Raiders get first GNC win in challenging meet at the dome

MEDFORD GYMNASTICS

A Dec. 21 Great Northern Conference dual meet in Rhinelander was anything but ordinary for the Medford Raiders, who came home with a 126.875-105.225 team win but also with a tough individual loss.

Senior Makala Ulrich was the night’s all-around champion with 32.375 total points and won three of the four individual events. In the one Ulrich didn’t win, the balance beam, Medford’s Kate Malchow and Anna Wanke tied for first place.

Unfortunately, Wanke’s junior season likely ended one event later when the junior injured her achilles tendon during the floor exercise.

That capped an odd night where the lack of a judge forced a rearranging of the rotations, the Raiders weren’t comfortable on the uneven bars in Rhinelander’s Hodag Dome and the scores showed it and the heat went out in the dome during the last half of the meet.

“You feel so bad for Anna because she eats, breathes and lives gymnastics,” Medford head coach Steve Cain said of the night’s biggest downer.

Competing for the first time since Dec. 4, the Raiders’ varsity scores were down slightly in all areas from the first home invite, but they weren’t down by much, particularly on the vault and balance beam.

The vault was Medford’s second event of the meet. Ulrich won it with a score of 8.3, just ahead of teammates Kyla Krause and Ellison Carbaugh, who earned 8.2s. Wanke was fourth with an 8.15 and Malchow completed Medford’s sweep of the top five spots with an 8.05. Carbaugh’s score was a jump from the 8.05 she got in Medford Dec. 4. Overall, the team outscored Rhinelander 32.85-30.575 on the vault.

Overall, Cain said the vault efforts were a nice bounceback from the bars, where the Raiders were a bit off their game.

“In an instance like this, you hope it fires you up and makes you want to turn a negative into a positive,” Cain said.

Ulrich still won the bars competition with a 7.7, while Krause and Raider Avery Purdy tied for second with 7.2s. Malchow was fourth at 7.15 and Wanke was sixth with her 6.35, just behind Rhinelander’s Sophie Miljevich (6.7). And, the Raiders outscored the Hodags by a wide margin in the event, 29.25-19.5, to take control of the meet.

“It was just below average when you think about what these girls are capable of doing,” Cain said.

Raider routines were solid on the balance beam, where Medford’s point total of 32.55 was just a half-point behind its Dec. 4 score. Malchow and Wanke won it with 8.4s. Malchow was coming off her school-record 9.25 in the first meet. Krause took the biggest jump, going to a 7.9 to place third. Ulrich was fourth with a 7.85 and Purdy tied Rhinelander’s Payton Rudawski for fifth with her 7.5.

“Kate got her back tucks, which I thought were comparable or maybe even better than the first meet,” Cain said. “But the judges were tougher in this meet I would say than they were in the first meet. Overall, we didn’t have as many falls as we did in the first meet on the varsity.”

Medford’s team total on the floor dipped from 34.1 points to 32.225, but the loss of Wanke had a lot to do with that. Ulrich’s 8.525 was followed by Malchow’s improved 8.35, Krause’s 7.75 and 7.6 from freshman Shayla Radlinger, who bumped up her score by 0.05 points and tied Miljevich for fourth.

“We just had a little trouble completing all of our tumbling passes,” Cain said. “Kate came close to a PR, Shayla got her PR. Makala stayed right there. She’s one that just doesn’t deviate on floor.”

Malchow (31.95) and Krause (31.05) placed second and third in the all-around competition.

Medford’s JV squad continued to shine and showed there are options available for Cain and assistant Jaylene Lannet to help fill the all-around loss of Wanke.

The team scored 108.55 team points while competing on its own as the Hodags had no JV gymnasts. Veronica Mateer scored 29 points as the only allaround competitor.

Mateer won the floor exercise with an improved 7.95, followed by Purdy (7.3), Kaileigh Mientke (7.0), Brooke Wegerer (6.6) and Bethany Jokiel (5.8). Mientke’s score was a personal best.

Sadie Moore returned from injury and the freshman won her lone event of the night, the balance beam, with a 7.6. Mientke was second with a personal-best 7.4, followed by Mateer (7.2), Carbaugh (7.0) and Wegerer (6.7). Scores inched upward on the vault where Mateer won with an 8.05, Radlinger and Mientke both got 8.0s and Jokiel earned a 7.85.

Radlinger won the bars with a 6.5, Carbaugh got a 6.3 and Mateer earned a 5.8.

Medford was slated to return to Rhinelander Wednesday for the rescheduled Snowflake Invitational, which was snowed out on Dec. 11. The Raiders are then off until Jan. 15 when they’ll face some strong competition at the River Falls Invitational.