All-around success for Stochl; Great start for Carmel

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Making another trip to the girls gymnastics state meet would be something special for Warren's Becky Stochl next month at Palatine High School.

Stochl reached the preliminaries last year on vault, and she's well on her way to repeating the feat — and then some. Stochl started the state series by qualifying in all four events and the all-around Tuesday night at the Glenbrook North regional in Northbrook.

Three-time defending state champion Carmel Catholic captured the regional championship with 144.85 and Warren was runner-up at 134.85.

Carmel senior Lauren Feely flew to top honors in all four events and the all-around (38.325).

In the fall, Stochl competed in diving and finished 14th at the state meet. She'd like to see if she could better that in the coming weeks in gymnastics.

Her sights are set on one of her better events, balance beam.

"I'd say beam is my favorite, because I don't get to stressed about it," said Stochl, who finished second with a 9.35 Tuesday night. "When I do like an event more, I tend to do better on it.

"It was kind of nerve-wracking out there. I was probably more stressed out there than any other meet this year because I knew that this could've been my last meet — and I didn't want it to be. I really want to make it back to state."

Stochl also was third in the all-around (36.35), third on bars (8,875), fourth on vault (9.35) and fifth on floor (8.775).

The Blue Devils' Kelsey Stoecker also qualified fourth on bars (8.825), and Kyra McCue finished fifth on vault (9.175).

Feely landed a 9.85 on vault. She had a 9.6 on beam and floor, and a 9.275 on bars.

"Knowing this is my last year, I want to go out with the best year of my life," said Feely. "Go out hard and fight for it. I really want to focus on the little things, like the landings, pointed toes, straight legs. It's all the little details that we tend to forget and we have to concentrate on them."

Feely's teammate Sarah Cohen-Smith placed second in the all-around (36.625), second on vault (9.7), third on floor (9.375), fourth on beam (9.1) and fifth on bars (8.45). Carmel's Kari Osowski placed fourth in the all-around (35.9), second on bars (8.975), third on beam (9.3) and fourth on floor (8.85).

For Carmel, the pursuit of another trip to state as a team began on a positive note.

"There were some good things, and things that we need to clean up," Carmel Catholic coach Nicole Gluzinski said. "We've been working on things to clean up here and there. It was good for the girls to see the scores so tight. That's what you expect to see in a state series, and it's an eye-opener for them. All in all, it was a pretty successful, positive meet.

"We've talked about, that we want to go to the sectional, be clean and do our best carrying it into state."