Rhinelander gymnasts post season high in Marshfield

Despite being without a handful of its usual starters in the lineup, the Rhinelander High School gymnasts team still managed its highest score of the season on Saturday.

The Hodags put up a team score of 117.7 points as they finished seventh in the nine-team Tiger Invite in Marshfield. That score was eight-tenths of a point better than the team’s previous best score, set all the way back in the December in the Hodags’ season-opening meet against Ashland. 

“We had some girls hit some good routines, had some personal bests,” coach Kristina Aschenbrenner said. “Good routines, very consistent so can’t complain.”

Sophomores Alexis Smith and Sam Aschenbrenner tied for the team’s best performance in the all-around. They finished 23rd on the day with a score of 29.7 points. Freshman Addison Fish (25th, 29.45) and senior Wendy Fronk (26th, 28.825) were right behind the two in the all-around. 

Smith and Aschenbrenner had Rhinelander’s best event finishes on the day. Smith was 18th on the vault (8.45) while Aschenbrenner was 18th on the floor exercise with a season-high 8.275.

Sam Aschenbrenner also scored in the 8s on vault (31st, 8.0) and was Rhinelander’s top performer on the balance beam (31st, 6.9). Fronk broke into the 8s on floor, taking 20th with an 8.275. She also had an 8.1 on vault. Fish had Rhinelander’s best score on uneven bars (26th, 6.9) and cracked into the 8s on vault (25th, 8.25).

“Wendy and Sam had personal-bests on floor and I think that was Addison’s best on floor as well,” coach Aschenbrenner said. “Some bar personal bests, so that was good. We threw some of our new skills that we’ve been working on.”

The Hodags were without freshman Emeline Hintz (knee) and senior Margherita Tibaldeschi (illness) for the meet, which again opened spots in the varsity lineup for underclassmen who have been waiting in the wings.  

“Lexi Skubal stepped into varsity and ended up helping the team with a fourth (score) that counted toward our team score. Then Vayda (Ives) stepping into floor for varsity again and Mollie (Arneson) doing varsity vault and Brynn (Teter) doing varsity bars. That was good to be able to see some people get an opportunity.”

Rice Lake, a team in Rhinelander’s Division 2 sectional, won the meet with a score of 135.725 points, edging out Marshfield by 0.375 points. It was a deep and talented field as four of the nine teams scored in excess of 130 points. Waupun’s Abby Roecker placed first or second in every event and won the individual all-around with a 36.35.

“Competition was hard, I mean there was some good teams there — Holmen and Waupun and Rice Lake. We’ll be seeing them at sectional so that’ll be that’ll be interesting,” coach Aschenbrenner noted. 

All four GNC Small teams were in attendance. Ashland, with virtually its entire roster back together, was the top of the group, taking fifth with a 128.825. The Hodags finished ahead of Mosinee (114.625) and Antigo (112.325). 

Rhinelander hopes that will be a good omen for tonight when it travels to Mosinee to round out GNC Small round-robin competition.

“It was good to see good to see them and we’ll be seeing them on Tuesday,” coach Aschenbrenner said. “You know I think we’ll probably have the stronger team so hope to we’ll be able to win that dual but they have some individuals who are good at individual events, so it will be great to be competitive with them.”

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].