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Naperville Central's Surin powers through the pain

Maddie Surin had the misfortune of being sidelined with an ankle injury at the end of last season.

She continues to be hobbled a bit with an ankle issue but showed no signs of it while winning the floor exercise, which also helped Naperville Central win Thursday's DuPage Valley Conference girls gymnastics triangular against Glenbard North and Naperville North.

The Redhawks edged the Panthers 128.85 to 128.4 while the Huskies finished a distant third with a 121.1.

"It's a little painful still but I'm getting used to it. I've had a lot of ankle injuries so this isn't anything new," Surin said. "I went through so much physical therapy to get back, so this is going to be a big year for me, I hope."

Surin didn't know what to expect from her team coming into the season, but now has a better idea of what the Redhawks can accomplish.

"We lost a lot of the varsity team from last year and only have five girls so I'm proud of the whole team," she said. "Now we have a better idea of what we can do."

The key will be staying healthy because the Redhawks have no depth.

"We'll see, but for now, this is good," Naperville Central coach Glen Reimers said. "A nice start and a win."

After a year dedicated to club competition, Glenbard North's Erin Bregman has returned for her senior year and she showed why she's one of the top gymnasts in the state. While she struggled on floor, she scored a 9.55 on each of her other three events and easily claimed the all-around championship with a 36.6.

"Being senior year I wanted to come back and be on the team again. It's just a lot of fun," she said. "It's so much different having a team to support you. I'm not sure if I'll do it in college, but I'll decide depending on how well I do this season."

Amazingly, Bregman was close to retiring from gymnastics before the itch to come back proved to be far too great.

"I was off for a couple of months and was going to quit," she said. "I'm glad I didn't. Now I'm working to get back all of my stuff."

Naperville North may have finished well behind the Redhawks and Panthers but had a solid debut, especially since the squad is so young.

"Half of our team is freshmen," said Bella Mandarino, the team's lone senior. "It's funny because I'm so much older than them but they're so mature in gymnastics and mentally. They work so hard so I'm excited for the season."

Their top finishers proved to be freshmen as well with Becky Jennings taking third on vault and Chloe Tsao doing the same on beam.

"We did pretty well. We had the normal ups and down, the falls here or there," Mandarino said. "We were more prepared than I could've hoped we would've been and everyone gave their all, and we were throwing new skills already which was nice to see."

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