Downers Grove South wins sectional
Jill Schuberth had seriously considered not joining the gymnastics team this year.
She's ecstatic that she didn't follow through with that thought.
The Naperville Central senior had her best meet of the season at Wednesday's Hinsdale Central sectional, placing fourth in the all-around with a 36.5 to advance to next weekend's IHSA girls gymnastics finals at Palatine.
She also advanced on every event except vault. She was fifth on floor with a 9.275, fourth on bars with a 9.025 and second on beam with 9.125.
Beam has long been her specialty; she placed fifth in state as a sophomore.
"I wasn't expecting to do so well," she said. "I was nervous but was excited to see how I finished. I'm glad I stuck with it."
Her skills never eluded her, but it took her some time to get there mentally. She started coming on strong at the Naperville North Invite in January and has continued to rise into the postseason.
"I realized that I am never going to do this again so I might as well go out one last time," she said. "Physically I've always been able to do stuff, but I wasn't in the mental state to do it. Now I've gotten back there."
Schuberth's freshman teammate Rose Fritz competed on bars and scored a 7.95.
Waubonsie Valley/Metea Valley co-op was fairly well represented with three gymnasts, including junior Claire Samojedny and sophomores Melissa Martin and Jessica Houghton. Samojedny hopes to advance to state in any individual event as well as an all-arounder were thwarted as she scored a 35.425 and the cutoff is already at 35.775. Martin had a 32.225 while Houghton netted an 8.45 on floor, her only event.
"I tried my best and went out with a positive attitude," Samojedny said. "I could've done better on vault, but overall I was happy to give it my all. Hopefully next year we can bring more gymnasts here, maybe get here as a team."
Neuqua Valley junior Colleen Moauro scored a 33.575 and freshman Olivia Nelson had a 31.975 in the all-around, while junior Shalinee Abraham competed on beam. None of the Wildcats qualified for state.
Freshman Leah Malloy was the lone representative for Naperville North. She earned an 8.475 on vault.
Hinsdale South senior Maddie Nowak won the all-around with a 37.65. She also won bars and vault.
As for the team competition, Downers Grove South ended a long drought as it easily rolled past Lincoln-Way co-op, 143.875 to 140.425 for the team title.
The Mustangs are advancing to state for the first time since 1993.
"After nine years of coaching, this feels really nice," Mustangs coach Kristyn Moavero said. "It was just a matter of getting them on board. It was kind of surreal at first and they settled in and became a legitimate team."
There is no doubt that the Mustangs are legit.
Freshman Abby Carlson took third in the all-around with a 36.6 and won floor with a 9.475. Kayla Carlson was fifth in the all-around with a 36.475. Each Carlson sister also automatically qualified for state in two events, while senior Emily Tom joined in the fun by taking third on bars with a 9.075.
"I tried not to talk about the magnitude of this," Moavero said. "I told them you have two meets left. They set goals at the beginning of the year and accomplished every one, which was really awesome so I added some other ones."
One of them was to get to state. They're going on Feb. 19.