Ultimate gymnastics meet raises funds for Make-A-Wish

Submitted by Jane Feely

It’s been a fixture on the local gymnastics calendar for 14 years now and it does an amazing job raising money to grant wishes to children with life-threatening conditions.

The Ultimate Wish Classic, held at Harper College in Palatine and run strictly by volunteers, this year raised more than $60,000 for the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Illinois.

“This year’s Ultimate Wish Classic was a huge success,” Ultimate owner Rebecca Sanders said. “The event was full of amazing ‘Wish’ families, smiling gymnasts, wonderful volunteers, coaches and judges who made the long weekend so much fun.

“A huge thank you goes out to our gymnasts’ parents and Ultimate staff who put in countless hours to help make this event possible.”

Money is raised at the meet and also by other activities at the Gurnee-based gym, including a Cartwheel-a-thon, a Leos for Wishes sale and a gift basket raffle.

The weekend also saw plenty to celebrate for Ultimate’s young gymnasts, particularly the Level 3 team, which was getting its first taste of competition. This is the first season Ultimate has fielded a Level 3 team and the girls really stepped up to the challenge.

“USA Gymnastics has implemented a new Optional Level this year (Level 6) and this warranted the renumbering of the three developmental compulsory levels to 3, 4 and 5,” said Ultimate Head Coach Shane Sanders. “We had a huge interest from our pre-team members to compete this year, so we created a Level 3 team.”

While there were strong performances across all the Ultimate teams with five first-place team trophies, Sanders singled out the Level 3 team for particular praise.

“The level of excitement they had during the meet was infectious,” he said. “You couldn’t tell that this was their first time ever competing as they performed like seasoned veterans.”

Top among the Level 3 performances was Chloe Byrne. Competing in the Junior age group, she took home three gold and two silver medals and notched up an impressive all-around score of 37.95.

Alongside her on the podium was Emma Haas, who placed second in the all-around and won silver on floor exercise and bronze on beam in a three-way tie with teammates Annika Chudy and Jamie Santos.

In the Senior age group, Madison Friel took gold on bars and beam and was second in the all-around, while Madison Miks was first on floor and Emily Chabraja second.

In the Youth age group, Ultimate placed second and third in the all-around with Julia Blasinski and Jillian Ellenwood taking the honors. Jillian won the vault title, while Julia was first on bars and floor.

Among Ultimate’s most experienced gymnasts there were some outstanding performances. Lake Forest’s Carrie Grumhaus, competing in her first Level 9 meet, took the all-around title and placed first on bars, second on floor and third on beam. Teammate Katie Schroeder claimed the beam title.

At Level 10 the Ultimate girls took the top three spots in the all-around, with Lauren Marshall first, Emily Basara second and Ally Hoyer third.

The Level 7 team may have only fielded 8 gymnasts at the meet, but between them they counted three all-around champions, a total of 10 gold medals and a first-place team finish.

Gurnee’s Lyndsey Basara took top honors in the Youth age group, while Grace Miller and Kylie Skie placed first in the Junior and Senior age groups, respectively, with Kylie’s 9.80 score clinching gold on floor. Junior Sabrina Panlaqui won gold on bars, while Jessica Pasquesi placed first in the same event in the Senior division.

At Level 6, Olivia Roebuck won the all-around title in the Youth division and placed first on floor and beam and second on vault. In the Senior division, Lea Alatzakis was first all-around and won two gold and two bronze medals on individual events. Delaney Jones was second on floor.

In the Junior division, Riley Finnegan won gold on beam and floor and silver in the all-around.

Meanwhile at Level 8, Senior Samantha Wahlers came out on top in the all-around and placed first on floor, while Sylvia Raquel scored an impressive 9.625 to win gold on floor in the Youth division.

In the Junior division at Level 5, Ultimate took the top three spots in the all-around with Gianna Pasquesi first, Claire Kauppila second and Kayleigh Glickley third. There was also gold on bars for Ashley Weihs.

Level 5 also celebrated first place finishes on bars for Ashley Derrick in the Youth division and for Mary Xakellis in the Senior age group.

All-around honors at Level 4 went to Sophie Prozumen, who placed second in the Senior age group. Teammate Madeline Medica won gold on vault, while in the Youth division Magdalene Roemer took first on beam. There were silver medals for Anna Becker on beam and Ana Raquel on floor and bronze for Payal Sutaria on beam in the Junior age group.

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