Raiders keep adding depth, aim for another big season

MEDFORD GYMNASTICS PREVIEW

With three straight WIAA Division 2 state appearances to its credit, the Medford Raiders gymnastics program is obviously in a good place. The scary part for the competition is that the Raiders may only be getting better as the 2021-22 season gets underway.

Having five letter winners and eight gymnasts in all back from last year’s team that finished sixth in state competition last February makes them formidable enough. But the girls said after the state meet they knew even more talent was coming and it’s arrived in the form of four freshmen who grew up in the Rainbow Gymnastics Club and won’t need much of a learning curve to adjust to high school competition.

“Honestly the depth now this year is at a point where I have to look at average scores, what they have for requirements and what the judges are deducting,” sixth-year head coach Steve Cain said Wednesday. “It comes down to factoring those in to find who is on top and then on down when we determine the lineup.” That being said it won’t be easy to crack a lineup that features the five veterans Medford has in place with reigning Great Northern Conference Small Division Gymnast of the Year Makala Ulrich, the school’s record holder in vault in Kyla Krause and two-time state performers Kate Malchow, Anna Wanke and Avery Purdy.

The first step toward finalizing the lineup Medford will rely on in crunch time in February and March comes Saturday when the Raiders host their third Hot Cocoa Invitational at Medford Area Elementary School at 9 a.m.

The event is back after a year off and features a new lineup of opponents that features Rice Lake, Marshfield, Tomah and Mosinee.

It’s the first of six Saturday invitationals as Medford returns to a full schedule after last year’s COVID-related adjustments. That is another of the many things the Raiders are looking forward to this winter.

“I think having that absence of competition because of COVID has pushed these girls into another realm of readiness and the ability to focus on what they didn’t have and now what they can have again by doing their best at these meets,” Cain said.

Cain is joined by a new assistant coach this season, Jaylene Lannet, who has previously worked with younger girls in the club program.

Ulrich is the lone senior on the roster, so opponents hoping the Raiders will suddenly run low on talent after this year will be disappointed. A three-year standout, Ulrich set the school record at last year’s GNC meet with an all-around total of 34.85 points and she was the previous vault record holder until Krause executed her Yurchenko vault that earned a 9.4 at the WIAA Division 2 sectional in Rhinelander. Ulrich was the GNC Small co-champion on the balance beam and the undisputed champion on the uneven bars. She finished 10th at state on bars.

Malchow, Purdy, Wanke and Brooke Wegerer are the juniors. Malchow shared the GNC beam title with Ulrich and took 18th in the event at state as well as 13th at state on bars. Wanke was the GNC Small Division floor exercise champion and the all-around and bars runner-up. Purdy has competed at state on bars the past two years in team competition. Wegerer was penciled in to compete in three JV events in Saturday’s opener as of midweek.

Krause headlines the sophomore class that includes returnees Ellison Carbaugh and Kayleigh Mientke. Krause was the conference’s vault champion as a freshman. She and Ulrich tied for 17th in state all-around competition, while Malchow was 19th and she finished eighth at state on vault with a 9.275. Cain said Carbaugh is one of the youngsters pushing toward varsity consideration, especially on vault, while Mientke’s strength is her powerful tumbling in the floor exercise.

Bethany Jokiel, Veronica Mateer, Sadie Moore and Shayla Radlinger are the freshmen. The vast majority of their competition will be at the JV level Saturday. Moore is likely out for this meet while resting a sore knee, but the coaches are hoping she won’t be out of competition long.

Cain said the veterans certainly deserve the nod to start the year in varsity slots Saturday, but, as it progresses, he knows this year may prove to be his toughest in terms of making decisions for those fourth and fifth varsity spots in each event.

“Everybody else on the team is on the heels of these varsity girls,” Cain said. “It’s just that we only have five varsity spots. I have to make the decision when it comes to composition. I have to make the decision based on the skills. One girl may be able to knock out the skills perfectly with the height, the form, the straight legs, pointed feet. But the next girl may not have perfect form, but she has the flow and the consistency and the presentation.

“As a coach it’s a constant vigil watching how are they doing in practice and catching every little point of what they’re doing to know if they should be in that spot in the varsity lineup and if they’re going to keep climbing up.”

Cain said the athletes and coaches both put season expectations down on paper in early-season practices and their visions were pretty much the same. Though there is a lot of talent and there will be individual competition so to speak for spots, the Raiders need to work as a team to get where they want to go.

“We have work to do,” Cain said. “We made the girls come up with what they feel should be the team expectations for the season. One of the biggest things that was on the list for team expectations was to be a team, bond as a team, help each other out and no drama. It was pretty much let’s get the job done and help each other. As coaches that’s what we want too. Our list of expectations was pretty basic too. No drama, be kind, help each other, win. And winning is on a lot of different levels. It’s about how you do it.”

Not only are the Raiders shooting for their third straight WIAA Division 2 sectional championship and fourth straight state berth, they also are looking to continue to dominate in the Great Northern Conference’s Small Division, which includes Rhinelander, Lakeland and Mosinee.

Last year, the Raiders actually outscored Large Division teams Stevens Point, Marshfield, Wisconsin Rapids, Ashland and Antigo during the conference meet that Medford hosted. At that meet, the Raiders fell just 0.01 points shy of tying the program’s 2020 school record of 134.901 points. The Raiders will host a dual with Rapids on Feb. 10 and will see Antigo and Ashland multiple times during the season.

Antigo is this year’s host for the GNC and sectional meets. The state meet returns to Wisconsin Rapids, but with a major change. Each division’s team and individual competitions will be held on the same day, not on separate days as they were prior to last year. This year, Division 2 will hold its full competition on Friday, March 4.

Kyla Krause, shown here during her eighth-place finish at the 2021 WIAA state meet on vault, returns as Medford’s school record holder in the event.MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS