Hodag gymnasts down Mosinee, finish undefeated in GNC Small

The Rhinelander High School gymnastics team has put itself in position to win a Great Northern Conference championship for the first time since 2018.

The Hodags closed out the dual meet portion of their schedule undefeated in the GNC Small Division with a 119.55-39.65 victory over Mosinee Thursday, Feb. 12 at the Beck Family YMCA. 

Addison Fish, Emeline Hintz and Marsadies Williams all scored in the 30s as they went 1-2-3 in the all-around, and the Hodags swept the top three positions in each event against a Mosinee team that was unable to field a full varsity lineup. Mosinee has several athletes from Stratford, but those gymnasts were relegated to JV competition because the co-op between the two schools for gymnastics does not officially begin until the 2026-27 school year. 

“We knew we would probably win just based on the fact that Mosinee doesn’t have a full varsity squad, so our goal was just to go out there and perform our routines, try to hit our routines and not worry about necessarily the scores or how we did against Mosinee,” Hodag coach Kristina Aschenbrenner said. “The girls really pulled through and had some great routines. We had JVs step up because we have three girls out sick right now. It was good to see.”

Varsity all-arounder Alexis Smith, along with event starters Sam Aschenbrenner and June Chiamulera, were all out of the lineup due to illness. The Hodags relied on Fish, Hintz and Williams to do most of the heavy lifting in their stead. 

Fish won three events and the individual all-around, posting a personal-best score of 31.425 points on the night. That was good enough for the win by 0.45 points over Hintz. Williams had a pair of event wins and posted a personal-best score of 30.775 in the all-around.

Fish scored wins for Rhinelander on vault (8.425) and floor exercise (8.05). She and Williams tied for first on uneven bars (7.05) and Williams scored the win on the balance beam (8.15).

“Addison and Marsadies really hit some personal bests — no-fall fault beam routines. Addison had a new skill on floor, a layout full, which she did spectacular,” coach Aschenbrenner noted.

    Rhinelander’s Emeline Hintz performs her vault during a GNC gymnastics dual meet against Mosinee at the Beck Family YMCA Thursday, Feb. 12. Hintz was second in three events and second in the individual all-around on Thursday. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

Hintz scored runner-up finishes on vault, beam and floor, scoring in the 8s in all three events. She added a third-place finish on uneven bars. Coach Aschenbrenner said the junior still left some points on the table but had another solid meet.

“Again, she had a number of errors. She didn’t connect her back walkover series on beam,” she said. “She had a fall on floor, had a fall on bars. So, for her to be able to still score well with things that she that she knows and will be able to correct, is just saying how strong of a contender she is when it comes to conference and sectionals.”

Freshman Payton Walentowski added a third-place finish on floor exercise (7.7) and was in the varsity lineup on two events Thursday, given the absences elsewhere.

“She had a late start to the season, with an injury that she had to get over before she could start. She only started her season in January, and then to be able to come up and compete, she threw a bar routine that was her first bar routine, she’s thrown all season, and then she threw a vault (on JV),” coach Aschenbrenner said. “So again, being able to just start building her up on you know as a freshman. She’s gonna have a few more years and she’s gonna be a solid varsity athlete going forward for us.”

The Hodags traveled to Ashland on Saturday and finished fifth in the Valentine’s Invite. Visit RiverNewsOnline.com for a recap of that meet and read a full report in the Friday, Feb. 20 edition of the River News.

Rhinelander now gears up for the GNC meet Feb. 21 in Minocqua, where it will enter up two points in the standings on either Antigo or Lakeland, pending the outcome of their dual meet tonight in the Minocqua. 

Though Rhinelander’s scores have dropped off the last handful of meets, coach Aschenbrenner said she’s confident the Hodags will be ready for conference following a week of practice and preparation. 

“We’re at the place we want to be, just gotta get over a little bit of sickness from this weekend and hopefully come back strong for next week,” she said.

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].