Miller, confident Mundelein claim regional victory
Count Mundelein's Katie Miller among the many girls gymnasts who have been putting in a lot of work in preparation for the state series.
One result of that effort is confidence. Though just a sophomore, Miller believes that all the work is well worth it. Or, in her words, "hard work really does pay off."
Miller came up up with one of her best balance beam routines for a third-place finish at 8.575 in Wednesday's Mundelein regional to qualify her to the Stevenson sectional next Monday night. Miller also placed third on floor exercise with a 9.125.
"I've been falling a lot on the beam and have had some struggles with wobbles," said Miller. "Just to stick that beam routine was so overwhelming. I just had tears of joy with it. I just consistently worked on beam routines, over and over again. We had to stick five of them in the gym and it might take seven times to do it."
Mundelein stuck to its plan of winning the regional, coming up with a score of 138.975. Deerfield earned a potential at-large spot with 137.65 for the second spot, followed by Vernon Hills (130.525) and Evanston (128).
It's the first time this season the Mustangs had a better score than Deerfield. The Warriors had scored better in a dual meet, and also in the Lake County invitational a couple weeks ago.
"Our goal was to get to the sectional," Mundelein coach Jamie Brongiel said. "We also wanted to get past Deerfield. They were also ranked ahead of us. The girls came into the meet and did what they were doing every single day in practice. I thought they did pretty well."
Taylor Shanahan led the Mundelein effort, picking up top honors in the all-around (35.8). She also landed the top spots on vault (9.375) and on bars (9.325), along with a fifth-place tie on floor with Deerfield's Brook Buranosky (9.025).
"Vault and bars were definitely my strengths," Shanahan said. "I'm really happy to come together with the rest of the team. It's been a really good year and everyone has grown, to say the least. I just want to come back stronger at the sectional."
Mundelein's Audrey Kafka placed third in the all-around (34.85) and third on bars (8.725); the Mustangs' Tara Martin was second on vault (8.925) and Sydney Naddy was fifth on bars (8,375).
Vernon Hills' Avery Longdon earned a fifth-place finish in the all-around (34.125), took fourth on bars (8.6) and tied for fourth on vault with Buranosky (8.85).
"I can see my teammates cheering me on," Longdon said. "It was one of my best meets. I just wanted to get to my potential out there. It's great motivation, getting to a sectional."
The Cougars' Ally Landis placed second on the beam with an 8.6 and qualified for the sectional.