Raiders rule the sectional again, head back to state

WIAA DIV. 2 GYMNASTICS

The Medford-Colby gymnastics coop maintained its dominance over the area’s Division 2 competition Friday, capturing the program’s fourth straight sectional championship at Antigo and earning its fifth straight berth in state team competition.

The Raiders scored 134.875 points at Friday’s eight-team meet, their secondhighest point total of the season, and built a comfortable margin over the Ashland Co-op, who also qualified for state with 131.25 points and third-place Antigo (129.3). Bloomer-Colfax, an addition to this year’s sectional field, place fourth with 128.025 points.

“It’s pretty awesome as a team where these guys have all ended up this season,” Medford head coach Steve Cain said as the team began its practice Monday at the Rainbow Gymnastics facility. “When you look at all of the teams competing, they’re getting so much closer and closer. Competition is getting tougher and these guys are hanging in there and getting better and better. Now it just depends on how much tougher they want to get before the season ends.”

“I think it was a strong meet,” senior Avery Purdy said. “We may not have broke the record, but I feel like we really worked together that day.”

After an injury-depleted team took 10th at state in 2019, the Raiders have followed that up with solid fifth-, sixth- and seventh-place finishes the past three seasons in state competition with scores all in the 134-point range. Their fifth-place score in 2020 was 134.901.

This year’s team has a school-record score of 135.625 to its credit and features six gymnasts with state experience, led by senior Kate Malchow, who’s going to her fourth state meet, and junior Kyla Krause, who will be competing in her third. Those two will compete in both days of the WIAA Division 2 state championships, which include the team competition on Friday and the individual competition on Saturday at Wisconsin Rapids Lincoln High School.

Friday’s meet starts at noon and Saturday’s competition starts at 10 a.m.

Malchow won her third straight sectional championship on the uneven bars, tying her personal-record score of 8.85, which she originally set last year at state and finished ninth. Krause was right behind her at 8.8 as they earned spots in the state individual competition in those events by easily getting top-five placements.

However, bars was one of two events the Raiders felt everyone was scored a bit low in Friday’s meet. Also qualifying for state were Olivia Price of Bloomer-Colfax (8.4), Andrea Shestak of Antigo (8.15) and Avery Ash of Rice Lake (8.1).

Raider sophomore Shayla Radlinger finished 10th out of 34 gymnasts with a score of 7.8, freshman Delaina Meyer tied for 11th at 7.7, tying her personal best, and senior Avery Purdy was 14th at 7.45.

“I was like where are they finding this stuff to deduct,” Cain said of Malchow’s and Krause’s routines as well as some of the other top finishers in the meet.

Krause led Medford’s strong night on the balance beam with a second-place score of 8.65. She was 0.2 points behind Ash. Malchow, last year’s sectional beam champion, qualified for state again with her fourth-place score of 8.35. Price was third at 8.5 and Mosinee’s Avery Ahles and Ashland’s Ali Vittone tied for fifth at 8.325 to advance.

The Raiders had just two combined falls as a team. Purdy, who qualified for state last year, just missed returning by 0.025 points. She placed seventh at 8.3. Sophomore Veronica Mateer placed ninth at 8.175 and freshman Bridget Cloud tied for 17th at 7.7, which Cain called a redemption routine after she had a tough outing at the Feb. 18 sectional.

“She fought hard for everything, I could see that,” Cain said.

Cain also said he felt for Purdy. “I was disappointed for Avery Purdy for not qualifying,” he said. “Last year she qualified on beam. That was such an exciting thing. She wanted to qualify in one event individually. It didn’t happen. It broke my heart for her.”

“With my beam routine, I was very happy,” Purdy said. “I was 0.1 away from my PR. That was probably the best routine I’ve done all season. I was really disappointed that I didn’t qualify by 0.025. I was very angry at that.”

“She was very close,” assistant coach Jaylene Lennet said. “We were all bummed.”

Vault was another major highlight of the meet. The Raiders set a season-high score of 35.175 points and had three of the top seven finishers. Krause, who had won the sectional title the past two years, placed fourth this time around with a 9.125 and Malchow was fifth with a personal-best 9.05. They will be part of the individual vault competition at state Saturday. Meyer wasn’t too far off, placing seventh with a personal-best 8.725.

“It was better than I was expecting,” Malchow said. “I stuck my landing on my second one. I don’t know how. I just need my feet to land first. Landing-wise and my form was better than usual.”

“I just have to work on the landing,” Krause said.

