Fremd wins MSL meet; Prospect's Gonzalez claims all-around

Prospect's Olivia Gonzalez entered the Mid-Suburban League girls gymnastic meet as a wild card.

The Knights senior left as an ace.

Gonzalez, who has been dealing with a back injury for most of the season, certainly wasn't affected by it on Friday night in rolling to the all-around title in tough field with a 37.60.

"She dominated," said Prospect coach Randy Smith of Gonzalez all-around effort. "She's been dealing with back issues and it just shows what type of competitor she is."

Fremd may have not dominated, but the Vikings definitely did enough to get the job done, rolling to its 22nd MSL title with 146.15 points at Hersey's Ken Carter Gymnasium in Arlington Heights.

Barrington took second with 144.70 points, followed by Prospect (143.40), host Hersey (139.20), and Schaumburg 137.40.

"We're not supposed to be peaking now," said Fremd coach Elise Ference of the Vikings attack. "We have some things to work on, but the girls did a good job of picking each other up tonight."

Gonzalez started the night tying for third on vault (9.45); she then tied for fourth on the bars (9.1). The Knights sophomore then switched gears, taking second (9.6) on a smooth beam performance, and capped her night by nailing a one and half punch front on her first pass, leading her to a second-place finish (9.45) on floor.

"I just felt it," said Gonzalez of her final routine. "I've been trying really hard to get to this point and it feels really good."

Fremd seniors Christine Radochonski, Emily Neal and Sydney Plichta once again set the tone for the Vikings, with the trio securing a fourth consecutive MSL title.

Radochonski took sixth in the all-around (36.65), tied for third on the vault (9.45), tied for eighth on bars, and concluding her night by taking fifth on floor (9.3).

Neal gave the Vikings a huge lift by taking first on the bars (9.3), with Plichta adding a seventh-place finish.

"We're all really excited with our performance, but we definitely have things to work on," said Neal. "We just wanted to pick each other up and now we just want to keep the momentum going."

Junior Carly DeFilippo kept things rolling for the Vikings by taking fifth on vault (9.4) and tying for fifth on beam (9.35). Junior Mariah Gura scored fifth on beam (9.35) and sixth on bars (9.05).

"It special because it was the last conference meet for the seniors," said Radochonski. "The entire team worked together and we helped each other fill the gaps. Now it's time to get back to work."

Barrington's Abby Hasanov also is building for a big postseason and the Fillies junior did nice job helping pace her team on Friday.

Hassanov took first on the vault (9.55), kept things going for a third-place finish on bars (9.2), had two big saves in tying for third on beam (9.4), and despite a fall on her opening pass, added a 9.0 on the floor in taking fourth in the all-around (37.15).

"We had rough go on bars, but we were on for the beam," said Hasanov of the Fillies' first-place beam performance (37.25). "I was confident on vault and nailed, I'm pretty happy with the night."

Junior Molly Blanke (9.25) gave the Fillies a lift with a sixth-place finish on floor.

Senior Maddie Larock took fifth in the all-around (36.80), tied for fourth on bars (9.1), and added a fourth-place finish on floor (9.35) in combining with Gonzalez to pace Prospect.

Junior Olivia Sullo (9.3) helped get Prospect off to a fine start with a sixth-place finish on vault, helping the Knights to a solid first-place finish on the event (37.0).

Hersey junior Alysa Zurlo (9.45) tied for second place on floor; she finished seventh in the all-around (36.3) in leading her team to a season-high score.

Sophomore Ali Heidrich (9.35) also aided Hersey by tying for fifth on beam.

"The floor performance broke the ice," said Zurlo who missed almost a month of the season with an injury. "We have so much potential and we were able to break through tonight."

Rolling Meadow junior Kelly Johnston had a breakthrough night, taking second in the all-around (37.250).

Johnston started the night with a solid vault (9.2) and floor (9.15), she then elevated her performance by taking second on the bars (9.25). She finished by winning her second consecutive MSL beam title (9.65).

"I just feel really comfortable on beam," said Johnston. "I'm feeling really good, especially about my last two events. I just wanted to go 4-for-4 tonight."

Hoffman Estates senior Jasminka Sabic also had a pretty special night. The Hawk senior got off to solid start on bars (8.7), but then took it to another level by tying for third on beam (9.4), taking second on vault (9.5), and taking first on the floor (9.6).

"I'm on top of the world right now," said Sabic, who started her floor routine with a front hand spring layout, layout and rolled from there. "I hit that and it carried me through my routine."