Valley co-op warms up with regional crown
The Waubonsie Valley/Metea Valley co-op girls gymnastics team had hoped to be practicing for sectionals on Monday night. Instead, because of last week’s blizzard, the team was hosting the final regional and competing to advance to Wednesday’s Hinsdale Central sectional.
Waubonsie Valley/Metea Valley peaked at the perfect time, winning the regional with a 141.825. It was the program’s first regional title.
“It ended up being a very good meet for us,” Waubonsie Valley/Metea Valley coach Nicole Daly said. “Vault is usually our weakest event, but we hit it tonight, which was really exciting. Once we hit vault everyone had a positive attitude.”
Showing off its excellent depth, three gymnasts won an event for Waubonsie Valley/Metea Valley. Maddie Stick was the bars champion with a 9.275, Elizabeth Brandenburg took top honors on floor with a 9.3, and freshman Jordyn Penny needed just a single vault to win with a 9.525.
“We’ve got a lot of depth in pretty much every event and they can even each other out,” Daly said, “so it’s really nice to have that diversity where they can all fill in.”
The team was dealt a blow when captain Laura Burns broke her ankle in practice on Saturday. Burns was penciled in to compete on bars and floor.
“She is really our team morale, so that was a big loss,” Daly said. “We were kind of determined to win it for her.”
Penny needed little motivation. The fiery freshman took second place on bars, beam and floor and won the all-around handily over Plainfield North’s Kori Boe, 36.925 to 35.250.
“I was just trying to do everything like I do it in practice,” Penny said. “Vault was really good. I hadn’t landed it consistently in meets, or even in practice, so to do it was really good.”
The winners started strong on bars and vault before dominating the regional on floor where Brandenburg won and Penny and Jessica Malon both posted a 9.25 to tie for second place.
Brandenburg and Maria Pizzo tied for sixth on beam as the final event of the night was the only one where the team wasn’t as clean.
“We’re shooting for a 142 or 143 maybe (in sectional),” Daly said. “We’re hoping to get some individuals to qualify for state and they are definitely capable of placing.”
Oswego finished second with a 137.050. The Panthers knocked out Neuqua Valley, which posted a 136.40 in Saturday’s Lincoln-Way East regional, for the final at-large team qualifier.