RHS gymnasts look for momentum at sectionals

Tonight will serve as the culmination of a season of growth for the Rhinelander High School gymnastics team and, with a little bit of good luck, it may not be its last competition of the 2023-24 season. 

The Hodags will take part in a WIAA Division 2 sectional in Antigo this evening and, while qualifying as a team for next weekend’s state meet in Wisconsin Rapids is a deep long shot, sending an individual or two to state for the first time since 2021 is not out of the realm of possibility.

Regardless of what happens, tonight will be about momentum for a building squad that has been chock-full of freshmen this season. The Hodags come in off a season-high score of 113.3 points at conference and will look to push that number even higher this evening.

“We’re just at the beginning,” Hodag coach Kristina Aschenbrenner said after last weekend’s conference meet. “I think if we were to continue on for another three months, you’d see some really good stuff. I’m really excited to finish off this year healthy and doing good.”

Even if the Hodags were to flirt with their first score in the 120s since the 2018-19 season, that likely would not be good enough to advance as a team out of a sectional that includes the entire GNC Small Division, Medford from the GNC Large, Rice Lake and the Grantsburg co-op.

According to data supplied to the ScoreFlippers database during the course of the season, Rhinelander enters the meet with the sixth-best average team score in the field at a 107.057. Only the top two teams will advance. Medford appears to have a stranglehold on the top spot, averaging 131.733 during the season it could be a tight battle between Rice Lake and Ashland for the second qualifying spot, as their season averages are separated by only 0.02 points. 

In addition to the two qualifying teams, the top five and ties in each event as well as the individual all-around — regardless if they are or are not already on a qualifying team — will move on to the individual potion of the state meet. 

By the numbers, the Hodags’ best chances to send an individual or individuals to state appear to be on the vault and on balance beam.

Freshman Alexis Smith figures to be right in the mix on vault with the sixth-best average during the season of gymnasts in the field (8.368), according to the ScoreFlippers database. She’ll likely be chasing Rice Lake’s Avery Ash (9.48), Kyla Krause of Medford (9.05), Grantsburg’s Abby Rombach (8.813), Rice Lake’s Makenzie Dalsbo (8.465) and Medford’s Raylin Rothmeier (8.450). Fellow freshman Karly Gillingham as also posted several scores in the 8s on vault this year and her 8.2 season average sits as 11th best in the field.

Otherwise, balance beam may be Rhinelander’s best chance — especially if things go as well in the event as they did in Saturday’s conference meet. The Hodags posted four no-fall routines, led by freshman Samantha Aschenbrenner’s fourth-place finish with an 8.05. Only five gymnasts in the field averaged better than an 8.0 on beam during the regular season. A clean routine, coupled with a some falls by other competitors could pave the way for a state berth — just as it did for Rhinelander’s last state qualifier, Lilli Bishop in 2021. She scored an 8.0 on beam at sectionals to punch a ticket to Wisconsin Rapids.

Though Rhinelander has had individuals in or near the 8s on several occasions on the floor exercise, making it to state in that event will likely be a tall order. Gillingham has the Hodags’ best average, in 20th overall at a 7.675. Medford’s Veronica Mateer has the fifth-best average in the event with an 8.317 and 13 gymnasts are averaging at least an 8.0. 

Gillingham (27.438) and Samantha Aschenbrenner (27.421) are 19th and 20th in the all-around averages. Aschenbrenner’s average score of 5.718 on the uneven bars puts her 24th in the field.

Coach Aschenbrenner said the team’s underdog status will allow it to go into tonight’s meet with little to lose. 

“(Sectionals) is going to be a lot of fun,” she said. “We are set with our routines. We want to just hit some of those big skills that we’ve thrown in throughout the year and, hopefully go into sectionals and have a good time.”

Tonight’s meet gets underway at 5 o’clock in Antigo High School’s Sheldon Fieldhouse. 

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].