Barrington takes tops honors in Lake County Invite
It’s been quite a while since the Barrington girls gymnastics team chalked up a team championship in the Lake County Invitational, with some saying 2000 was the most recent year it had happened.
This much is certain: The Fillies posted a winning score of 144.575, their best this season by more than a point, in Saturday’s meet at Stevenson. Mundelein finished second at 138.225, followed by Stevenson (135.95) and Carmel Catholic (135.655) in the nine-team field.
“We had a good meet,” Barrington coach Jason Loeffler said. “It’s been a long time for us. We have been working hard and we have some gaps in our routines. We still have some things to work on to make things better. We’re getting toward the end of the season, so things are starting to come together.”
Abby Hasanov picked up top honors in the all-around for Barrington at 37.625. Her best event was floor, which she won with a 9.75; she also was third on bars (9.325) and fifth on beam (9.25) and vault (9.3).
“I was a little nervous going into the floor,” said Hasanov, who hit 9.9 on the event in a duel earlier this season. “The floor was kind of hard and it hurt. I just put it aside and said, ‘I can do this.’ I wanted to do it for my team instead of myself. I just wanted to give it my all out there.”
The Fillies’ Molly Blanke was the vault champion with a 9.45; she also placed second on beam 9.4, and teammate Rachel Timpelman finished fifth on floor (9.1).
Mundelein has been dealing with a recent injury to Maya Nienaber that has left the team a bit short-handed. But the Mustangs are still getting competitive results.
“We’ve competed with four girls over this past week,” Mundelein coach Nancy Toland said. “We’re missing our number two girl (Nienaber). She’s our only senior on the team, and about 10 days ago doing a floor routine, she fractured her tibia. We’re hoping for her to come back to maybe do a bar routine for us. Otherwise our four girls have to continue and press on. This is our year.”
McKenzie Kehr led the Mustangs with a runner-up spot in the all-around 37.525. She chalked up first on bars 9.4, second on vault 9.4 and third on floor 9.5.
“It was one of my better routines on the bars,” said Kehr, a junior. “I really concentrated on my form and my dismount. I just had to have a lot of concentration.”
Alyssa Weisberg, a state champ on beam last February, is finding her form again for the Patriots. She finished first on the beam with a 9.7 along with fourth in the all-around (37.15) and floor (9.3).
“I just always look for improvement,” Weisberg said. “It’s definitely not easy — and it’s not as easy as it looks.”
Stevenson’s Elizabeth Shenk placed fourth on beam (9.3) and third on vault (9.375).
Carmel Catholic was led by Anna Osowski, who was third in the all-around (37.25), second on floor (9.55), fourth on vault (9.35) and fourth on bars (9.3).
Mariah Lee of Libertyville placed fifth on bars with a 9.2.