RHS gymnasts post season high at GNC meet

Balance beam set the tone for a strong performance Saturday for the Rhinelander High School gymnastics team. 

The Hodags posted a season high in that event, and parlayed the performance into a season-high overall score, as they totaled 113.3 points in a third-place finish in the Great Northern Conference Small Division meet at the YMCA of the Northwoods.

Freshman Alexis Smith captured Rhinelander’s only all-conference honor, taking second on the vault, but the Hodags knocked on the door of the top three in several other events, including the beam where they had several no-fall routines. 

“We started off really strong and really exciting with four no-fall beam routines,” Hodag coach Kristina Aschenbrenner said. “The girls really hit their routines. That was a great start to a really good day overall. We had some high-difficulty skills in there. We missed, maybe, just a few connections, but it’s something to build on for next week.”

Vault has been Smith’s strong suit all season. Her 8.475 score on the event was another strong performance, and one that nearly netted her a conference title. She finished 0.025 points behind Antigo’s Ginny Praslowicz for the top spot. 

“Alexis has been consistent on vault all year. That showed again. She has a great vault,” coach Aschenbrenner noted.

    Rhinelander’s Karly Gillingham performs her floor exercise routine during the GNC Small meet at the YMCA of the Northwoods Saturday, Feb. 17. Gillingham placed fourth in the event and sixth in the individual all-around as Rhinelander finished third in the team standings. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

Another freshman, Karly Gillingham, had a strong day overall, barely missing all-conference honors in a number of events. She finished fourth on the floor exercise (8.25), was fifth on the balance beam (7.95) and cracked the 30-point mark in the all-around for the first time as her score of 30.025 took sixth overall. Gillingham was also Rhinelander’s top scorer on uneven bars, taking 12th (5.9).

“Karly on floor hit her routine today,” coach Aschenbrenner said. “She’ll be thrilled. That was one of her goals to get a 30 all-around this year. She deserves it. She puts in a lot of time and effort and her routines are definitely improving every week.”

Freshman Samantha Aschenbrenner had a no-fall routine on balance beam. Her score of 8.05 took fourth and put her just 0.15 points outside the top three. She wound up 10th in the all-around (28.0) while Smith finished ninth (28.225). 

Junior Wendy Fronk finished 12th in the all-around (27.3) highlighted by a 10th-place day on the beam.

The Hodags once again scored in the 21s on uneven bars. While that was their lowest event score on the day, it marked one of the highest totals of the season for the team in an event it has put much emphasis on improving.

“We tried some new things on bars, just to try to get the difficulty level up. Some of those worked out. Overall, just really good attitudes and a good time,” coach Aschenbrenner said.

Lexi Skubal rounded out the Hodags’ starting five on both balance beam and floor exercise, while Lena Timphus competed on bars and Emma Tagalos had the team’s third-best vault score, taking 14th with a 7.5.

“Lena, that was her first time ever doing bars. That was exciting. And then Emma coming through and doing really good for us and supporting the team score on vault,” coach Aschenbrenner said.

Ashland scored a 128.625 to win the GNC Small meet, and the outright conference title. Antigo was second. Rhinelander, which was third in the standings after going 2-2 in the conference dual meets, took third in the final overall standings. 

Praslowicz won the all-around (33.1) to claim conference gymnast of the year honors. With the exception of Smith’s performance on vault, Ashland and Antigo monopolized all the positions on the all-conference team.

“We know that there’s a lot of strong teams. As a team, we’re not quite there yet but, individually, everyone has their strengths and if they can hit their routines then they’re definitely up at the top,” coach Aschenbrenner said.

The Hodags will travel to Antigo this Friday for WIAA Division 2 sectionals.

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].