Barton, Kamysz help Hersey past Conant
The night was definitely less than smooth for Hersey senior Maggie Barton in Wednesday's Mid-Suburban girls gymnastics triangular meet.
Barton had an equipment malfunction on her first attempt at bars, and then had bit of fan interference on her floor routine.
Despite those distractions, the Huskies senior kept her composure and combined with junior Mackenzie Kamysz in lifting host Hersey to an impressive MSL triangular victory on senior night with a season-high 143.25.
Conant was also in line for a big night before a bit of slip on beam. The Cougars finished with a 141.70, followed by Wheeling (117.05).
Barton wiped away the distractions in taking second in the all-around (37.0), tying for first on the floor (9.4), adding a second-place finishes on bars (9.2) and beam (9.4) along with a third on vault (9.0).
"I feel I'm the strongest I've ever been," said Barton. "I had a couple mishaps tonight, but this is good."
Hersey took a huge leap with its team score, easily surpassing it previous high of 140.031 set on Dec. 10.
The Huskies were sound from start to finish, and especially solid on beam where they went 5-for-5 in scoring 36.85, keyed by Kamysz's winning finish (9.55).
"We stuck our beam," said Hersey coach Shannon Barrett. "We've been hitting in practice and I just told them we need to hit in the meet."
Kamysz also had a pretty special night in taking third in the all-around (36.95), second on vault (9.3) and third on the bars (9.1).
"Maggie and I have been together for a long time, and we just work well together," said Kamysz of the Huskies' fierce 1-2 punch. "We have three seniors on the team so we are looking to make this season count."
Freshman Ashley Zurlo added a fourth-place finish for the Huskies on beam (9.0), with senior Allie Heidrich taking fourth on floor (9.1).
Conant hung tight with Hersey all night before beam gave the Cougars trouble.
Senior Mel Meyrick once again led the Cougars. She won the all-around (37.20), vault (9.6) and bars (9.4), and she tied for first on floor (9.4).
"It's all about practice," said Meyrick, who led a Cougars attack that surpassed the 140 mark for the fifth time this season. "The team is much closer this season and we've all been pulling for each other."
Junior Bailey Bloom added a third-place finish on floor (9.2) to start the meet before ending her night with a nasty fall on her beam dismount.
Freshman Kennedy O'Connor made quite an impression with a third-place finish on beam (9.1) for the Cougars, with senior Mariana Vazquez-Rosas adding a fourth place finish on vault (8.9) and sophomore Sydney Tong taking fourth on bars (8.6).
"We've been around the 141 mark all season," said Conant coach Anthony Avella. "We didn't do real well at the end but I definitely saw some good things."
Sophomore Jessica Stavros led a young Wheeling team taking sixth on the bars (8.5) and adding a solid beam (8.6) effort.
"We're pretty young," said Wheeling coach Nicole Maila of her sophomore-dominated team. "We're just trying to stay healthy and we're still working on a lot of skills that we are looking to add."