Record team score lasts a year; Raiders re-set it in Ashland

MEDFORD GYMNASTICS

Records are never safe with the current Medford Raiders gymnastics team and Saturday was no exception with three of six records falling in a championship effort at Ashland’s Valentine’s Invitational.

The Raiders got their biggest goal, setting a new team scoring record of 135.625 points to comfortably distance themselves from runner-up Stevens Point (131.45) and the host Oredockers (131.025). It’s the second year in a row Medford has set its team record at this meet. Last year’s mark of 135.175 stood until Saturday.

Junior Kyla Krause also re-set two of her recent school records while winning the all-around competition (35.55) and the uneven bars (9.05). She also won the vault (9.15) and tied for first on the floor exercise (9.0) to cap her outstanding day.

Senior Kate Malchow completed a sweep of the first-place finishes for Medford by taking the day’s first event, the balance beam with a 9.05.

“That’s what was cool. They set a goal and they met it,” Medford head coach Steve Cain said of the team scoring record. “They placed first as a team. Then look at per event, look how many places where Medford got first or second. Then we got three new school records and seven new personal records. I’m re-ally proud of them. They stepped up, they showed their strength and courage and their spirit carried them through from event to event. Nothing fazed them.”

The Ashland meet is unique in that six competitors are allowed per event rather than the usual five. Plus it’s the last one before the crucial Great Northern Conference and WIAA Division 2 sectional meets and Cain said the girls know this meet is their last chance to solidify their lineup spots in those two meets.

“It’s an exciting meet and it’s a strategic planning meet from a coach’s standpoint and the girls know why that is,” Cain said. “This is an important meet for the girls. For all the duals, triangulars, and invites, this is the last one. For the team, it sets the stage for narrowing it down for that solid five in each event.”

Krause and Malchow were the top two all-around gymnasts in Saturday’s meet. Krause’s score was one-tenth better than the one she got just nine days earlier in dual-meet win over Wisconsin Rapids. Malchow, whose record Krause broke, scored 34.55 total points Saturday and sophomore Veronica Mateer was 11th with a personal-best 31.675 all-around points.

“Kyla had an exciting crazy day,” Cain said. “Kyla and Kate work hard and go back and forth. Where one lacks a little bit in an event, the other one picks it up.”

Malchow’s 9.05 on the balance beam helped set the tone for the day. Medford scored a season-best 34.1 points on the balance beam and got a personal-record score of 8.4 from Mateer that was good for fifth place out of 30 gymnasts. Krause got an 8.35, Bridget Cloud tied Superior’s Liv Welke for eighth with an 8.3, which was her best varsity score of the season, Avery Purdy earned a 7.8 and Shayla Radlinger got a 7.75.

“They all walked away from beam like, ‘you know we had a few falls,’” Cain said. “However, everyone was feeling good about how they did. They weren’t frazzled by anything. They were set to charge ahead (to floor).”

Krause tied Maggie Behnke of Stevens Point atop the floor results with her 9.0 and Malchow was sixth with a solid 8.725 with a few fixable glitches that Cain said can increase that score even more.

Radlinger got a solid 8.2, Delaina Meyer earned an 8.1, Purdy got an 8.05 and Mateer earned a 7.8 for the Raiders, who compiled 34.025 team points.

With their Yurchenko vaults, Krause and Malchow took first and third in that event with scores of 9.15 and 8.825. Behnke was between them with her 8.9. Mateer was just outside the top 10 with her 8.225, Meyer got an 8.05, Carbaugh earned an 8.0 and Kaileigh Mientke got a 7.95 for the Raiders.

“Everybody did a great job on vaulting,” Cain said. “Vaulting is going to be an event that is going to be hard for me to figure out that fifth spot and the alternate. That’s going to be a tough one. It could go a couple different ways.”

The Raiders sealed their record score with a season-best day on the bars. Medford earned 33.25 points in the event with Krause easily winning it with her 9.05. Stevens Point’s Chloe Gresl (8.35) and Lauren Lemke (8.3) were second and third with Purdy right behind them at 8.25 in her best bars routine of the season. Cain said she hit a handstand pirouette, which she also got in this meet last year. She just missed her personal-best score of 8.267 set last year at state.

Radlinger’s season-best 8.0 was good for seventh place and wasn’t far off her personal best of 8.117. Malchow was eighth at 7.95, Meyer got a 7.6 and Mateer’s score was 7.25.

“If it wasn’t for all of the girls scoring what they scored and encouraging the other girls to score higher –– girls like Ellison, Delaina, Kaileigh and Bridget –– we wouldn’t have set the record,” Cain said. “All of them mattered as a team with all of their solid scores.”

More of the same will be needed from everyone Saturday as the team looks to earn at least a share of the season championship in their first year in the Large Schools Division of the Great Northern Conference. After going 2-1 in the duals, the Raiders must place higher than Marshfield to catch the Tigers for a tie in total points. If the Raiders would happen to finish two places higher than Marshfield, they’d win it outright. Stevens Point enters the meet in third place and Wisconsin Rapids is in fourth.

The meet starts at 10 a.m. and runs concurrently with the Small Schools Division meet, where Ashland is in control of the title chase.

Kate Malchow