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RAINBOW GYMNASTICS SPECTACULAR

Rainbow Gymnastics happy to host after year off

After last spring’s unfortunate cancelation, the Rainbow Spectacular gymnastics meet was back Saturday with four visiting clubs joining the host Rainbow Gymnastics Club of Medford for a full day of competition.

For the first time, the meet was held at the Simek Recreation Center. Hub City of Marshfield, the Phoenix Club of Bloomer, the Junior Blugolds of Eau Claire and Bay Area of Ashland were the other participating clubs, bringing the total number of gymnasts to about 115, which was still considerably fewer than the previous 10 spectaculars.

But, as Rainbow’s head coach Kari Wanke said during Saturday’s first session, the club’s main goal for this season was to successfully conduct a meet this year and that was done through five different sessions spaced out every two to three hours.

Medford’s club had 32 total participants and half of them earned either first-place or second-place finishes in their level or age division. Rainbow Gymnastics had four full teams in the competition. The Level 7 group won its team competition, while the Level 2 and Xcel Silver teams were secondplace finishers and the Level 6s took third.

The Simek Center also will be the site for Badger State Games gymnastics April 9-11 with Hub City actually serving as the host club.

Level 7

Rainbow’s four Level 7 gymnasts compiled 107.75 team points to nudge past Phoenix (106.65) and the Junior Blugolds (106.3) and win the team title.

In Group A, Madilyn Mueller was the all-around champion with 35.85 points that included scores of 8.9 on vault and 9.0 on the uneven bars that tied for first place out of seven gymnasts, a secondplace score of 9.05 on the balance beam and a third-place score of 8.9 on the floor exercise.

Delaina Meyer was second in the group with 35.7 total points. She won the beam at 9.15, took second on floor with a 9.0, placed third on vault with an 8.85 and tied for fourth on the bars with an 8.7.

In Group B, Shayla Radlinger was fifth all-around with 34.9 points and Sadie Moore was eighth with 27.4. Moore won the beam with a 9.5, tied for second on the vault with a 9.1 and tied for third on floor with an 8.8. Radlinger was third on the beam (9.35), fifth on bars (8.5), seventh on floor (8.35) and eighth on vault (8.7).

Level 2

Nine of Rainbow’s gymnasts competed in one of four groups in Level 2. That group finished with 110.35 points in team scoring, just behind Hub City’s 112.8. The club had three of the seven gymnasts in Group D, led by secondplace finisher Aliyah Galan, who earned 37.25 all-around points from the judges, just 0.15 behind Hub City’s Reese Spindler. Galan won the beam (9.6) and bars (9.3), took second on floor (9.3) and was third on vault (9.05). Brooke Buechel was third in the group with 35.9 all-around points and Alyssa Doriot was fifth with 34.85. Buechel had the winning score of 9.4 on vault and was fourth on bars (8.5), tied for fourth on floor (9.0) and tied for sixth on beam (9.0). Doriot was fifth on beam (9.1) and bars (8.3), sixth on floor (8.7) and seventh on vault (8.75).

In Group B, Lydia Schaefer was the all-around runner-up with 35.8 points, a half-point behind Hub City’s Tenley Kolb, while Brynlee Pagel was seventh with 32.0. Schaefer won the beam with a 9.4 and was fourth with 8.85s on floor and bars and sixth with an 8.7 on vault. Pagel got an 8.9 on vault, an 8.4 on beam, a 7.7 on bars and a 7.0 on floor.

Tenley Colby (35.85) and Mya Schreiner (35.25) placed fourth and sixth in Level 2’s Group C. Colby was third on vault (9.25), fourth on beam (9.3), tied for fourth on bars (8.4) and got an 8.9 on floor. Schreiner was second on vault (9.3), third on floor (9.15) and added scores of 8.9 on beam and 7.9 on bars.

In Group A, Chloe Cahoon (34.75) and Ruby Holtman (34.55) were fourth and fifth out of eight girls. Cahoon got a 9.0 on vault, just 0.05 away from first place, and added scores of 9.0 on beam, 8.75 on floor and 8.0 on bars. Holtman got a third-place score of 9.0 on floor along with an 8.9 on beam, an 8.8 on vault and a 7.85 on bars.

Xcel Silver

Sophia Steinman led four Rainbow gymnasts in the 11 and up age group of the Xcel Silver competition. She won it with 35.95 all-around points, while Karly Eckert, Olivia Johnson and Elizabeth Nelles added to the team’s second-place finish. Rainbow’s team total was 106.1 points, while Phoenix was the champion with 112.8.

