Team review: RHS gymnastics

Coach Kristina Aschenbrenner had a five-year plan to rebuild a Rhinelander High School gymnastics program that was struggling just to field a full lineup, let alone have success, when she took the reins.

Four years in and its safe to say that Hodags have turned things around and then some. 

By any measure, the 2025-26 season was the best in well over a decade for the Hodag gymnastics. Rhinelander won the GNC Small Division championship, something it hadn’t accomplished since 2018. The team on several occasions scored 125 or better, scores it hadn’t seen since 2013. And, thanks to a strong sectional performance, the Hodags qualified as a team for the WIAA state meet for the first time since 2005. 

“I had a bunch of these girls, itty-bitties, when they were little, and then through middle school, and then now here on the high school team,” coach Aschenbrenner said. “To be able to see that growth, it’s just amazing to be able to be the coach for these ladies.”

Here are five storylines from the recently completed season.

Early indications

With the majority of its lineup back from the 2024-25 season, Rhinelander showed right out of the gates it would be a force to be reckoned with. Rhinelander posted a 125.65 in the season-opening Snowflake Invitational at its home facility at the Beck Family YMCA. 

That proved to be the Hodags’ best score until the postseason, but gave an early glimpse into the potential the team had.

“I would say we are probably at 70%. We didn’t get quite the skills we wanted into our routines,” coach Aschenbrenner said afterward. “We didn’t have the connections we wanted, but the girls were able to throw some really good routines and the scores showed it,” she said following the meet.”

In all the Hodags surpassed 120 points in nine of their 12 meets during the season, despite working through some injuries. 

The Hodags had a backloaded scheduled with eight meets between Jan. 31 and March 6 and attrition took a bit of a toll. Junior Karly Gillingham, who figured to be a potential all-around performer for the team, had her season cut short due to a shoulder injury and the Hodags were dealing with a myriad of aliments by the beginning of February, when it failed to break 120 in three straight meets. 

“I’m happy with what we’re doing and where we are. We just need to hopefully stop the injuries and be able to finish up the season safely,” coach Aschenbrenner said after a GNC dual at Lakeland Feb. 5 when the Hodags dodged a significant injury scare after junior Emeline Hintz missed the mat on her balance beam routine and landed directly on the tile floor beneath. 

Conference title

Despite the bumps and bruises, the Hodags quickly established themselves as the team to beat in the GNC Small. With reigning champ Ashland struggling to field a full lineup, the Hodags walked through the open door and went undefeated in GNC Small duals. 

Thanks to a rare tie between Antigo and Lakeland in their dual meet, the Hodags had the luxury of finishing first or second at the conference meet and still taking the overall title outright. Rhinelander left no doubt, scoring a season-high 126.8 to win the meet by more than 9 1/2 points over runner-up Antigo. 

“To be able to have our best team score of the entire season at conference, (we) put that exclamation point on that we deserved to be conference champions this year,” coach Aschenbrenner said. “Conference was great. We hit routines there. We felt good. We had some personal bests in every single area. So going into sectionals, my thought was if we could just repeat conference, we’re gonna do well.”

Postseason

In that regard, coach Aschenbrenner’s words proved prophetic.

Rhinelander was nearly flawless on the balance beam, set a new season-high with a 127.125 and took the runner-up spot at sectionals to claim its first team state berth in 21 years. 

Going into the meet, it appeared as though it was going to be a four-team race between Waupun, Rhinelander, Valders/Roncalli and Kaukauna for the two team spots. Waupun and Rhinelander quickly separated themselves. The Hodags had the best team score on of the night on balance beam (32.125) and vault (33.85), and the second-best score on floor exercise (33.475) as it finished 5 3/8 points clear of Valders for second. 

The Hodags parlayed that into a score of 123.0334 at state. Though Rhinelander was 10th of the 10 teams in the field, coach Aschenbrenner said posting its fourth-best score of the year during the biggest meet and the most stringent judging was validation for the squad. 

“The girls were able to come out here and do their routines, and it really showed when we were pretty much consistent with our scores for the whole year, which is hard to do in its state,” coach Aschenbrenner said. “Usually scores drop, five tenths to a whole point even. So we were able to come out and do our routines. We had some season-bests this even here at this meet, so that’s pretty impressive.”

Statbook

    In this March 7, 2026 file photo, Rhinelander’s Alexis Smith vaults during the WIAA Division 2 state individual gymnastics meet in Wisconsin Rapids. Smith qualified for state on vault for the second time in three years. (Brett LaBore/Lakeland Times)
  

By season’s end, the Hodags had four gymnasts competing in the all-around. All four of them earned all-conference honors in at least one event and three of them made it through individually to the WIAA state meet. 

That group was led by Hintz, who was the conference runner-up on balance beam and the all-around and the conference champion on vault. By taking third in the all-around at sectionals, she became the first Hodag to qualify for state in the all-around since Elle Spiegelhoff in 2012. 

Hintz finished 12th at state on the balance beam and was 23rd in the all-around. 

Junior Alexis Smith made it back to state for the second time in her career, qualifying on vault. She came home 19th in that event with an 8.4667. Smith added a 30.7834 in the all-around during the team portion of the state meet.

Freshman Marsadies Williams finished 24th on both balance beam and uneven bars at state and scored a 29.9 in the all-around during the team competition. Sophomore Addison Fish scored a 29.7334 in the team all-around. 

Rhinelander also got contributions at seasons-end from junior Sam Aschenbrenner on balance beam and uneven bars, junior June Chiamulera on vault and freshman Payton Walentowski on floor exercise — though junior Olivia Ruetz stepped in for Walentowski at state after Walentowski sustained in injury warming up for the event. 

What’s next

With no seniors on this year’s roster, there is plenty of optimism regarding next season for the Hodags. 

The sectional draw might determine the Hodags’ prospects regarding a return trip to the team portion of the state meet. Medford, for example, scored a 135.625 at sectionals but failed to advance to state, finishing third behind Marshfield and River Falls. 

The GNC Small also figures to be more competitive next year as Mosinee’s co-op with Stratford will become official allowing a number of Stratford gymnasts, who scored well on JV this season, to compete on varsity. 

However, Rhinelander figures to improve as well and will be a strong contender with a senior-laden nucleus.

“Definitely the enthusiasm is there,” coach Aschenbrenner added. “So we just need to give our bodies a little time to heal up, and we’re gonna be right back at it, and hopefully, better than we were this year.”

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].