Raiders follow up Valders title with win at Chequamegon
MEDFORD GYMNASTICS
The march toward a third straight Small Division championship in the Great Northern Conference continued Tuesday in Park Falls for the Medford gymnastics team, who easily outscored the four-member team from Chequamegon 128.55-77.2.
Makala Ulrich won her third allaround title in the last three meets and won the uneven bars, balance beam and floor exercise, Anna Wanke took second on the vault and the JV team had another big meet, pushing its team total to an impressive 106.05 points. The Raiders’ team score was down a bit from previous meets. Head coach Steve Cain said this was a meet where the Raiders tried to balance improving in some areas, but also staying safe in others and holding some bigger skills back and pulling them back out at home next week.
Medford swept the top five spots on the balance beam, led by Ulrich’s seasonbest score of 8.65. Kyla Krause rebounded from a tough routine Saturday to take second with an 8.2 and Avery Purdy set a new personal-best with an 8.1 that placed third. Kate Malchow (7.75) and Anna Wanke (7.6) rounded out the top five.
“Avery had the only PR for varsity with her 8.1 on the beam,” Cain said. “She did a beautiful job. It was just really clean, her best routine and the score refl ected that.”
The Raiders also earned the top five scores on the uneven bars, led by Ulrich’s 8.05. Krause’s 7.85 beat Wanke by a tenth of a point. Malchow was fourth at 7.5 and Purdy placed fifth at 6.5.
On the floor, Ulrich earned an 8.5 and Malchow received an 8.35, giving them the top two places ahead of Chequamegon’s Kristina Peterson, who was third with an 8.1. Krause was fourth at 7.8, Purdy got fifth with her 7.05 and Kiarah Behling was sixth at 6.9 in her first varsity floor routine of the season, stepping in for Wanke who sat the event out to protect a nagging ankle injury.
Peterson, a state qualifier last year, was the vault champion with her 8.65, but the Raiders filled the next five spots. Wanke led the way with an 8.3, Malchow and Krause tied for third with 8.25s, Kennedy Bilz was fifth at 8.2 and Ulrich came in sixth at 7.65.
Ulrich’s four-event total was 32.85 points, putting her ahead of Krause (32.1), Malchow (31.85) and Peterson (29.45).
Medford’s team totals for each event were 33.0 on vault, 32.7 on beam, 31.7 on floor and 31.15 on bars.
For the second straight GNC dual meet, the Raiders competed only against themselves in JV competition. They increased their team score by 5.35 points with a final total Tuesday of 106.05 points.
Ellison Carbaugh got the highest score of the meet with an 8.0 on vault, which was followed by Kaileigh Mientke (7.9), Purdy (7.75) and Behling (7.7). The Raiders welcomed back senior Megan Wanke, who posted a 6.6 to win the uneven bars, just ahead of Carbaugh’s 6.4. Mientke (4.5), Behling (4.3) and Brooke Wegerer (3.7) rounded out the scoring there with Mientke’s score being her best so far.
Wegerer set a new personal-best, beating her old mark by a tenth, with a winning score of 7.2 on the beam. Behling wasn’t far behind with a personal-best 7.0. Carbaugh got a 6.9, Mientke got a 6.6 and Bilz got a 6.4. Mientke won the floor with a 6.7 and ended up with 25.7 all-around points. Lindsey Klapatauskas set a new best with a 6.4, Bilz earned a 6.1 and Wegerer received a 6.0.
The team’s event totals were 31.35 on vault, 27.7 on beam, 25.2 on floor and 21.8 on bars.
“The JVs are in a position where they have the varsity’s back,” Cain said. “It’s not something where they’re looking to take varsity spots. It’s more that they’ve got this if something were to happen. And that was the case in this meet. We rested Anna and we put Kiarah Behling in the varsity floor. She’s always done a nice job, always has good presentation and always does her best.”
