WIAA Division 2 state gymnastics preview
What: The 53rd WIAA state gymnastics championships.
Where: Lincoln High School, Wisconsin Rapids.
When: For the first time since 2020, team and individual competition will be held in separate sessions. The team meet is Friday, March 3 at noon. The individual meet is Saturday, March 4 at 10 a.m.
Who: The Medford Raiders have qualified for state team competition for the fifth straight year and have won their sectional for the fourth straight season. This year, the team is considered a co-op with Colby.
In last year’s Division 2 meet, the Raiders finished seventh out of 10 teams with a team score of 134.384.
Division 2 team qualifiers: Sectional champions and their sectional team scores include Nicolet (143.3), the West Salem Co-op (139.75), Mount Horeb (139.475), Reedsburg (136.375) and Medford- Colby (134.875). Sectional runnersup and their sectional team scores include Elkhorn (139.2), River Falls (139.0), West Bend West (138.6), the Platteville Co-op (134.35) and the Ashland Co-op (131.25).
Five-time defending champion Whitefish Bay did not qualify this year after placing third in the West Bend West sectional. Mount Horeb was last year’s runner- up with 142.951 team points, while Nicolet placed third with 138.65 points. Elkhorn (136.6) was fifth, the West Salem Co-op (135.752) was sixth and Reedsburg (133.582) was eighth.
Individual qualifiers are the top five finishers in each event and top five allaround gymnasts from each of the five
sectionals.
Division 2 notebook (compiled by the WIAA): There are three returning champions from the state championships last season seeking a repeat title this year. There are three gymnasts that have qualified in the all-around this season after placing in the top five at state a year ago. Senior Cassi Hansen of Nicolet is the returning champion expecting to contend for the title again this season. She also placed fifth in the all-around in 2021. Sophomore Abby Roecker of Waupun has qualified this season after placing fourth last season, and senior Ella Hemker of Sparta was fifth last season after placing third in 2021. Other top allarounds at the sectionals include sophomore Avery Ash of Rice Lake, senior Taliya Michlig of the West Salem Co-op, sophomore Kaylee Frank of Elkhorn and sophomore Isabell Korn of the Viroqua Co-op.
Eight individuals are back in the vault after placing in the top nine in 2022, including Hemker, who won the championship and was runner-up in 2021 and fifth in 2020. She should expect stiff competition this year from junior Madilyn Fisher of Prairie du Chien-Fennimore, who was third; Ash, who was fourth; junior Morgan Siekert of the Viroqua Co-op, who was fifth; junior Ezzy Mauermann of Nicolet, who tied for sixth; as well as Michlig, senior Abbie Miller of the Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau Co-op and junior Kyla Krause of Medford-Colby, who all tied for ninth last year. In addition to the aforementioned Hemker, Fisher and Ash, other sectional champions that have qualified in the vault to contend for the title are Frank and Hansen.
Five of this year’s qualifiers in the uneven bars placed within the top 10 at last year’s championships. Hansen and Craker were both runners-up a year ago, after third- and ninth-place finishes, respectively, in 2021. Korn was fourth last year and senior Katie Malchow of Medford-Colby was ninth. Additional contenders for the title in uneven bars include the champions at sectionals. In addition to Hansen, Craker and Malchow, Hemker and senior Gabby Dixon of Elkhorn won the uneven bars in their sectionals.
Craker is the returning champion in the balance beam competition. Only two other qualifiers return this year after placing in the top 10 last season. Junior Ryann Wesley of Whitefish Bay has qualified in the event after her fourth-place effort last season, and Korn placed eighth. However, three other qualifiers this year should return to medal contention after placing in the top six in 2021, including Hansen, who placed third; Hemker, who tied for fourth; and Miller, who tied for sixth. Sectional titlists in addition to Korn vying for the balance beam championship are sophomore Athena Ouradnik of Mount Horeb, junior Rylee Sabelko of River Falls, Ash and Fischer.
Hemker highlights the list of returning gymnasts in the floor exercise after placing third at state last year and fourth in 2021. Other top-10 gymnasts returning to the meet this year include Michlig, who placed seventh; junior Jenna Heindselman of Elkhorn, who was ninth; and sophomore Abby Roecker of Waupun, who was 10th. If the top floor exercise routines at sectionals are any indication of who may be among the leaderboard at state, the champions at sectionals were junior Mel Princl of West Bend West, Fisher, Ouradnik, Michlig and Ash.
The schedule: There will be 10 rounds of competition during Friday’s team competition. Medford-Colby will compete on vault in round three, on the uneven bars in round five, on the balance beam in round seven and on the floor exercise in round 10. There will be five rounds of individual competition Saturday. Medford-Colby’s individual all-arounds, Malchow and Krause, will compete on beam in round one, on floor in round two, on vault in round four and on bars in round five.
––Sports Editor Matt Frey
