Glenbard West excited about 'perfect' meet
A perfect 10 in gymnastics is one of the most amazing things you will ever see in sports.
Glenbard West's 10 gymnasts were close to perfect in their own way on Wednesday night.
The Hilltoppers nailed all of their routines during the Glenbard West regional, scoring a season-best 145.6 to earn a berth into next week's Glenbard North sectional. They finished fourth in the state last February.
"That's about as perfect of a meet as we could've had going into the sectional," Glenbard West coach Carlos Fuentes said. "We had no misses. We went 5-for-5 on every single event, and this is what you want. You want a meet like this going into sectional so you have confidence that you can perform like that once again."
Maddie Diab won all four events as well as the all-around with a 38.225 to lead the Hilltoppers. Once again she overshadowed fellow sophomore Katherine Hoban, who might be the most unheralded gymnast in the state.
Hoban took second in the all-around with a 36.55, averaging 9.1375 on her events.
"That was her career-high in the all-around and last year she only did three events," Fuentes said. "She added that vault, and we needed that second all-around score this year. She's been big for us and has lessened the pressure on Maddie and the rest of the team."
Hoban's highlight during an amazing night had to be her 9.075 on beam; the first time she eclipsed that 9.0 mark.
"That was my first 9 on beam so that was pretty exciting, and we had a season-high score overall," she said. "We're encouraged and hopefully we can do this again and get to state. I know I've grown a lot since the beginning of the year. I was scoring a lot of 8s earlier, but I think I've really improved to get to where I'm at now."
Eileen Billings, Claire McGurk, Alison Oakes and Nina Samuta also contributed to Glenbard West's team score.
"As a coach, Claire McGurk's 9.0 on floor and her nice bar score (8.5) were some highlights," Fuentes said. "She's an unsung hero. She rallies the troops and is the glue to their positive energy."
Wheaton Warrenville co-op was second with a 140.1, which is the highest at-large score so far in the sectional field, so it has a very good shot of advancing as a team.
"We were able to have Macy (Smykal) compete today, and Bridget (Kennedy) was able to do bars and stick her dismount, which was a big help," Wheaton Warrenville co-op coach Maureen Latimer said. "The other girls just came together and we had a great team effort."
That included Laura Hughes, who was fourth in the all-around, and Jillian Horvatin, who was fifth. Both automatically qualified for the sectional.
Addison Trail took third with a 131.375. Kennedy O'Neill led the Blazers, taking third in the all-around. She also took second on bars with a 9.25.
Glenbard South was fourth with a 113.6. Katie Kibbey had a 32.875 in the all-around to lead the Raiders.