Strong vaults set the tone in conference opener

MEDFORD GYMNASTICS

If they remain healthy, the Medford Raiders are all but assured of winning their third straight Great Northern Conference Small Division gymnastics championship. They took the first step toward that Dec. 22 with a 130.675-114.15 win over Rhinelander in the home opener at Medford Area Elementary School, beating the most likely challenger in the division.

The win or the score, according to head coach Steve Cain wasn’t as impressive as the effort the gymnasts put into getting them.

“I sat with the girls when we were all done and I said, ‘you know what, the thing I noticed about this meet that I was really impressed with as a coach was you guys worked hard at your warm-ups, you worked hard at trying to get what you could get,’” Cain said after the Raiders earned their second win of the season overall. “You just worked hard when you did your event and it was time to compete you worked hard at it.”

The hard work resulted in a team score that nudged a little higher from their Dec. 10 win at Wisconsin Rapids when they totaled 128.525 points. The Raiders took a nearly 2.5-point jump in the uneven bars and bumped their score up nearly two points in the floor exercise and the vault performances were solid as always.

It wasn’t the team’s best night on the balance beam, but Cain viewed that as just a bump in the road.

“I know these girls really worked hard tonight,” he said. “They’ve worked hard at practice. They had a great meet, a great practice last night before we brought stuff over (to the gym). It was a late night, then they pulled through today and were impressive. I was impressed.”

Sophomores Anna Wanke and Kate Malchow tied for top all-around honors in the meet by scoring 33.05 total points each. Malchow posted the high scores for the night on the beam and the bars, while Wanke won the floor competition. Makala Ulrich completed Medford’s sweep by winning the vault.

Vault was where the Raiders started. They scored 33.7 team points with all five vaulters earning scores well into the eights.

Ulrich’s 8.5 won it, followed by an 8.45 from Malchow, an 8.4 from Kyla Krause, an 8.35 from Wanke and an 8.3 from Kennedy Bilz as they earned the top five scores ahead of Rhinelander’s best vaulters, Lilli Bishop and Patyon Rudawski (8.1.) A highlight for Medford was Krause hitting her Yurchenko vault, which included a roundoff onto the springboard and a back handspring onto the vaulting table.

“Our vaults were a perfect start to the meet,” Cain said. “Kyla had a little bit of a stumble back on her landing, but you know what? I don’t care. She still went for it and for the most part she did successfully get her Yurchenko. That was sweet.”

On bars, Medford shot to a team score of 31.95, up from 29.45 at Rapids. Malchow hit her giants on the high bar and earned an 8.2, to edge Wanke’s 8.15. Krause tied Bishop for third at 7.45, while Avery Purdy, in her first meet of the season, got fifth at 7.4. Ulrich was sixth with a 7.3.

The high score was accomplished with the Raiders leaving some points out there on some missed handstand pirouettes, according to Cain.

“That breaks a connection, so it takes away a bonus and it also takes away a requirement,” he said. “So unfortunately that kind of lowers the score. Still, look at how close to eights everyone was.”

The Raiders closed the meet with their usual strong efforts on the floor. They earned 33.85 points, compared to the 32.0 they got at Rapids.

Wanke’s 8.8 was up 0.15 points from the opener and won the competition, but not by much over Ulrich’s 8.75, which was nearly a personal best. Malchow earned an 8.25 to take third and Krause was fourth with her 8.05. Purdy placed eighth with a score of 7.6.

“The judges said we have all of this great stuff on floor,” Cain said. “Now all we have to do as the girls get more confident is they have to show that confidence. In gymnastics you have composition. Underneath that title of composition they can score you on not showing effort, not showing confidence. They can deduct for that. Basically they said you have girls whose floor routines are phenomenal. Now get out there and put on a show. All they have to do is be show stoppers, get out there and make it pop.”

Things didn’t quite pop like Medford wanted on beam as the Raiders combined for six falls in varsity competition. But they still outscored the Hodags 31.2 to 27.4. Malchow’s 8.2 won it, just ahead of Wanke’s 8.15. Krause tied Bishop for third at 7.45 and Purdy was fifth with her 7.4. Ulrich was sixth at 7.3.

“It was one of those deals where I’m not sure what happened, but it did,” Cain said. “Am I going to lose sleep over it as a coach? No, because they know what they have to fix. It’s things that shouldn’t always happen. They don’t happen in practice.”

Ulrich placed third in the all-around competition with 32.5 points and Krause was fourth with 31.975 points in her first varsity all-around night.

Medford won the JV competition 87.5-30.5 with Kiarah Behling claiming the all-around championship with 25.3 total points. She won the floor exercise with a 6.8 and was part of a three-way Medford tie for first on the beam with Ellison Carbaugh and Brooke Wegerer. They all got 6.0s in that event. Bilz tied for fourth with a 5.7, Kaileigh Mientke was sixth at 5.5 and Lindsey Klapatauskas did an exhibition routine. Klapatauskas was third on the floor behind Behling and Rhinelander’s Claire Wilberding with a 6.1.

“A 6.8 for Kiarah just blows me away. When Lindsey went to floor, she rocked it out,” Cain said.

The Raiders scored an impressive 32.2 vault points, led by Mientke’s 8.15. Carbaugh was next at 8.1, Purdy was third at 8.0 and Behling was fourth at 7.95. On bars, Carbaugh was the winner with a 6.2. Behling earned a 4.55, followed by Wegerer (4.4), Mientke (3.5) and Bilz (3.4).

“Every vaulter on JV an 8-point something and Kiarah was just shy of an 8. My goodness what does that tell you?” Cain said.

Medford is scheduled to return to competition Jan. 9 at River Falls.

“My goal for them is don’t impress me anymore,” Cain said. “I want them to impress themselves. It sounds weird, it

MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS

might be a play on words or something, but I want them to impress themselves. They already said tonight, ‘we’ve got new stuff coming.’ They said be ready. They’re charged up now.”

Medford’s Anna Wanke dismounts off the high bar during last week’s home meet with Rhinelander. Wanke earned a fourth-place score of 7.75 on the uneven bars and tied teammate Kate Malchow as the top all-around scoring gymnast in the meet.