GNC GYMNASTICS - Rothmeier 2nd on vault; Raiders wind up in rare tie with Rapids

GNC GYMNASTICS

Raylin Rothmeier earned All-Great Northern Conference second-team honors on the vault and the Medford-Colby gymnastics team earned its highest team score of the season while tying Wisconsin Rapids for third place at Saturday’s GNC Championships at Stevens Point.

Medford-Colby and Wisconsin Rapids forged the rare gymnastics tie with 131.25 points each. With both teams also having gone 1-2 in GNC dual meets, the Raiders and Red Raiders also finished third in the final overall standings behind champion Stevens Point, who bumped its score up to 139.45 Saturday in an outstanding meet, and Marshfield, who also had a seasonbest day at 136.275.

“Honestly, it was like all the girls were holding each other up,” Medford-Colby head coach Andrée Brushaber said. “If one had a slightly lower score, there was another who had a slightly higher score this meet. Our beam team score was up a smidge from Ashland (a week earlier) and floor was up a little too, but the most impact was bars with an increase of 1.225.”

That increase on the uneven bars pushed the Raiders to a season-best team score of 31.225 in the event. Junior Delaina Meyer led Medford-Colby in that event with an 8.35, good for a sixth-place tie with Marshfield’s Olivia Sommers among Large Division gymnasts “One thing that stood out from Saturday was Delaina on bars,” Brushaber said. “She had a personal best on bars Saturday and her form is so smooth and rhythmic. It was our best team score on bars as well. The girls were just really focused and we had some cleaner leg lines this time which really helps minimize deductions.”

Rothmeier was 11th on the bars at 7.9, Shayla Radlinger was 12th at 7.675, Bridget Cloud was 16th with a 7.3 and Veronica Mateer was 18th at 7.15. Stevens Point’s Chloe Mueller is this year conference champion on bars after she earned a 9.15 from the judges, just enough to beat the 9.1 earned by her teammate Cheyenne Cornell.

Rothmeier’s second-place score on the vault was 8.95. It’s the sophomore’s first All-GNC award in gymnastics. She got between champion Alyvia Dietsche of Marshfield (9.2) and honorable mentionee Ruby Christianson of Stevens Point (8.75). For the seventh time in eight meets, the Raiders’ team vault score was in the 33s at 33.25. Meyer was 14th at 8.3, Radlinger was 18th with her 8.025, Jordyn Grant was 19th for the Raiders with a 7.975 and Mateer was 20th at 7.9.

In the floor exercise, the team got close to its season high with a team score of 33.675, improving 0.775 points from the Ashland meet on Feb. 15.

“At our previous meet in Ashland, we had some really great things happen on floor like Raylin’s personal best score of 8.95,” Brushaber said. “We also had some falls and bobbles which negatively impacted individual scores, but I am just super grateful that our girls came back just as strong for the conference meet. I predict better routines for floor, but it is hard to tell how that will translate into scores.”

Radlinger led the Raiders in the event Saturday with a ninth-place score of 8.575, while Meyer was right behind her at 8.55, which was her season-best by 0.05 points. Mateer moved her score up to an 8.3 and Rothmeier was right behind her at 8.25 as they placed 13th and 14th in the division. Lindsey Kauffman was 18th at 7.45. Dietsche won the floor with a 9.375, while Point’s Nora Wroblewski was second at 9.3.

Medford-Colby’s team score of 33.1 on the balance beam was its best since Jan. 18. Mateer remained a reliable performer there, placing fifth at 8.625 and Cloud’s 8.3 was just one-tenth off her season-best. She placed ninth in the Large Division. Rothmeier was 11th at 8.15, while Meyer and Radlinger tied for 13th at 8.025. Dietsche won with a 9.25, while Point’s Olivia Manternach got a 9.05.

Dietsche was the Large Division’s allaround champion, making her the division’s 2024-25 Gymnast of the Year. She totaled 36.825 points for the day. Wroblewski got the second-team spot with 34.6 points and Elsa Urban of Wisconsin Rapids and Mueller tied for third with 34.4. Rothmeier led Medford-Colby with 33.25 points, good for seventh, while Meyer was eighth with 33.225. Radlinger and Mateer were 10th and 11th with allaround totals of 32.3 and 31.975.

“Some were slightly under the average and others were slightly over their normal score for all-around,” Brushaber said. “I think we just had a solid meet and things were just looking really good for everyone as a whole. Because they all had solid performances, it resulted in good allaround scores. What is so interesting is how close they were to beating their personal bests. If we focus on the missed connections on beam and wobbles, some girls could break personal bests on Saturday for all around.”

That chance Saturday will come at the WIAA Division 1 West Salem Co-op sectional. With their success of the last several years, the Raiders are bumped up to Division 1 for the first time this season and will compete against a strong field of teams that includes the host Panthers, also bumped up this year under the WIAA’s success factor, Chippewa Falls, Eau Claire Memorial-North, Hudson, La Crosse Logan-Central, Superior-Northwestern and Wisconsin Rapids. The top five gymnasts in each event, the top five allarounds and the top two teams qualify for state competition March 7-8 at Wisconsin Rapids.

It won’t be easy, but Saturday provides one more chance for the girls to reach their peak performance.

“It is really exciting to see how they will score but no matter how they score, as long as they give their best effort, that is what matters,” Brushaber said. “I hope they have an amazing time together and that the meet does not go as fast as the others have seemed to go because I want them to enjoy every second.”