Hasanov has Barrington beaming
Barrington senior gymnast Abby Hasanov came out of the holiday break hitting on all cylinders, especially on floor exercise.
Hasanov, the defending floor exercise state champion, once again showed off her skills at the Hersey triangular on Thursday night in Arlington Heights.
Hasanov scored her second 9.9 on the floor this season to power the Fillies to the triangular victory with 142.5 points. Host Hersey took second with 141.5 followed by Wheeling (121.3).
Hasanov started her night by taking first on the floor.
She added victories on the uneven parallel bars (9.5) and vault (9.8) and captured a third-place finish on the beam (8.7) while cruising to the all-around title (37.90).
But it was her nearly flawless floor routine that energized the gym.
“I have a new floor routine and I'm just having a lot of fun with it,” said Hasanov, who also recorded a 9.9 on the floor on Dec. 2. “There is a lot more dance in my routine and I'm able to show off my skills.”
“She is just naturally talented,” said Barrington coach Jason Loeffler of his senior star. “There's not much more I can do with her.”
Barrington had only three meets in December but will start the second half of the season with four meets in ten days.
The Fillies recovered from a shaky beam to finish the night with a solid bar and vault routine.
Senior Morgan Eisenhauer gave Barrington a lift by tying for first on the beam (9.4). Claire Marousek added a second-place finish on the vault (9.2).
Junior Rachel Timperman (9.2) and senior Molly Blanke (9.0) were second and third, respectively, on the bars to help the Fillies rebound from its beam performance.
“We were a little rusty on beam,” added Hasanov who had two falls in the event. “But we're coming back and we know it's going to be tough. We'll keep pushing.”
Barrington has high expectations entering the second half of the season and Thursday's performance offered a good starting point.
“It puts it in perspective how much work needs to be done,” Loeffler added. “We just have to clean up our falls and we can keep moving up.”
Hersey was also looking to shake off the rust after opening with a subpar beam routine.
Sophomore Mackenzie Kamysz provided the spark by tying for first on the beam (9.4) and it carried over to the Huskies' solid floor performance.
Kamysz took second on the floor (9.6), followed by junior Maggie Barton (9.35) who was third.
Junior Ali Heidrich added a fourth-place finish on the floor (9.3).
“We needed the floor after our beam performance,” said Kamysz, who took second in the all-around (36.3). “I knew I had to stick my beam after our early falls. If we hit beam our score is bound to go up.”
Hersey senior Alysa Zurlo tied for second on the vault (9.2). Hiedrich tied for third on the beam (8.7) to aid the Huskies' attack.
A young Wheeling team is also showing improvement.
Freshmen Jessica Stavros (8.4) and Annah Emery (8.2) gave the Wildcats a lift by placing sixth and seventh, respectively, on the beam.
at Elk Grove: Senior Kelly Johnston and junior Victoria Zervos gave Rolling Meadows a nice 1-2 tandem as the Mustangs scored 136.95 to top Elk Grove (133.35) and Buffalo Grove (131.95) in Mid-Suburban East competition.
Johnston won vault (9.5), bars (9.3) and floor exercise (9.55) on her way to the top all-around total (36.75).
Zervos was second on vault (8.95) and bars (8.8), third on floor (9.4) and had the second-best all-around score (35.05).
Buffalo Grove senior Diandra Duenser won balance beam (8.7) and placed in the top four in the other events to net the third-best all-around total (34.7).
Elk Grove freshman Jill Valente placed second on floor exercise (9.5) and was fourth in the all-around (33.95), and Grens frosh Jessica Hadler tied Johnston for third on beam (8.4).