The Raiders will complete the GNC duals Feb. 4 when they host Mosinee at 5:45 p.m. in the Medford Area Elementary School gym. The two-day Great Northern Conference meet follows at MAES with the Large Division competing at 5 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 12 and the Small Division competing at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 13.
The Raiders also learned this week their WIAA Division 2 sectional meet will be held in Rhinelander on Thursday, Feb. 18.
Champions at Valders
The Raiders threatened last year’s school-record team score Saturday as their finest all-around performance of the season resulted in a team championship at the Valders-Roncalli Invitational.
Usually an eight-team meet, this year’s invite was reduced to five teams. Medford was clearly the best of the bunch, scoring 134.15 total points to easily beat the host team (124.1) as well as Waupun (116.575), Markesan (113.525) and Kaukauna (107.9).
Medford’s school record team score is 134.901 set at last March’s WIAA Division 2 state meet.
“We placed first and did a phenomenal job with that,” head coach Steve Cain said Monday. “As coaches, we know that these girls are right where they should be. However, now we’re looking at what they can be beyond this, and we need to start seeing that even (Tuesday). We’re putting the pressure on them a little bit.”
Highlights for the meet came in every event.
The Raiders started on vault and scored 33.6 team points, which wasn’t their season-best, but Krause, Anna Wanke and Ulrich performed their highdiffi culty vaults, which they hope to improve upon for the big meets February will bring.
Krause won the event with an 8.75 and tied her personal best while land- ing her Yurchenko vault. She edged Jayme Jirikowic of Valders-Roncalli by one-tenth of a point to win it. Bilz nearly equaled her personal-best with a thirdplace score of 8.35 and Ulrich tied Bilz with her 8.35 as she threw her tsuk vault for the first time this winter.
Wanke’s landing wasn’t quite where she wanted it to be on her Yurchenko, but the vault overall was good enough to tie Kaukauna’s Hailey Brittnacher for eighth place at 8.15 and Malchow tied for 11th with her 8.1.
The uneven bars were next. The Raiders totaled 32.8 points, just 0.025 shy of their best score of the year. However, four personal-best scores in five routines made it a big day.
“We had an excellent day on bars,” Cain said. “They did a nice job. I was pretty proud of them for that.”
Malchow led the way with her personal- best score of 8.575, while Ulrich took second with a personal-best 8.35. Wanke placed third with an 8.05 that beat her previous best by 0.05 points. Krause took sixth out of 25 entrants with her 7.825 with just a couple of pauses, according to Cain, stopping her from reaching personal- best territory. Purdy placed seventh with her new best score of 7.775, a tenth higher than her previous best.
The Raiders still didn’t reach their peak on the balance beam, but they still hit a season-high at 33.15 points, led by Wanke’s second-place score of 8.6. Ulrich was right there with an 8.5 that was good for third and Malchow tied Markesan’s Morgan Amend for fourth at 8.1. Purdy continued her best day at the varsity level with an eighth-place score of 7.9 that was just off her best score from last year of 8.033. Krause tied for 16th at 6.95. Jirikowic won the event at 8.75.
“We didn’t have as many falls as we’ve had in previous meets,” Cain said. “We had more of what you’d call easy fixes that the girls can fix and they need to fix. I basically talked to them about that (Monday). We’re serious here now. We need to get some stuff done. The beam is where we should be scoring a 34 or higher for the skills that they have and the value they have in those skills and also those routines.”
As usual, Medford was outstanding in the floor exercise, scoring a season-high 34.6 points. Wanke and Ulrich tied for first with 8.8s that weren’t far from personal- bests. Malchow got a personal-best with her third-place score of 8.7. Krause tied Waupun’s Nicole Roecker for fifth at 8.3 and Purdy raised her score to 7.9, tying Katie Thomsen of Valders-Roncalli for eighth.
Ulrich’s 34.0 all-around points were a season-best and gave her the meet championship, four-tenths ahead of Wanke. Malchow was fourth with 33.475, just 0.025 behind Jirikowic. Krause was seventh with 31.825 points.
