Hodag gymnasts defeat Antigo, move to 2-0 in GNC Small

Rhinelander’s path toward its first Great Northern Conference Small Division gymnastics championship since the 2017-18 season became a little easier Tuesday night after knocking off one of its long-time rivals.

The Hodags outscored Antigo in every event and got past the Red Robins 120.15-116.575 in a dual meet in Antigo. 

The win moved Rhinelander to 2-0 in the GNC Small division, with the wins coming against what will likely be its two closest competitors next month at the conference meet — Ashland and Antigo. Dual meet standings and conference meet results are weighted equally in determining which team wins the conference title.

“This was the big one for us for conference and we wanted to make sure that we were able to come out with a win on this,” Hodag coach Kristina Aschenbrenner said. “We’re happy with the win, but also there was a cushion there, so we felt good with that.”

Junior Emeline Hintz led the Hodags in three of the four events, and posted top-three finishes in all four, as she won the individual all-around with a score of 31.65 points. That was 1.75 points better than runner up Emma Fermanich of Antigo. 

Hintz claimed the floor excess with a score of 8.65 and won the balance beam with a 7.55. She was the runner-up on uneven bars (7.25) and took third on the vault (8.2).

“She’s just one of our solid competitors, an all-around gymnasts, so was able to really pull through,” coach Aschenbrenner said.

Alexis Smith claimed the vault for the Hodags (8.4) and finished seventh in the all-around. She was one of four Rhinelander gymnasts who competed in all four events. Addison Fish was third in the all-around (29.8). She was in the top five in all four events, highlighted by a third-place showing on floor (7.8). Marsadies Williams took fifth in the all-around (29.1) with fourth-place finishes on floor, uneven bars and vault. 

Samantha Aschenbrenner added a runner-up finish on balance beam for the Hodags (7.45).

Rhinelander outscored Antigo by 0.8 points on the vault and had a one-point edge on the uneven bars, earning one of its highest totals of the season in that event with a 27.4. The Hodags edged the Robins by 0.7 points on balance beam and 1.075 points on floor exercise. 

Antigo’s lone individual win on the night came courtesy of Lindsey Beck on uneven bars (7.5).

“We just wanted to have nice clean bars and make our skills,” coach Aschenbrenner said. “We had some falls on bars the last couple of meets. We wanted to get rid of those and we did. So really happy with our bar routines and how they’re progressing. We had June (Chiamulera) step up and do varsity today with the new vault and did well. So satisfied with all of the vaults that we had again, no falls. So we improved there. 

“For floor, we brought in a couple in people that haven’t competed floor yet, like Sam. It was good to get them out on the floor and trying a routine. We have some improvement to do there. A couple mistakes on floor, but something we’ll be focusing on in the next couple weeks. I would say beam was one of our highlights. Our goal going into beam was, if you make a mistake or a bobble or a fall, you get up on the beam and you recover, you knock the rest of the routine out of the park and they really did that. Very happy with our beam tonight.”

The Hodags were without Karly Gillingham and Olivia Ruetz in the dual, both of whom were scratched due to illness. 

Rhinelander also took the JV portion of the meet 56.4-16.5. Koda Kondell competed in three of the four events, winning uneven bars as she took first in the all-around. Payton Walentowski won vault and Chiamulera won balance beam.

The Hodags will return to Antigo Saturday, Jan. 31 for the Julie Langseth Memorial Invitational. That will kick off a busy final month of the season for the Hodags, who will compete seven times over a 28-day span, capped off by a return to Antigo Feb. 27 for WIAA sectionals.

“I think we’re feeling good though,” coach Aschenbrenner said. “(The invite at) Antigo is a varsity meet, so we’ll be able to get the girls out there and see what they can do. Try to throw some new skills and just kind of every invite going forward is just kind of that practice for, conference and sectionals.”

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].