Hodag gymnasts take down GNC Small champs Ashland

It was far from a perfect night on Tuesday, but the Rhinelander High School gymnastics team had more than enough to pick up a victory and establish itself as the team to beat the Great Northern Conference Small Division.

Emeline Hintz finished second in the individual all-around, and the Hodags won three of the four events individually as they knocked off reigning GNC Small champs Ashland 120.2-107.05 at the Beck Family YMCA. 

The Hodags (1-0) took spots two through five in the all-around and outscored the Oredockers (0-1) in all four events. 

The potential changing of the guard in the GNC Small was foretold last month during the Snowflake Invite in Rhinelander, where the Hodags outscored the Oredockers 125.65-110.525. Though the Hodags were unable to match that score on Tuesday, coach Kristina Aschenbrenner called it a key step in the road as Rhinelander seeks it first conference title since the 2017-18 season.

“I would definitely say ups and downs,” she said. “The bad news is we had some falls and some unexpected things that should not have probably happened with proper preparation. The good news is we are just making our way to conference and sectionals. It’s just a step in the road, and hopefully we can learn from this and make some improvements.”

Junior Emeline Hintz had a career night to lead the Hodags, posting personal-best scores in two events plus the individual all-around. 

Hintz won the floor exercise with a career-best score of 8.65 points. She also stuck a no-fall balance beam routine that netted a score of 8.45 from the judges and a runner-up finish in that event. 

Hintz tied for second on uneven bars (6.85) and was third on the vault (8.275) to finish the night with a 32.225 — which was 0.15 points better than her previous high in the all-around set at last month’s Snowflake. 

Only a near flawless balance beam routine from Ashland’s Leanna Lipske kept Hintz from taking the all-around on Tuesday. Lipske won that event with an 8.9, which pushed her to a 0.25-point victory over Hintz in the all-around. 

“She has been working on upgrading her routines,” coach Aschenbrenner said of Hintz’s performance. “We got some advice at our December meet and she’s been making those improvements and they definitely showed. She’s an all-around gymnast. I’ve said that before. So if she hits all four, she’s gonna be a contender.” 

    Rhinelander’s Alexis Smith vaults during a GNC Small gymnastics meet against Ashland and the Beck Family YMCA Tuesday, Jan. 6. Smith won the event with a score of 8.55. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

Sophomore Addison Fish finished third in the all-around (28.825), highlighted by a win on the uneven bars (6.9). Junior Alexis Smith claimed the vaulting competition with an 8.55 and added a runner-up finish on the floor (8.425).

“Beautiful vault again from Alexis. Addison is a very strong bar worker. So it’s nice that she was able to really show that off tonight,” coach Aschenbrenner noted.

Freshman Marsadies Williams came home fourth in the all-around for Rhinelander (28.725), highlighted by a third-place finish on the beam (7.5). She was followed by junior teammate Karly Gillingham (27.35).

Rhinelander led wire-to-wire in the dual, up 57.975-50.175 after the teams completed vault and bars. The Hodags inched away further on the balance beam and finished the night by outscoring Ashland by four points on the floor (32.325-28.325).

“The first couple events (were) not what we wanted, but I think we were able to rally a little bit, and the advice for floor was just, ‘Let’s do a simple routine, get through it, no injuries and wrap up the meet,’” coach Aschenbrenner said. “We had some other great events and great scores from some of our JV, stepping up in events such as vault and beam. So that was fun to see too.” 

Charlie Martin Invite

    Rhinelander’s Addison Fish performs her uneven bars routine during a GNC Small gymnastics meet against Ashland and the Beck Family YMCA Tuesday, Jan. 6. Fish won the event (6.9) and finished third in the all-around. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

Tuesday’s meet was the second in four days for the Hodags, who were a bit short-handed Saturday, Jan. 3 as they jumped back into competition with a fifth-place finish at the Charlie Martin Invite in Wisconsin Rapids. 

Rhinelander finished with a total of 120.05 points on the day, but had three typical starters limited due to lingering illness and injuries over the holiday break. 

“It’s been kind of a recouping couple weeks. So the meet today was, we weren’t at 100%,” coach Aschenbrenner said, noting that Gillingham, Smith and Sam Aschenbrenner were all limited in varsity events in the meet. “Definitely not 100%, but that’s OK. We tried out some things and just wanted to make it through the meet and be ready to go on Tuesday.”

While Smith was held to just two varsity events on Saturday. She did have the team’s best individual event finish, taking eighth on vault (8.6) and added a 14th-place finish with an 8.3 on floor exercise. 

Hintz led the Hodags in the all-around, taking 12th with a 30.775 while Fish had a career-best score in the all-around, totaling 30.275 points in a 14th-place finish. Hintz broke into the 8s in three events, taking 13th on both floor (8.375) and beam (8.05), and 14th on vault (8.35). Fish matched Hintz’s score on vault. 

“Addison just had a killer meet. Just really clean floor. Her vault was awesome. Her bars were awesome. And then did a really, really nice beam routine to top it off. So she was over 30 in the all around. Emeline had, again, a solid meet with a 30-something in the all around,” coach Aschenbrenner said.

Sam Aschenbrenner had Rhinelander’s 8-plus point performance in the meet, taking 14th on balance beam (8.0).

Up next

The Hodags have another break before they return to competition Tuesday, Jan. 20 with a GNC Small dual meet at Antigo. 

Coach Aschenbrenner said the layoff should give her team enough time to make some key preparations for the stretch run —which will include seven meets over a four-week stretch between Jan. 31 and Feb. 27.

“It will be good. We want to really get some skills into our routines,” she said. “So that’s going to be the goal for the next two weeks, is sticking those skills into the routines. I think every gymnast has, you know, those one or two things that are going to be big ticket items that if they can get, it’ll really make a difference.” 

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].