Downers Grove South's pain is Lake Park's gain
Downers Grove South wasn't pondering what could have been during Thursday's Oswego girls gymnastics sectional.
Lake Park was sitting at home wondering if it needed to prepare for next weekend.
The Mustangs, who were without one of their top gymnasts, finished in second place but were well behind Lincoln-Way co-op, 144.075 to 140.2, so its team season came to an end.
Meanwhile, the Lancers, who had competed at Wednesday's Glenbard North sectional, learned that they would advance to next weekend's state finals at Palatine because they tied for the final at-large spot along with Conant with a 144.1.
"The girls were at home and anxiously waiting for a tweet to verify we had made it," Lancers coach Jake Luketin said. "We felt we had a good chance of making it based on the scores going in. The girls kept asking, 'Do we know yet?" and I told them to keep refreshing the web and eventually we received word and then they blew up social media."
It's the second consecutive season the Lancers have advanced to the state finals. The Mustangs were trying to do the same but fought injuries all season long and just fell a bit short.
"If Abby Carlson was here there's no doubt in my mind that we would've been right there with Lincoln-Way," Mustangs coach Kristyn Campos said. "I'm so proud of Abby for this season and don't want her to bear that burden, but I know she would've had a great competition out there. I'm just so happy with what they did. To still be at a 140 is great when you're taking her out and piecing together that final score."
Carlson's older sister, Kayla, took fifth in the all-around to advance to state. She also earned berths on bars and vault.
"Even without Abby we knew we could still accomplish a lot as a team so we came in with high expectations," Kayla Carlson said. "This was still one of our best meets of the year so we were super excited. It couldn't have gone much better than it did."
Andrea Davenport had a pair of Top 5 finishes on floor exercise and beam, while Lindsay Tom was third on bars for the Mustangs to also advance.
Hinsdale Central took third with a 138.625 and Downers Grove North was fourth with a 137.175.
Neuqua Valley sophomore Olivia Nelson took second on beam with a 9.225 to advance to state for the first time.
"I knew there were going to be a lot of good teams and gymnasts here and that it would be tough to win. I just tried to do my best," she said. "I'm glad I did club before high school. It taught me how to work hard, especially in meets like this where you have to push through everything."
Nelson had teammates Shalinee Abraham, Amanda Ringlein and Colleen Moauro competing along with her, but none of the three advanced.
Naperville Central, Naperville North and Waubonsie Valley/Metea Valley co-op were also well represented with two or more gymnasts in action but all came up short of extending their season for another week.