Junior Ellison Carbaugh was 18th for Medford at 8.275 and junior Kaileigh Mientke, in her first sectional appearance, shook off the pressure she said she felt and got an 8.15 to finish 21st.

Ash won the event with an outstanding 9.575, while Ashland’s Jaycee Erickson and Bloomer-Colfax’s Celina Hess tied for second at 9.15 to advance.

The scoring was tough in the floor exercise, but Malchow did advance with a fifth-place score of 8.425. Krause just missed, taking sixth at 8.4. However, she will compete in the event at state as an all-around gymnast.

Radlinger tied for 12th for Medford with an 8.15, Meyer tied for 14th at 8.1 and Mateer was 16th at 8.075.

Ash (8.7), Erickson (8.675), Ahles (8.65) and Tessa McFarlane of the Ashland Coop (8.45) were the top four floor finishers.

“They had everyone’s floor scores low, not just ours,” Malchow said.

Krause placed second in the allaround competition with 34.975 points and Malchow, last year’s sectional champion, took third with 34.675. Ash was the only gymnast better on Friday (35.225). Price (34.0) and Erickson (33.575) also are state all-around qualifiers.

The rest of the team scores showed Rice Lake in fifth place with 123.6 points, followed by Mosinee (117.35), Lakeland (67.875) and Rhinelander (67.775).

State thoughts

The Raiders went into Friday’s sectional competition feeling confident about their chances of winning based on the team scores they had seen from the other teams during the season. But they try not to take for granted the position the program has put itself in with its fifth straight team trip to state.

“I think it’s rewarding to see,” Purdy said. “When we were little, we were watching all the gymnasts. Then we grew up, we were doing those skills earlier than they were because the Rainbow Club was progressing. I just think it’s cool to be able to see all the progression that we’ve made. All the younger ones that are coming up now are even better than we used to be at that level. I’m excited to see what comes after us too.

“For me, I don’t do club anymore but I know all of these girls do and they put a lot of hours in during the summer,” she added. “Girls like Kyla and Kate they always stay late after practice to finish up skills. Everyone definitely does put their work in here.”

For Medford to improve from last year’s seventh-place finish or to even challenge for a top-five spot this year, it won’t come easily. Seven of the other nine team qualifiers had higher sectional scores this past weekend, led by Nicolet’s impressive score of 143.3, which helped prevent perennial powerhouse Whitefish Bay from even making it this year. Four more teams scored in the 139s this past weekend.

Meyer summed up the team’s goal for Friday quite simply.

“Do the best we can,” she said.

“We’ll just be working on consistency throughout all of our routines on every event,” Malchow said of this week’s practice focus.

“Yeah, drill stuff that if you sometimes fall on it, drill it five times in a row until you land it,” Purdy said.

Experience should help the team. Though the crowd figures to be larger with both Division 1 and 2 being present, unlike the past two years, knowing what to expect should go a long way.

“When you’re on that top ledge and you look down, there are just people everywhere,” said Carbaugh, who competed on vault last year.

“It’s just big and you can just feel everyone around you when you’re down there,” said Mateer, who competed last year in every event but bars.

“When you’re on the floor and you’re just trying to focus, you can’t think about how many people are watching you otherwise you’ll get freaked out,” said Radlinger, a bars and floor competitor last year.

“It’s going to be a cool experience,” Meyer said. “I’ve honestly never watched state gymnastics so being there and being with my team doing it, that will be really fun.”

The meet returns to its pre-pandemic format with two days of competition. The past two years, the team and individual competitions were combined in a oneday format.

Malchow, who was a freshman competitor during the last two-day meet in 2020, said she enjoyed that much more.

“It’s a lot more exciting because you get a full day dedicated to individuals rather than having everything one day,” she said. “On Friday you still want to do your best, but it feels like it’s a bit of a warm-up day to get used to the equipment for the next day.”

“It’s almost a more showy event,” Cain said of the individual portion of the meet. “It’s more personalized toward each individual gymnast.”

For the seniors, Malchow and Purdy, it’s one last chance to perform on the big stage, though Malchow is still doing some club competition this spring. And, it’s one last chance to be with a team they said has been a closely-knit group this winter.

“It’s really sad for me,” Purdy said. “They always ask us not to mention it,” Carbaugh said of the seniors’ last meet.

“I think we were definitely a lot closer this year,” Purdy said. “There wasn’t any bouts of drama throughout the entire season. For the most part, we were all just a team. Everyone on this team was willing to give advice or take time out of their practice to say ‘hey, I see that you didn’t point your toes’ or just give helpful advice for those little fixes.”