Glenbard West all business at regional

It was business as usual for Glenbard West on Wednesday night.

The Hilltoppers dominated their own girls gymnastics regional, freshman Maddie Diab broke her own all-around record for the second time in the past 12 days and the team won its fifth regional title since 2010.

"It's the Glenbard West motto. It's the way we do gymnastics. We hit what we can and show the judges what we do really well," Glenbard West coach Carlos Fuentes said. "We try to emulate that as much as we can in practice. It's never a surprise to us when we hit this many routines because this is what we train over and over in practice. We try to be as consistent as possible."

Diab couldn't be any more consistent. She's scored between a 38.4 and 38.5 in four straight competitions, which included her new school record.

"I thought her execution and her form was really outstanding and I think that's what really sets her apart," Fuentes said. "She has all the big skills, but her form, her lines, her handstand positions and her toe point are second to none and I think that really shows. It's hard to take any deductions from her when there are no execution errors."

Diab won all four events. Her teammates also stepped up as they added eight other scores that were among the top five. That included senior Amber Broucek, who was second in the all-around and qualified for sectional on all but bars, as well senior Sarah DeStefano and junior Alison Oakes, who each qualified in two events, and senior Amanda Rosch, who did so on bars.

"I thought beam was really great," Fuentes said. "Sarah is usually so solid on beam but had a fall, but the three other girls really picked her up with nice scores, which was nice to see."

Wheaton Warrenville co-op was second with 141.45 points and remains alive for an at-large team berth for next Thursday's Glenbard West sectional. The team will learn its fate after tonight's Lake Park regional.

"I think we still have room for improvement and the ultimate goal is still to hit 20 for 20," Wheaton Warrenville co-op coach Maureen Kermend said. "We had some mistakes on bars and beams still, but luckily our older girls have a lot of bonuses in their routine that kind of made up for the mistakes they had."

Senior Julie Galo was third in the all-around with a 35.775, and freshman Jillian Horvatin was fifth with a 33.525 and junior Laura Hughes was sixth with a 33.475 to pace the co-op.

"We've been checking the at-large scores and we think we're good to go," Galo said. "I don't want to jinx it. This was a good meet and for the freshmen it was their first regional and they did pretty well."

That included Horvatin, Macy Smykal, who advanced on beam and floor, as well as Jackie Kerth and Maggie O'Hara, who contributed to the team score.

Batavia took third place with 134.125 points.

Seniors Megan McGee and Lauren Stangl both advanced. McGee tied for third on vault with a 9.25 and Stangl was fifth on beam with an 8.875.

"I was pretty excited about vault," McGee said. "I just started doing it again a few weeks ago, so to get third with all these good vaults out there was pretty good. It felt good getting up on the podium tonight."

Freshman Lillian Baty-Barr was the Bulldogs' lone all-arounder. She placed 10th with a 31.35.

Glenbard South was fourth with 129.2 points. Sophomore Sarah Nardella led the Raiders with an all-around score of 33.025. She tied for seventh on vault with a 9.075.