Big jumps on floor, bars help gymnasts win Snowflake Invite
Boosted by scoring jumps on the floor and the uneven bars, the Medford-Colby gymnastics team bounced to its first meet victory of the new season Saturday, taking the six-team Rhinelander Snowflake Invitational held at YMCA of the Northwoods.
The Raiders upped their team score to 130.125 in their second meet of the winter and, for the second time in a row, edged their Great Northern Conference Large Division rival Marshfield for their spot in the team standings. The Tigers earned a total of 129.35 points.
The Ashland Co-op was third with 125.825 team points, followed by Rhinelander (116.025), Antigo (109.9) and Mosinee (109.125).
Three Raiders had all-around duty in the meet. Raylin Rothmeier was the thirdhighest scoring gymnast, totaling 33.2 points. Shayla Radlinger was sixth out of 17 all-arounds with 32.2 points in the meet and Delaina Meyer was seventh with 32.125. Marshfield’s Alyvia Dietsche was the day’s top scoring gymnast with 34.375 total points, while Ashland’s Kaia Werner earned 34.025.
Rothmeier led Medford-Colby on the vault and the balance beam. Her first vault attempt got a score of 8.65 to put her in third place out of 23 vaulters. Rothmeier trailed Dietsche (9.0) and Werner (8.8). The Raiders were the top scoring team on the vault with 34.15 points as Bridget Cloud was right behind Rothmeier with an 8.55, much improved over her 8.1 in the first meet; Radlinger, who got an 8.5; and Meyer, who was sixth with an 8.45. Freshman Jordyn Grant tied for 10th with an 8.2 in her first-ever varsity event.
On the beam, Medford-Colby wasn’t quite as strong as it was in meet one, scoring 31.05 points, second to Marshfield’s 32.2 in this meet. But, Rothmeier landed in fourth place with her score of 8.15 and Raider senior Veronica Mateer tied for fifth at 8.1. Werner won it at 8.7, followed by Marshfield’s Olivia Sommers (8.45) and Ashland’s Alexandria Vittone (8.25).
Cloud was 13th for the Raiders at 7.5, Radlinger’s 7.3 ranked 14th and Meyer was 17th at 6.95.
Radlinger was the team’s top scorer in the floor exercise, where the Raiders shot up 3.7 points from their Dec. 7 home meet to 33.75 total points. Radlinger’s 8.7 was beaten only by Dietsche (8.825) and Werner (8.75). Rothmeier got into the top five at 8.45, Meyer was sixth at 8.4, Cloud was seventh at 8.2 and Mateer tied for ninth at 8.0. All five Raiders scored much better than they did at Medford.
Meyer led the Raiders on the uneven bars for the second straight meet, improving by 0.425 points to an 8.325. That was good for third place behind Dietsche (8.6) and Ashland’s Leanna Lipske (8.45). Rothmeier improved by seven tenths to 7.95 and placed fourth. Radlinger’s 7.7 placed eighth. Mateer’s 7.2 got 12th and sophomore Lindsey Kauffman was 16th at 6.75 in her first varsity event of the season.
The Raiders scored 31.175 points, up from 29.9 in the first meet and good for the top team score of Saturday’s meet, just ahead of Marshfield (31.125) and Ashland (31.1).
Medford-Colby opens Great Northern Conference Large Division competition tonight, Thursday, when it hosts Stevens Point at 5:45 p.m. at Medford Area Elementary School.