Eckert finished third with 35.55 allaround points, Johnson had 34.3 and Nelles finished with 32.8.

Steinman won the vault (9.05), bars (9.2) and beam (9.2) and took third on floor (8.5).

Eckert’s 9.0 was good for second on vault, while Nelles (8.6) was fourth on vault and Johnson (8.4) was fifth. Eckert added a second-place score of 8.75 on floor, while Johnson (8.3) was fourth and Nelles (7.5) was fifth. Eckert tied Lakyn Leland of the Junior Blugolds for second on bars with a 9.0, while Nelles (8.7) was fourth and Johnson (8.6) was fifth.

Level 6

Kailyn Haenel and Aliyah Pilgrim were the top two finishers and Finley Arndt was fifth in Group B, while Veronica Mateer was the runner-up in Group C to make up Rainbow’s third-place finish in Level 6. The foursome scored 106.9 points to outscore Phoenix (104.25) and trail Hub City (110.25) and the Junior Blugolds (107.4).

Haenel totaled 35.35 points in her events, while Pilgrim was just two-tenths behind. Arndt’s 34.95 points put her just 0.05 out of a third-place tie.

Haenel won the floor with a 9.25, while Arndt won the bars at 8.85, followed by Haenel (8.75) and Pilgrim (8.4). Pilgrim’s 9.0 was second in beam scoring, while Haenel (8.6) was fourth and Arndt (8.3) was sixth.

Arndt got second on vault with an 8.8, while Haenel (8.75) was third and Pilgrim (8.7) tied for fourth. Pilgrim was fourth on the floor with her 9.05 and Arndt was just 0.05 points behind.

In Group C, Mateer’s 35.65 all-around points, put her just 0.05 behind winner Ashley Jaeger of Hub City. Mateer won the beam with a 9.35 and the floor with a 9.25. She was sixth on bars (8.55) and vault (8.5).

More champions

Anna Wanke, Annalee Bull and Raylin Rothmeier also were on Rainbow’s list of champions Saturday.

Wanke and teammate Kate Malchow were the lone competitors in the 15-16 age group of Level 8. Wanke earned a 9.1 on bars, a 9.05 on floor and 8.5s on vault and beam to score 35.15 points for the day. Malchow won the beam at 8.7 and got an 8.85 on floor, an 8.6 on bars and an 8.1 on vault to score 34.25 points.

Bull earned 33.95 points to outscore Phoenix’s Aydin Bjork (33.7) in the Xcel Bronze competition. Bull’s 9.1 on vault was key to her win. She tied Bjork on floor with an 8.4 and added an 8.8 on beam and a 7.65 on bars.

Rothmeier totaled 34.95 points to edge teammate Avery Losiewicz (34.4) in the three-person Level 5 competition. Rothmeier had the top scores on vault (9.0), floor (8.75) and beam (8.7), while Losiewicz won the bars (8.8). Rothmeier got an 8.5 on bars, good for a second-place tie with Chole St. John of the Junior Blugolds. Losiewicz was second on vault (8.9), third on beam (8.6) and tied St. John on floor (8.1).

Bethany Jokiel scored 34.15 all-around points to place second in the 12 and up age group in Xcel Gold competition. She tied Phoenix’s Trina Pyka for first on the floor with an 8.85, got a 9.0 on bars and added an 8.5 on vault and a 7.8 on beam. Sophie Koester was sixth in the 9-11 age group with 34.45 points. She tied for second on bars with a 9.25 and added scores of 8.5 on beam, 8.45 on vault and 8.25 on floor.

Jordyn Grant (36.6) was second and Rylee Hartwig (35.55) took fourth in Level 3, ages 11-12. Grant tied overall champion Addisyn Thompson of Hub City for first on vault with a 9.4 and took second with a 9.3 on beam, a 9.0 on floor and an 8.9 on bars. Hartwig tied for third on beam with a 9.2 and got a 9.15 on vault, an 8.7 on floor and an 8.5 on bars.

Lindsey Kauffman’s second-place total of 33.65 in the 11-13 age group of Level 4 included wins on vault (8.6) and floor (8.5) as well as scores of 9.05 on beam and 7.5 on bars. Mackinley Mueller was third in the 8-11 age group with 33.15 points with an 8.75 on beam, an 8.5 on vault, an 8.0 on floor and a 7.9 on bars.

Raylin Rothmeier finishes her floor routine, which earned a first-place score of 8.75 in Level 5 competition during Saturday’s Rainbow Spectacular.PHOTOS BY MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS