A bittersweet meet for Addison Trail seniors

Kennedy O'Neill never realized it would go by this quickly.

The Addison Trail senior suddenly found herself competing in the final home meet on Wednesday night, and she made the most of it.

O'Neill won three events as well as the all-around with a 34.4 to lead the Blazers to a 126.4 to 112.3 victory over Willowbrook.

"Being a captain and senior, and this being the final home meet, I'm upset that it's almost over," O'Neill said. "It's amazing how fast these four years have gone. Here I am on Senior Night and it's crazy. I'm so happy for my time here and I'm excited for the future here but it's also kind of sad."

O'Neill wasn't the only senior wandering around in the gym afterward with seemingly no rush to head for home. Classmates Terra Garcia and Jessica Rosal were also in reflective moods.

Garcia scored a 31.85 in the all-around and Rosal had a 30.45.

"It hasn't hit me that this is the final home meet, but it's kind of crazy, because I've been with these coaches and teammates for four years now," Garcia said. "We're here six days a week for three hours each time so that's a lot of time spent together. It's going to be so weird and sad when this is all over."

While reminiscing, the Blazers almost forgot that they handed the Warriors their first loss in the West Suburban Gold.

"We had a good meet and this was a nice win for us," Rosal said. "We know we can still do much better, but I'm proud of my team."

While Addison Trail is relying heavily on seniors this winter, Willowbrook is big on freshmen and those newcomers have made a huge impact.

"I've been super impressed with the new leadership and new freshmen that started with us this year," Willowbrook coach Deanna Zuchowski said. "These freshmen understand the competitive mentality and that has helped the rest of the team."

One of those freshmen, Karolina Terlikowski led the Warriors.

"Tonight went pretty well," she said. "We had some tough patches, but overall I think everybody improved somewhere, even if it was one event or just a trick."

Another freshman, Karli Wilson, was right behind Terlikowski with a 30.0 as the Warriors only had four gymnasts who competed so they counted every score.

"This wasn't our best meet, but we'll grow from this," Wilson said. "Even when you have a tough meet like this you know you can do better next time."

Willowbrook has shown that it's a program on the rise. The Warriors had the least highest score among the teams in the IHSA last year and have scored more than 17 points higher than that this year.

"It's been different with me stepping in as a new coach, but they've responded well," Zuchowski said. "The atmosphere around the team is a good one and they're all pushing each other to get better."