Raiders like where they stand after another high-scoring meet

GNC GYMNASTICS MEET

Barring something catastrophic, the Medford Raiders knew they were coming home Saturday with their fifth Great Northern Conference championship trophy in six years in the league’s Small Division.

So the day became about other goals, such as scoring higher than the Large Schools during the meet, held at Antigo High School, continuing to add or tweak skills and routines, re-set the team school record they broke the previous Saturday and keep building momentum for the WIAA Division 2 post-season, which starts Friday with a return trip to Antigo.

The Raiders accomplished many of those items, while scoring 135.15 points in Small Division competition. Rhinelander was a distant second with 107.6 points, Mosinee, who was without its best gymnast Avery Ahles, was third with 104.15 and Lakeland was fourth with 101.2. Medford’s score would’ve placed second on the Large Schools side of the meet, just behind their friendly rivals from Marshfield (135.25), who the Raiders have gone back and forth with this season in the meets they’ve been at together.

Medford just missed breaking its week-old school record of 135.175 points.

“We were pretty close to breaking the record again,” junior Avery Purdy said. “I think we had some really good routines today. We may have had some little bobbles here and there. Makala (Ulrich) tried her tsuk today and it looked really, really good. We did some good things today. Good improvements that we’d seen in practice.”

“I think we already kind of knew we were going to win,” said Ulrich, who captured her second straight GNC Small Division Gymnast of the Year award by scoring 34.55 all-around points, just off her school record of 34.8. “So we weren’t really worried. One of our goals was to see where we would’ve placed for Large School.”

The Raiders set some Small Division history by winning all of the individual awards with top three finishes in each event, a feat they had nearly accomplished the past two years. On the uneven bars and balance beam, Medford actually had the top five finishers.

“That’s kind of cool to see our whole team up there (on the awards podium),” Purdy said.

For the second straight Saturday, Medford hit the 35-point barrier in the floor exercise at 35.075. Ulrich tied the personal-best score she had a week earlier at 9.2, Kyla Krause got an 8.8 to place second and fall just shy of her personalbest 8.9 and Kate Malchow got the honorable mention spot with an 8.75.

“I didn’t want to fall on floor on my first pass because I didn’t land that many in warm-up,” Malchow said of her top goal for the day. “I landed it in my routine.”

Medford’s freshmen rounded out the team score with Veronica Mateer taking fourth with an 8.325 and Shayla Radlinger tying Rhinelander’s Abby Belbot for sixth with a 7.85.

The Raiders were solid as usual on vault with 34.75 points. Krause continued to be in peak form heading into the post-season with a winning score of 9.3, one tenth off her school record, and Ulrich took second with an 8.75, throwing her tsuk vault for the first time this season in preparation for the post-season and hitting it solidly on her first attempt.

“My goal was to just do my tsuk on vault,” Ulrich said. “It wasn’t really as bad as I was expecting it to be.”

“I just wanted to land my Yurchenko and get a good score, which I did,” Krause said. “I was pretty happy with that.”

Sophomore Ellison Carbaugh took the third place spot with an 8.45, just ahead of Mosinee’s Jaiden Reed (8.4). Mateer (8.25) and Malchow (8.15) were fifth and sixth.

The Raiders set a new season-best team score on the bars, led by Malchow’s 8.625, which was her season-best as well. Krause earned an 8.2, Ulrich got a 7.95, Purdy set a new best with a 7.9 and Radlinger was just 0.05 points off hers with a 7.85 as the Raiders took the top five spots.

“My goal was to hit my handstand on the low bar,” Purdy said. “In warmups I hit it for like five seconds and the judges were laughing with me saying I only needed it for two. I did hit it, so I got my goal for the day. And I didn’t fall on beam.”

The Raiders started the day on the balance beam, which they admitted wasn’t perfect but it wasn’t bad either with 32.65 points.

Ulrich was solid with an 8.65, Malchow hit her back tucks and took second with an 8.05 despite a couple of bobbles. Purdy’s 8.0 nearly was a personal-best. Krause and Mateer tied for fourth with 7.95s.

Mateer said she hit her goal for the day.

“I just wanted to stay on the beam,” she said.

In the all-around results, Ulrich’s 34.55 just beat Krause’s personal-best 34.25 total points while Malchow was third with 33.575 points.

Sectional is Friday

Medford is back in Antigo Friday for the WIAA Division 2 sectional meet, where the top five finishers and top five all-arounds will advance to individual state competition and the top two teams will also be team competitors at state. The Division state meet is now a one-day event, Friday, March 4 at Wisconsin Rapids.

The Raiders are a favorite based on their season scores and they will go in as a confident bunch. They also are mildly surprised at their late-season success, which has been achieved without one of their top gymnasts, junior Anna Wanke, who was lost to injury in the season’s second meet. Veterans stepped up, as did the freshmen and they expect to keep it going in the season’s biggest meets.

“I think we’re peaking at the right time,” Krause said.

“Our team score has improved a lot since the first meet,” Malchow said.

“I honestly didn’t think we were going to break the school record again,” Purdy said. “Then we gradually started to get better and better.”

“Personally I got kind of nervous just because of not having Anna,” Ulrich said. “But we managed to do it. I think that was more of like a wake-up call like, ‘OK guys we need to kick it in gear a little bit.’” “I’m excited to see what it all holds for us,” Purdy said.

Antigo, Ashland, Lakeland, Mosinee, Rhinelander, Rice Lake and Washburn will be the other teams competing Friday at the sectional meet.

Medford’s gymnastics team receives the program’s fifth GNC Small Division team trophy in six years following Saturday’s conference meet in Antigo. Team members include (l. to r.) Alli Sromek, Shayla Radlinger, Ellison Carbaugh, Kyla Krause, Makala Ulrich, Avery Purdy, Kate Malchow, Kayleigh Mientke, Bethany Jokiel and Veronica Mateer.MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS

Medford’s Makala Ulrich hits a tsuk vault while watched by head coach Steve Cain during the GNC Championships held Saturday in Antigo. Ulrich got an 8.75 on this vault and went on to win the all-around championship.MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS

Raider Shayla Radlinger gets into routine on the uneven bars in the last rotation of Saturday’s meet. She earned a 7.85 to place fifth.MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS