Hodag gymnasts improve to start 2024

Time put in over the holiday break appeared to paid dividends for the Rhinelander High School gymnastics team in its first two meets of the new calendar year. 

Rhinelander came out of the gates with its two highest scores of the season in meets this past Thursday and Saturday, including a performance that was the team’s best since 2021.

The Hodags opened with a runner-up finish in a triangular meet at Ashland on Thursday and followed that up with a seventh-place showing in the Charlie Martin Invite in Wisconsin Rapids on Saturday. 

“We’re very happy with how we’re doing,” Hodag coach Kristina Aschenbrenner said. “We’re able to make the small changes, make improvements and keep improving in different areas. That’s exactly what we hoped to do.” 

Ashland triangular

The Hodags opened 2024 with their best team score in nearly three years. 

Rhinelander scored 111.6 points and took second in a triangular meet at Ashland. That marked Rhinelander’s first team score in the 110s since the 2021 WIAA Division 2 sectional meet.

It was another strong outing for the Hodags’ freshman class. Karly Gillingham took fourth in the individual all-around, scoring 30 points for the first time in her career. In addition to tying for second on vault (8.3) she broke into the 8s for the first time on balance beam, taking third in the event with an 8.2.

“Karly just had a phenomenal meet on Thursday,” coach Aschenbrenner said. “She was on it, had some great routines and she actually had a bobble on Thursday on her floor routine. She has even more room to grow. That’s exciting.”

Alexis Smith continued to excel on vault. She won that event with an 8.5. Samantha Aschenbrenner came home fifth on the beam (7.4) and took fifth in the all-around (28.5). Gillingham and Aschenbrenner tied for the team’s top performance on uneven bars, tying for seventh with matching 6.1s.

Wendy Fronk (26.9) was eighth in the all-around and Smith finished ninth (25.9). Arieanna Crossman rounded out the Hodags’ lineup on uneven bars and balance beam, Lexi Skubal competed on floor exercise and Lena Timphus competed on vault.

“This was our best meet yet. Two no fall beam routines with Wendy and Karly,” coach Aschenbrenner noted. “Alexis and Sammy had clean beam with one fall each. Karly had a fabulous meet with a 30.5 all around. Lena competed her first varsity event in vault and performed well. All our vaults JV and varsity were great. We threw new skills, Karly a new dismount on bars, Arieanna and Wendy threw front tucks on floor. Sammy upgraded her dismount to a layout flyaway.”

The Hodags posted a season-high team score of 21.55 on uneven bars. Coach Aschenbrenner said the team’s upgraded equipment, including a bar set designed to go over the team’s new diving pit, is already starting to yield results.

“Having a high bar, first of all, all year round and then being able to have multiple bars in the gym and now, with the addition of our pit bar, we’re just going to be able to see our bar scores go up,” she said. “We’re going to be able to continue to grow, not just this year but future years.” 

Wis. Rapids Invite

The Hodags dropped down a few points but still managed a total score of 107.575 as they took seventh in the seven-team Charlie Martin Invite in Wisconsin Rapids. There were some big numbers across the board in a field full of Division 1 programs.

“These are teams we don’t necessarily see at all during the season,” coach Aschenbrenner said. “They’re going to have some great skills and great athletes. It is a lot stiffer competition than our conference and our sectional. It’s fun to see and compete with those other gymnasts.”

Samantha Aschenbrenner followed up a career-high in the all-round on Thursday with another new high-water mark on Saturday, scoring a 28.975 to take 17th overall. She was Rhinelander’s top performer on uneven bars (21st, 6.25) and was 17th on the balance beam (7.8).

Smith was once again Rhinelander’s top vaulter, taking 10th in the event with an 8.4. Gillingham was tops for Rhinelander on the balance beam (14th, 7.925) and the floor exercise (20th, 7.725) but was held out of the vault as a precaution after rolling an ankle during her floor routine. She came back and completed the day on uneven bars.

“Arieanna, Karly and Samantha all had no-fall beam routines,” coach Aschenbrenner noted. “That was great. We had two girls step up into varsity and vault. Arieanna Crossman and Emma Tagalos both stepped up, did vault and did a phenomenal job. That’s great to see, to be able to do that. 

“Overall, there were a couple of ups and downs, but good steps forward.”

The Hodags were the lone GNC Small team in attendance on Saturday. GNC Large schools Marshfield and Wisconsin Rapids finished second and third behind team champion Mukwonago/Kettle Moraine.

Rhinelander is idle from competition this week and will jump back into GNC Small play Jan. 16 with a dual meet at Antigo. 

“We’re going to take a couple of days, do some skills and try to get some good conditioning in,” coach Aschenbrenner said. “We did see that we had bars as our last event both on Thursday and today, and by the time you get to bars, that’s probably the one that requires the most energy. It’s a hard one to end on. We’ll be working on just conditioning and getting some more skills.” 

Jeremy Mayo may be reached [email protected].