MEDFORD-COLBYGYMNASTICS - Gymnasts 2nd among big schools in EC, drop tough one at Marshfield
MEDFORD-COLBY GYMNASTICS
Two days after a disappointing dualmeet loss at Marshfield, the Medford-Colby gymnastics team fixed some things Saturday and tied its season-best score of 131.175 while taking second at the fiveteam Eau Claire Memorial-North Invitational.
While Marshfield has dropped to Division 2 this year, the rest of the field featured Division 1 squads. Memorial-North won the meet easily with 138.05 points, while Medford-Colby outscored Sun Prairie West-East (125.675), La Crosse Logan-Central (124.1) and Marshfield (119.775).
Junior Delaina Meyer led the way with a personal-best all-around score of 33.95, good for fourth place in those standings. Her day included a second-place finish on the balance beam, a third-place finish on the vault and a fifth-place finish on the uneven bars. Raylin Rothmeier also got a couple of top-five spots, placing fourth on the beam and tying for fourth on the vault.
The Raiders earned a season-high team score of 33.55 on the balance beam. Meyer’s 8.7 was a personal best and only beaten by the 8.925 posted by Memorial-North’s Reagan Muchow. Rothmeier’s 8.45 was two-tenths behind third-place Claire Walther of Memorial-North. Veronica Mateer had her third straight solid beam performance, taking sixth at 8.35.
Shayla Radlinger was 11th with her 8.05 and freshman Jordyn Grant was 17th out of 23 gymnasts with a season-best 7.25.
The Raiders were two-tenths off their season-best team score on the vault, totaling 33.6 points. Meyer’s 8.6 put her third behind Walther (9.125) and Muchow (8.85) and was 0.05 points away from her season-best score. Rothmeier tied Memorial-North’s Josie Larson with her 8.45. Radlinger was part of a five-way tie for sixth place with an 8.3 that was twotenths off her season-best. Mateer’s 8.25 was also 0.05 off her best mark of the season and tied her for 11th. Grant’s 8.15 put her in 15th place out of 24 vaulters.
Meyer’s 8.225 on the bars was onetenth shy of her season-best and put her in fifth place by 0.125 points over three gymnasts who tied for sixth. Radlinger got a 7.7 to get the last top-10 spot. Mateer was 12th at 7.45, just ahead of Rothmeier’s 7.4 and Bridget Cloud was 20th out of 24 entrants with a 6.6 that was two-tenths off her season-best. Memorial-North swept the top four spots with Ashlynn Pederson (8.625), Muchow (8.575), Josie Larson (8.425) and Walther (8.3).
Mateer set her best score of the season and was one-tenth away from her personal best while leading the Raiders in the floor exercise. The senior got an 8.45 to place ninth, while Meyer was right behind her at 8.425, just shy of her season-best, which is also 8.45. Rothmeier placed 12th at 8.275, Radlinger was 14th with her 8.1 and Bethany Jokiel tied for 21st with a 6.725. Medford-Colby scored 33.25 points in the event, a half-point away from its seasonbest. Logan-Central’s Danika Parnell was the floor champion at 9.325, while Sun Prairie West-East’s Sadie Seidl and Tess Galligan tied for second with 9.25s.
Muchow was the day’s all-around champion with 35.55 overall points. Walther scored 35.075 and Larson scored 34.175. After Meyer’s fourth-place finish for Medford-Colby, Rothmeier (32.575), Mateer (32.5) and Radlinger (32.15) were ninth, 10th and 11th.
The Raiders will next compete Tuesday when they travel to Mosinee for a triangular with the host Indians and Antigo. The Antigo Invitational follows on Feb. 1.
Marshfield loss
On Thursday, the Raiders weren’t quite as sharp as they needed to be and lost a close Great Northern Conference dual meet at Marshfield 129.65-128.5.
Going in, the team knew that was going to be a tight one. The Tigers outscored Medford-Colby in every event but the floor to improve to 1-1 in Large Division duals, while the Raiders fell to 0-2 with one more GNC dual left against 1-1 Wisconsin Rapids at home on Feb. 6.
“With some missed connections on beam and bars, and mistakes on floor, it all adds up,” Medford-Colby head coach Andrée Brushaber said. “Overall, our scores were not what I was expecting. We cannot look back but only move forward.”
Marshfield Alyvia Dietsche was the meet’s top gymnast, scoring 34.5 allaround points, while Medford-Colby had the next three highest-scoring all-arounds with Rothmeier (33.0), Meyer (33.0) and Mateer (32.775). Mateer’s total is a personal best. Radlinger was eighth in the all-around standings with 29.725 total points.
Mateer also set a new personal-best score while winning the balance beam competition with an 8.95, well ahead of Marshfield’s Isabella Ryner and Kiki Manicke, who both got 8.4s. Meyer was sixth at 7.95, Rothmeier was seventh with a 7.875, Radlinger was ninth with a 6.75 and freshman Rylee Hartwig took 10th with a 6.15 in her first varsity event.
Marshfield outscored Medford-Colby on the beam 33.175-31.525, which made it the key event that got the Tigers the dual win.
The Raiders held a 33.4-32.175 advantage in the floor exercise as Rothmeier took second with an 8.675, Meyer and Mateer tied for third with 8.4s, Radlinger was sixth at 7.925 and Brooke Buechel was seventh with a solid 7.8. Dietsche won with her 8.8.
Rothmeier was just off her season best of 9.0 with an 8.95 on the vault, which was also good for second place behind Dietsche (9.0). Meyer tied Manicke for third with her 8.45 and Mateer was sixth with a season-best 8.3. Radlinger and Grant were part of a three-way tie for eighth place with 8.1s.
Meyer led Medford-Colby with a second-place finish on the uneven bars with an 8.2, her second-best score of the season. Dietsche was the only gymnast better at 8.675. Rothmeier tied Ryner for fourth with her 7.5. Mateer was sixth at 7.125, Radlinger was seventh with her 6.95 and Cloud returned from injury and placed 10th at 6.35.
Marshfield’s scoring edges on vault and bars were slight at 34.0-33.8 and 30.329.775 respectively.
Marshfield also won the JV meet 111.6101.55, though the positive for Medford-Colby was the ability to mix in several gymnasts and set several new personal bests.
All four Raiders set season-best scores on the floor. Grant was second with a 7.45, Hartwig was third at 7.2, Hadalye Ziehlke was fourth with a 7.1 and Jokiel took fifth at 7.05. The Raiders outscored Marshfield 28.8-26.5 in the event.
On the vault, Buechel tied for second with her 8.2, which was her best score of the winter by one-tenth. She was just 0.05 points behind winner Kaylynn Hamm. Hartwig’s 8.0 tied for fifth and was a new best. Kate Gierl went up a tenth while placing eighth at 7.3. Ziehlke was ninth at 7.1 and Ada Freiberg’s first high school vault got a 6.7, good for 10th.
Grant led Medford-Colby on the beam with a 6.9 that tied for fourth and was a season-best for her. Buechel was sixth at 6.65, Jokiel was eighth at 5.3, Freiberg was ninth at 5.0 and Camille Boutier-Dache was 10th at 4.2. On the bars, Grant set a new best at 6.6, which placed second. Hartwig at fifth at 6.0 and Buechel was sixth at 5.7.
Veronica Mateer
