104.0-79.05 victory in Minocqua.

The victory came almost exactly two years to the day from Rhinelander’s last triumph, which also came at Lakeland when the Hodags edged the T-Birds by roughly four points in a conference dual on Feb. 1, 2022. 

Rhinelander gymnasts claimed the top spot in all four events on Tuesday and took four of the top six spots in the individual all-around. 

Freshman Samantha Aschenbrenner claimed the all-around with a score of 27.4, beating Lakeland’s Brittany Schlecht by 1.4 points for the top spot. Aschenbrenner won the balance beam (7.4) and the uneven bars (5.8) while taking fifth on both the vault and floor exercise. 

    Rhinelander’s Alexis Smith performs her floor exercise routine during a GNC Small dual meet at Lakeland Tuesday, Jan. 30. Smith won the event with a score of 7.75 and took third in the individual all-around. (Brett LaBore/Lakeland Times)
  

Fellow freshmen Alexis Smith and Karly Gillingham claimed the other wins for Rhinelander. Gillingham (8.2) and Smith (8.1) finished 1-2 on the vault while Smith took the floor exercise by nearly a half a point with a 7.75. Smith came home third in the all-around while Gillingham finished sixth.

Junior Wendy Fronk finished tied four fourth in the all-around with a 25.5. Her night was highlighted by a third-place finish on floor (7.15). She placed fourth in the three other events. 

“Karly hit a great vault tonight. Samantha and Wendy hit bars,” coach Kristina Aschenbrenner stated in an email to the River News. “Lena (Timphus) completed his first full varsity bar routine and made every skill. We were consistent on floor. Sam had a clean no-fall beam routine.”  

The victory moved Rhinelander to 1-2 in the GNC Small Division and the Hodags will have a chance to get to .500 in league play this coming Tuesday at home against Mosinee. 

Rhinelander will be back to action on Saturday in the Marshfield Invite, though coach Aschenbrenner noted the team will go into that meet a bit short-handed with freshman Arieanna Crossman (wrist) out of the lineup. She said the team will also be missing a couple of athletes due to a mock trial competition.

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].