Good start for Glenbard North
It was a new experience all-around for the Glenbard North girls gymnastics team on Monday night in Naperville.
Sophomore newcomer Allison Wahrman won the all-around with a 34.45 and freshman Leah Roman was right behind her with a 34.25 to lead the Panthers to a 133.8 to 129.35 win over host Neuqua Valley.
It was also the debut for Panthers coach Kristin Nordquist, a 2008 grad, as the Panthers competed for the first time this winter.
“We’ve been having a lot of issues in practice with hitting routines so I didn’t expect too much really,” Nordquist said. “So I was really happy with how we did, especially on beam and vault. We have a lot of work to do on bars and floor, but I was happy with the fact that we have a good base.”
Wahrman posted the top vault score with a 9.3, Roman took top honors on floor with a 9.15 and junior Anna Slater won beam with a 9.
After being heavily involved with club competition for a dozen years, Wahrman opted to join the high school team after hearing good things about it. She’s a welcome addition, especially after the team lost standout Mariah Matesi to graduation.
“I thought tonight went really good, and I can’t really expect a lot right now,” Wahrman said. “A lot of the girls from my (club) team were leaving and I didn’t want to quit gymnastics completely. I heard good things about the team and wanted to try something different.”
The Panthers were especially solid on beam with a 34.75 compared to Neuqua Valley’s 31.85.
“I think we had some really good beam performances and even with some falls we came up with good scores,” Nordquist said. “Allison showed she’s ready to compete at the high school level and we’re expecting good things from her and Leah right away.”
Neuqua Valley was much cleaner than the 123.7 it posted in its debut last Wednesday at the Hornet Invitational but struggled on beam.
“We improved our team score and as a coach you want to see the girls improve,” Wildcats coach Anthony Avella said. “We just didn’t stay on beam tonight. If we would’ve, the score would’ve been closer, but we finished nicely on floor so that was good to see.”
Isis Ruff paced the Wildcats, hitting a 33.5 in the all-around. The junior won bars with an 8.4 and was second on floor with a 9. Senior Shaniah Lim added a 31.65 in the all-around, while freshman Colleen Moauro had an 8.1 on bars. Junior Emily Jacobs added a team-best 8.3 on beam.
“We hope to have Emily eventually back in the all-around, but she’s not there yet on bars,” Avella said. “Colleen came into the season with a back injury so we’re not going to pound her back on floor or vault. She’s seeing a physical therapist so eventually we might see her in the all-around.”