Trophy time, again, for Fremd
It turned out to be another finish to remember for Fremd’s badminton team.
Junior Angela Wu and senior Kelly Owens advanced through the singles consolation bracket in Saturday in Charleston to meet one another in the consolation semifs.
Wu won that matchup 21-14, 21-9 to earn a spot in the fifth-place match, where she dropped a two-setter to Audrey Mang of New Trier.
The points amassed by Wu and Owens helped the Vikings to another trophy finish under coach Bob Hanson.
Thornton Fractional South won the team championship with 16.5 points. Fremd and Naperville Central tied for second place with 12.
It’s the seventh top-10 finish in the last 10 seasons for Fremd, which finished third last year and won state titles in 2007 and ’09. It’s also the fifth trophy in that span for the Vikings.
“That’s always our goal, to go down and get a trophy,” said Hanson. “It’s hard to tell which one it’s going to be, but that’s always the mission.
“We knew TF South would be tough to catch, but our girls played really well.”
Hanson said the weekend efforts of Owens and senior doubles partners Rina Seo and Momoka Shimizu were key in getting Fremd into the trophy picture.
“With Kelly, she played No. 2 for us but it was great for her to prove she could match up with the No. 1’s from a lot of other schools,” Hanson said. “And Rina and Momoka, for not playing at all together last year, they really came a long way.”
Seo/Shimizu who won their consolation quarterfinal before bowing out against Buffalo Grove’s Julia Jambrone and Mary Zawlocki.
The Bison senior tandem fell in the fifth-place match to Riyan Yanes/Jessica Bachleda in two games.
In the consolation quarterfinals, Jambrone/Zawlocki eliminated their own teammates, Mady Berns and Madison Fortman, in a two-gamer.
Buffalo Grove finished tied for 12th with Naperville North in the team standings at 7.5 points.
Stephanie Lin of Lyons topped Emma Adcock of Hinsdale South 16-21, 21-16, 21-17 for the singles championship.
Reavis’ Denna Zayed/Marissa Mangala won the doubles title by topping TF South’s Shannon Pollard/Jenna Pasko 13-21, 22-20, 21-18.
Naperville Central got a third-place singles finish from Alisa Liu. The Redhawks’ doubles team of Nicole Chan and Annie Lin won their fifth-round consolation matchup before being eliminated.
It’s a best-ever finish for Naperville Central, which placed fourth in 1994 and 1999 but had not previously won a top-three state trophy.