Lake Park tops Naperville Central
"One Way or Another," Kelly Zehnder and Nina Gallichio were going to get back in the lineup at full strength.
They simply weren't going to allow their respective back injuries to hold them back any longer.
Zehnder, who employs the Blondie hit song during her floor-exercise routine, competed on the floor for the first time since the opener in November. Gallichio performed on three events for just the second time this season as well.
Both proved key, helping the Lancers score a season-best 143.95 and cruise past Naperville Central's 126.1 on Tuesday in Roselle.
"It means a lot to me to put up a score for my team because we have so many goals we want to reach badly this season," Zehnder said. "It was especially big because I just came back to doing all events."
Zehnder won the all-around with a 35.2 while senior teammate Izzy Shaw posted a 34.8.
Gallichio, only a freshman, won all three of her events, scoring a 9.4 on bars before finishing with a 9.3 on beam and a 9.45 on floor.
"It feels good to be back to gymnastics, especially with such a wonderful team," Gallichio said. "I was able to upgrade my events so I can do 10.0 in order support the team and bring the score up. We've been going for a goal of 144 so we were happy to almost get it even if the meet wasn't great for some people."
Marissa DiBenedetto also delivered some big scores for the Lancers with a 9.35 on floor, 9.05 on vault and 8.8 on beam, while fellow junior Daniella Pellegrino had a 9.05 on floor. Freshman Kailey Czuma added an 8.65 on bars.
"The whole season we've been taking it slow and trying to be conservative with the thing so girls can peak at the right time," Lancers coach Jake Luketin said. "We're still not at full strength but building toward it, and this was the strongest lineup we've put up this year."
Naperville Central was competing for the first time in nearly three weeks.
The Redhawks struggled especially in the second half of the meet, scoring just a 61.3 on beam and floor.
"Sometimes time off is good and other times not so good," Redhawks coach Glen Reimers said. "They did OK. The real test is Saturday (at Naperville North Invite) so we'll see what happens."
Senior Sam Barber led the Redhawks on vault with an 8.7 and tied with freshman Hailey Haumann for a team-high 8.2 on beam. Senior Jill Schuberth led the way on bars with an 8.6, floor with an 8.1 and the all-around with a 33.35 while Haumann scored a 32.35.
"They're young," Reimers said. "We still need Jill to step up. She's not close to where we want her to be right now and Sam is still nursing an ankle/leg injury."
Haumann admitted to not doing much gymnastics-wise over break but said it didn't really affect her, especially on beam.
"It was pretty easy coming back," she said. "Things were pretty good. My beam was really good. It was probably one of the best routines I've ever done."