Command performance from Conant

Conant's girls gymnastics team is making up for lost time.

Last week the Cougars won their first Mid-Suburban League title in 11 years, and they followed up on Wednesday by securing their first regional title since 2008.

Senior Mel Meyrick is certainly making the most of her final days as a high school gymnast. She swept the four events, winning the all-around title with 37.775 and powering host Conant to the title with a season-high 144.15 points in Hoffman Estates.

Palatine looked solid in taking second with 137.825 points followed by Hoffman Estates (127.35) and Fenton (114.65).

Conant joins Prairie Ridge and Fremd as automatic qualifiers for the Fremd sectional next Tuesday at 6 p.m.

Hersey (140.875) and Palatine hold the top two at-large team advancement spots, with only Thursday's Maine South regional remaining.

Conant was solid from start to finish. The Cougars capped their night with a sizzling floor routine (36.85) in sweeping the top five spots.

"To get a season-high tonight … it's a great time to do it," said Conant coach Anthony Avella of his surging squad. "Everybody is just doing their part; they are giving everything they can."

Including Meyrick, who started her night by winning bars (9.375). It was a big lift after she'd scored 8.45 on bars at the MSL meet.

She kept her roll going by winning vault (9.65), adding a clean performance on beam (9.325) and capping her night by taking first on the floor (9.425).

"We've been building for this," said Meyrick. "We all knew we had the potential, and it's satisfying to finally reach it. It helps boost our confidence going into sectionals and we are still looking to reach further."

Meyrick may have set the tone, but she had plenty of help. Freshman Kennedy O'Connor took second on vault (9.0) and tied for second on floor (9.15), adding a fourth-place finish in the all-around (34.4).

Freshman Julia Betts also had a big night. She placed second on beam (8.725), tied for second on floor (9.15) and grabbed third on vault (8.925).

Junior Bailey Bloom had fourth-place finishes on bars (8.875) and floor (9.125) along with a fifth-place finish on beam (8.55). Senior Mariana Vazquez-Rosas tied for fourth on vault (8.8), sophomore Sydney Tong took third on bars (8.975) and senior Bella Ostrowski added a fifth-place finish on floor (9.075) in a total team effort.

"We are really excited with where we are," said Betts. "We really worked hard for this."

Junior Abby Amato gave Palatine a big lift by taking second on bars (9.20) and tying for fourth on vault (8.8). She added a second-place finish in the all-around (35.425).

"I've been struggling with my release on bars, but this time I just let it ride up and it worked out," said Amato of her big bar performance, which helped steady the Pirates' effort. "We are real happy with how we did. We added some skills and we pulled it together."

Senior Kara Ure tied for third on beam (8.7) and took third in the all-around (34.625), with junior Callee Aikman taking fifth on bars (8.7) and fifth in the all-around (32.975).

Palatine junior Christina DiGioia made the most of her only event in tying for third on beam (8.7). After sitting for the first three events, she ended her night with a clean beam to give her team a huge boost.

"We had a rough first part of the meet - we didn't hit as we usually do. I just wanted to give us a good start on beam," DiGioia said. "We came in knowing we had to do our best, and we pulled it together."