MEDFORD-COLBYGYMNASTICS - More records for Krause, big team win at GNC Championships

MEDFORD-COLBY GYMNASTICS

Kyla Krause had the best day of her high school gymnastics career and Medford-Colby nearly did as a team as well while winning Saturday’s Great Northern Conference Large Division Championships at Rhinelander.

The Raiders scored 136.075 to outscore Marshfield (134.125), Stevens Point (133.25) and Wisconsin Rapids (131.275) to win the meet for the first time in the program’s second year in the division. Medford-Colby was just shy of reaching the school-record team score of 136.375 it set three weeks earlier at the Antigo Invitational.

Krause, after a tough start to the year due to injury, seems to be hitting the peak of her senior year at just the right time. She broke her own school record while winning the all-around competition with 36.525 total points, tied the school record while winning the balance beam with a 9.25 and won the vault and uneven bars events with scores of 9.3 and 9.025.

By winning the all-around title, Krause was named the GNC Large Division Gymnast of the Year for the second straight season.

Krause nearly got nines in all four events. Her 8.95 in the floor exercise tied her with Marshfield’s Alyvia Dietsche for second place, just 0.05 points behind Marshfield’s Serenah Tippett.

Unfortunately, the meet win wasn’t quite enough to vault Medford into the overall Large Division championship. The Raiders trailed Marshfield by four points coming into the day. By finishing second Saturday and winning all three division dual meets during the season, the Tigers totaled 12 points. Medford got eight points Saturday to add to the two points it got for one dual win to finish with 10 points.

Wisconsin Rapids started the day in second place with four points but only gained two more and fell to third. Stevens Point remained fourth overall, gaining its only four points of the season Saturday.

The Raiders set a season-high team score on the uneven bars in Saturday’s meet, tied their season-high on the balance beam and weren’t far off from season bests on vault and floor.

Krause’s winning score of 9.025 on the bars was just shy of her school record of 9.05 set last season. She easily outscored runner-up Chloe Gresl of Stevens Point, who earned an 8.7. Marshfield’s Solenne Lonsdale got an 8.25 to earn the All-GNC honorable mention award in the event by just 0.05 points over Raider Shayla Radlinger. Radlinger’s 8.2 was a personal best. Delaina Meyer tied Marshfield’s Alyvia Dietsche for fifth place with an 8.15, tying her personal-best from earlier this year. Bridget Cloud and Veronica Mateer added 7.4s to Medford-Colby’s team score of 32.775.

Medford-Colby’s 34.45 beam points started with Krause’s 9.25 that tied the school record set by 2023 graduate Kate Malchow in the first meet of the 202122 season. Gresl was again the runnerup, earning a 9.05, while Point’s Olivia Manternach was third at 8.85. Mateer set a personal best for the second straight meet with an 8.7 that put her in fifth place. Raylin Rothmeier took ninth with her 8.35, Cloud was 11th at 8.15, just off her season-best of 8.2, and Radlinger tied for 13th at 7.75.

The Raiders earned 34.65 points on the vault, just three-tenths off a season-best. Krause, who set a school record of 9.45 in the team’s previous meet at Ashland, didn’t miss that by much with her 9.3 that won the event by one-tenth over Dietsche. Abigail Pietsche of Marshfield was third with a 9.05, while Meyer took fourth at 8.55, tying her best score of the season. Rothmeier was part of a four-way tie for eighth place at 8.45, Kaileigh Mientke tied for 14th at 8.35, tying her best mark of the season, and Ellison Carbaugh added an 8.15.

Along with Krause’s 8.95, Meyer got a personal-best tying 8.625 that placed ninth on the floor, Mateer was 11th at 8.475, Rothmeier was 14th at 8.15 and Radlinger was 15th with her 8.1.

With the regular season complete, the Raiders now focus squarely on Friday’s WIAA Division 2 Antigo sectional, where a top-two team finish would send them to their sixth straight appearance at the state championships, set for March 1 at Wisconsin Rapids. Individuals placing in the top five of an event or as a top-five allaround will qualify for the individual state meet, also in Rapids, on March 2.