Victory at Ashland is a good sign heading into crunch time

MEDFORD CO-OP GYMNASTICS

Crunch time has arrived for the Medford gymnastics team and though they’re still never sure who is going to be in the lineup on any given day, the results continue to show the Raiders appear to be ready.

On Saturday, the Raiders won the nine-team Ashland Valentine’s Invitational and, in the process, pulled off a rare feat for Medford gymnastics by outscoring annual powers Ashland and Antigo in the same meet.

“That’s kind of a milestone,” head coach Steve Cain said. “It’s a historymaking moment.” Medford edged the host Oredockers 128.425-127.5 to take top honors, while Antigo wasn’t far behind, taking at 126.175. Those results could be a sign of things to come when the top two of those three teams will likely be the ones qualifying for state out of the WIAA Division 2 sectional on Feb. 28.

Then again, Medford believes it still has plenty of room to improve that score since it was achieved with standout Brooklyn Bilz completing in only one event due to shoulder soreness and junior Megan Wanke sitting the meet out all together.

“This kinda tells us going into conference and sectionals where we could be,” Cain said. “We held our own.”

The Raiders posted the meet’s top team scores in three of the four events with the floor exercise being the lone exception. Their 32.2 points in that event trailed Ashland’s 33.45. Teams could enter six gymnasts in each event in this meet, rather than the standard five, but only the top four counted in the team score, as always.

The Raiders started the day on the balance beam and scored 32.025 points, while Grantsburg (31.25) was second, Antigo (30.95) was third and Ashland (30.8) was fourth. It wasn’t a perfect day by any means with five total falls by the team. But there were some solid numbers posted by team.

Freshman Kate Malchow led the way with a fourth-place score of 8.45, freshman Anna Wanke was seventh at 8.025, Bilz was ninth in her only event of the day at 7.8 and sophomore Makala Ulrich tied for 10th at 7.75. Freshman Avery Purdy and senior Kara Hudak each 7.05s. Grantsburg’s Jeni Peterson was the beam champion with a 9.1. Ashland’s Catie McPherson (8.9) and Washburn’s Lakyn Sonday (8.5) were just ahead of Malchow.

“It wasn’t the worst day,” Cain said. “It’s stuff we hope they get corrected by this Saturday.”

The Raiders then moved to the floor where Wanke got the last top-five spot with her 8.45. Malchow and Ulrich were part of a three-way tie for ninth place at 7.95 and Purdy was 13th with her personal- best 7.85. Freshman Kiarah Behling added a 6.85, which was her best varsity score of the season. Freshman Kennedy Bilz competed on floor for the first time at the varsity level and earned a personalbest 6.6. McPherson, Peterson and Ashland’s Elaina Seeger tied for first with 8.95s and Sonday was fourth at 8.9.

“Going into floor I told the girls, ‘I don’t care what happened on beam,’” Cain said. “I said ‘on floor this is where you guys can kill it. This is where you guys can showboat. You guys are talented, you’ve got the skills, you’ve got the strength, you’ve got the know how. Don’t waste it. Get out there and show them what you’ve got.’ And that’s basically how I put it and I felt they did it.”

The Raiders then moved to vault where they were their typical strong selves with 33.35 points, a half-point ahead of third-place Ashland and 0.3 ahead of Superior.

Malchow, Wanke and Ulrich were part of a four-way tie for fourth with Antigo’s Claire Musolff. They all had 8.4s with Malchow tying her personal best. Kennedy Bilz got a solid 8.15, Hudak earned a 7.85 and Purdy tied her best with a 7.8 Hudak’s score was a season best.

Sonday won the event with a 9.3, followed by Superior’s Reese Deyo (8.6) and McPherson (8.55).

“Vault was a strong event for us,” Cain said. “It stayed pretty consistent again.”

Medford finished with a team score of 30.85 on the uneven bars, just ahead of Antigo (30.725) and Ashland (30.4).

The Raiders had three top-10 finishers with Malchow taking third at 7.95, Ulrich placing fifth at 7.75 and Wanke tying Seeger for seventh at 7.65. That’s a personal-best for Wanke. Purdy tied Musolff for 11th at 7.5. Hudak earned a solid 6.75 and Behling got a 4.4 in her varsity bars debut. Sonday won it with a score of 8.6 and Antigo’s Maggie Winter earned an 8.275.

Malchow wound up fifth in the allaround standings with 32.75 total points, while Wanke tied her season-best with 32.525 and took sixth. Ulrich was ninth with 31.85 all-around points and Purdy compiled a personal-best total of 30.2 points, good for 12th.

Superior placed fifth in the team standings with 117.75 points, followed by Rhinelander (111.45), Chequamegon (91.95), Lakeland (76.75) and Washburn (35.3).

GNC Meet

Medford will bring its regular season to a close Saturday when it looks to wrap up its third Small Division championship in four years at the Great Northern Conference meet.

This year’s host is Chequamegon High School in Park Falls. The meet starts at 10 a.m.

Ten teams will be represented at the meet with Medford, Rhinelander, Mosinee, Chequamegon and Lakeland competing in the Small Division and Ashland, Antigo, Marshfield, Wisconsin Rapids and Stevens Point competing in the Large Division.

After going 4-0 in GNC Small duals, Medford enters with eight points and a two-point lead over 3-1 Rhinelander in the divisional standings. Mosinee (1-2) and Chequamegon (1-3) have two points each and Lakeland (0-3) has none.

If Medford finishes above Rhinelander, it will win the outright title. If the Hodags finish one place ahead of Medford, they’ll tie for the overall title. Rhinelander would only win the outright title if it finished two places ahead of Medford.

That’s not likely to happen.

In conference competition, Medford has an average team score of 124.8 compared to 111.1 for the Hodags.

Medford has the Small Division’s top-ranked gymnasts on beam (Brooklyn Bilz 8.8), floor (Anna Wanke 8.9) and bars (Malchow 8.0). Bilz, the defending GNC Small Division Gymnast of the Year has the highest all-around score of Small Division duals at 32.9, set Jan. 21 at Mosinee.

Makala Ulrich was the division’s second highest all-around scorer at last year’s GNC meet with 33.3 points and took second in each of the four events.

Medford won Small Division titles in 2017 at Mosinee and in 2019 at Ashland. The Raiders are scheduled to host next year’s GNC meet.

In the Large Division, Marshfield went 4-0 in the duals, while Stevens Point was 3-1. Marshfield’s Gracie Holland is the favorite in the race for Gymnast of the Year.