Medford/Colby gymnasts grab fourth straight sectional

By Nathaniel Underwood

In what has become almost “business as usual” the Medford/Colby co-op gymnastics team dominated in their sectional competition in Antigo last Friday, taking their fourth straight team championship and advancing on to the state competition in Wisconsin Rapids. Led by impressive all-around performances from senior Kyla Krause and freshman Raylin Rothmeier, the co-op scored the most team points in all four events, ending the day with a final score of 135.500.

The Ashland/Drummond/Mellen coop team narrowly beat out Rice Lake for the second spot, but neither were close to topping Medford/Colby, with the second and third place teams ending the day with scores of 124.350 and 123.775.

Medford/Colby boasted scores of 34 or more points in three of the four events and were nearly two points better than the Ashland co-op squad in the bars, the only event in which they finished with a team score under 34. All 20 of Medford/Colby’s performances finished in the top half of all athletes, with none finishing lower than 15th place.

Colby junior Veronica Mateer and sophomores Bridget Cloud and Delaina Meyer were key parts of the team’s fourth straight sectional championship. In addition to competing with the rest of their team during the state team competition on Friday, March 1, Mateer and Cloud also qualified for the individual competition on Saturday, March 2 after their performances on the balance beam earned them a spot in the finals.

The Medford/Colby co-op commanded the beam during Friday’s competition, taking four of the top five spots in the event and with all five of their entries finishing in the top eight. Mateer took fourth overall in the event, with both judges giving her scores of 8.600. This was an improvement of nearly half a point from last year’s sectional performance, where she was given a score of 8.175.

Cloud was just behind her teammate, putting up another state-worthy performance in the balance beam. The sophomore grabbed fifth place, finishing with a final score of 8.475 after receiving scores of 8.65 and 8.30 from the panel.

Mateer also added a top ten finish in the vault, where she tied for eighth place with a score of 8.325. The Colby junior also added an 11th place finish in the floor exercise with a score of 7.900 and a 12th place finish in the bars with a score of 7.525.

While Meyer missed out on any individual state qualifications, she was still instrumental to the team’s overall success.

The sophomore competed in three events for the co-op, with her best finish coming in the floor exercise. There she was Medford/Colby’s third highest scorer, receiving grades of 8.15 and 8.60 from the judges for a final overall of 8.375. The performance earned her sixth place overall in the event.

She also competed in the bars, where her score of 7.950 earned her seventh place, and the vault, where she tied for 13th overall with a score of 8.250.

The team will be competing in their fifth straight team state competition on Friday, March 1, which is set to begin at noon at Wisconsin Rapids-Lincoln fieldhouse. The individual tournament will start at 10 a.m the following day.

FOUR-PEAT - Four the fourth straight season, the Medford/Colby gymnastics team hoisted the sectional championship trophy after taking first place in Antigo on Friday.

SUBMITTED PHOTO