Result can't dilute the memories
None of Waubonsie Valley/Metea Valley co-op's five seniors will be Olympians, but if dreams come true, there will be an aerospace engineer, civil engineer, doctor, nurse and a teacher who eventually will smile while reflecting upon the time they spent as gymnasts.
The co-op came up on the short end of a 140.2 to 128.1 dual meet against Lake Park on Thursday in Naperville, but the night was mostly about celebrating its seniors who were competing in their final home meet.
"I remember coming in during sophomore year and watching the seniors and it felt so far away," co-op senior Claire Samojedny said. "Now I'm here and it's real. It's so weird departing from high school and getting ready to transition into college, but the time has come and now we're trying to finish the season the best we can."
Lake Park dominated the meet with the top three all-arounders: Kelly Zehnder, Andie Granskog and Julia Naronuwicz.
Zehnder won floor with a 9.25 and beam with a 9.3 while teammates Marissa DiBenedetto won floor with a 9.55 and Kailey Czuma took top honors on bars with an 8.7.
"We don't have the full lineup in yet, but we still hit a 140, which is nice to do," Zehnder said. "Hopefully when we get all of our girls in later this week we'll do even better."
The Lancers will return to the same venue for the Neuqua Valley Invite on Saturday and will get a serious taste of what lies ahead if they hope to make a run toward state. Defending state champion Prairie Ridge co-op will be there, while up-and-coming Lincoln-Way co-op will also compete.
"It should be a good meet," Zehnder said. "Hopefully, we'll have our full team there so we can see where we're at against these other teams."
The co-op may have challenged its season-best score if not for Melissa Martin getting injured after vaulting. She scored an 8.7 on her vault but an ankle injury knocked her out of the other events.
"We were right there near our top score, but losing Missy made it tough," co-op coach Phil Gilmer said. "The girls really stepped up. They threw some new skills that they hadn't done before, especially on floor. The one thing I'll say with these girls is that no matter what happens, if someone gets hurt or whatever, they always pull together and one of the judges even came over on complimented them for that."
The co-op recognized Samojedny and JV gymnasts, Isabelle Duguid, Elena Jones, Marie Dix and Lauren Madamba.
"All of the seniors apply ourselves in different ways and we're all going into college and into hard degrees," Samojedny said. "We're all ambitious and excited for the future. We've got a special team here. I consider all of them to be like my sisters. We're all close and we love doing gymnastics."