Raiders tip Tigers to win another Hot Cocoa Invite
MEDFORD GYMNASTICS
First-meet jitters were present among Medford’s gymnasts and coaches, but they certainly didn’t show when it was time to perform at Saturday’s season-opening Hot Cocoa Invitational at Medford Area Elementary School. The Raiders posted the highest team score in the three-year history of the meet with 132.6 points, won their third straight meet championship by outscoring a solid Marshfield squad by 0.95 points and got a school-record performance from junior Kate Malchow on what could only be termed as an excellent first meet.
“I thought it was really good,” junior Anna Wanke said. “Everyone pulled it together I would say. In practice this week I feel all of us could agree it was a little bit rough towards the beginning, so it was really nice to see everything come together.”
“Everyone tried hard at practice all week to get all their skills down,” Malchow said.
“All I asked of them was that they gave 100%,” Medford head coach Steve Cain said. “They owed it to themselves to do that. Everyone seemed to have a good team attitude. They really seemed to grab a hold of that.”
Malchow’s new record came on the balance beam, where she posted the day’s top score of 9.25. That was 0.2 points better than Marshfield’s all-around champion Hanna Merkel and 0.05 points better than the previous school record, set by Brooklyn Bilz at Rhinelander almost two years ago on Dec. 14, 2019.
“I didn’t even know I broke the record at first,” Malchow said. “Anna said something about it afterwards and I didn’t even know. It’s exciting to break the record. I was not expecting that at all.”
Amazingly, Malchow was virtually spot-on without even getting her full run through in warm-ups.
“For my series I wasn’t sure if it counted but (the judge) said it did, it’s a back tuck, back tuck and I landed it,” Malchow said. “I didn’t warm it up either because we didn’t have time. My dismount is new, which is a roundoff back tack, which I’ve been scared to do because I don’t like doing roundoffs on the end of the beam.”
Wanke added an 8.3 that tied Marshfi eld’s Solenne Lonsdale for fifth. Ulrich and Avery Purdy tied for 10th with 7.7s and Kyla Krause was 16th with a 7.25.
From an overall perspective, the team’s best event was probably the floor exercise, where Medford ended its day with 34.1 team points and the top three finishers, Makala Ulrich (8.725), Wanke (8.675) and Kyla Krause (8.5). Krause was 0.025 points better than Merkel. Malchow was eighth with her 8.2 and freshman Shayla Radlinger got a 7.55 in her first varsity routine.
“I think we all did really, really well on floor,” Ulrich said. “I think we were all ready to have our last big show.”
Cain said the team’s opening performance on the vault was a good sign Medford was ready to compete. The Raiders opened by totaling 33.8 points in the event, just behind Marshfield’s 33.85, and getting a win from Krause, the current school record holder, who posted an 8.8 with her first Yurchenko pike vault of the year. Wanke earned an 8.4 with her Yurchenko tuck and tied Marshfield’s Serenah Tippett for sixth. Ulrich was ninth with an 8.35, Malchow tied for 11th at 8.25 and sophomore Ellison Carbaugh got an 8.05 in her first varsity vault entry, good for 16th.
This first event showed Cain the girls had a team-first focus.
“There had to be a lot of team effort and cooperation (in warm-ups) in who was doing the mats, who was doing the table, who was doing the board and making sure it was set for the right distance,” he said. “It couldn’t have gone any smoother.”
Cain said the uneven bars was another major bright spot. Wanke tied Merkel for first place with her 8.15, while Krause tied Lonsdale for third at 8.0. Malchow was fifth with her 7.9, Ulrich was seventh at 7.7 and Purdy was thrilled with her ninth-place 7.45 after she said her routine hadn’t really come together in practice during the week.
“We rocked the house with the first meet on bars with the scores the girls got,” Cain said. “They performed better than what I had seen in practices up through Friday. They really, really nailed it. Do they have things to clean up? Yes. But they’re little things.”
Merkel won the all-around competition with 34.125 total points, followed Medford’s quartet of Malchow (33.6), Wanke (33.525), Krause (32.55) and Ulrich (32.475).
In JV competition, the Raiders scored 110.15 points to finish just behind Marshfi eld’s deep squad (123.3) and set a high bar for themselves for the remainder of the season.
It started with 31.6 points on vault. Veronica Mateer led the Raiders with an 8.2. She was followed by Radlinger (7.9), Bethany Jokiel (7.8), Kaleigh Mientke (7.7) and Brooke Wegerer with a personal- best 7.4. The JV Raiders were outstanding on the balance beam, earning 30.9 points, 0.2 more than Marshfield. Mateer was second with her 7.9, Radlinger and Carbaugh tied for third with 7.8s, Wegerer tied for sixth at 7.4 and Jokiel got a 6.1.
On the floor, Mateer took second with a 7.7, just 0.05 points behind Marshfield’s Sophie Nikolay. Purdy was fifth with her 7.35, Wegerer was seventh at 7.05, Jokiel was 10th with her 6.8 and Mientke was 11th at 6.6.
“That was probably the strongest performance I’ve seen from a JV squad on the floor in all the time I’ve been in gymnastics,” Cain said. “They really hit it. Veronica is always a presenter. She has such good form. Avery is like Veronica. Bethany, she’s a show stopper. She just gives ‘er. Brooke did so well. She was super. Kayleigh is going to be the ultimate tumbler.”
Carbaugh was fifth on the bars with a personal-best 6.8, Radlinger was seventh at 6.6 and Mateer got a 5.35 and finished the day with 29.15 all-around points, good for second place behind Marshfield’s Cassie Langfoss (29.6).
The Raiders look to build off their strong opener at this Saturday’s nineteam Rhinelander Snowflake Invitational. The team’s leaders said they’re excited about getting back into large meets like this one this season.
“We have a lot more invites, and that makes our routines a lot more consistent,” Wanke said.
“Last year we only had two or three invites,” Ulrich said. “I just feel like when there’s more teams there’s more energy. Because then you hear other teams cheering and it gets you going. It gives you more time to practice your routines because you can never have enough practice.”
The Medford Raiders celebrate with the varsity championship trophy after Saturday’s Hot Cocoa Invitational. Team members include (l. to r.) Ellison Carbaugh, Kyla Krause, Makala Ulrich, Anna Wanke, Kate Malchow, Avery Purdy and Shayla Radlinger.MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS
Medford’s Kate Malchow jumps above the balance beam during her recordsetting routine that earned a 9.25 from the judges at Saturday’s Hot Cocoa Invitational.MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS
