Diab's push results in medals
Maddie Diab isn't one to make excuses.
The Glenbard West sophomore wasn't at full strength, which makes it all the more amazing that she found herself competing in three of the four individual championships during Saturday's IHSA state finals at Palatine.
"It's been tough on my body, but I just keep pushing through it," she said. "I just wanted to go out and hit my routines."
A day after finishing third in the all-around with a 38.0, Diab tied for first place with DeKalb/Sycamore co-op's Aleah Leman on bars with a 9.525, took second place on vault with a 9.775 and took eighth on beam, due to a fall, scoring an 8.95.
"I thought my bars were really solid and my vault went probably as well as it could've," Diab said. "Falling on beam was disappointing, but other than that I was pretty happy. I was glad that I was able to compete one more time this year."
While she was the lone Hilltopper to compete on Saturday, it didn't stop her from noting that the team had a good meet as well on Friday. They finished in eighth place with a 142.525.
"We had a really good state meet hitting 19 of 20," she said. "To do that and to get back here today was amazing."
Glenbard North senior Erin Bregman finished in strong fashion, getting called to the award stand twice. She took third on vault with a 9.725 and tied for fifth on bars with a 9.475.
"She probably had one of her worst meets in the preliminaries and was really disappointed," Panthers coach Kristin Nordquist said. "She came back today and did what she wanted to do. She's overcome some mental blocks and some injuries, so for her final year to end on a high note like this was exciting."
The consolation of injuries that likely kept Downers Grove South from advancing to state as a team for the second consecutive year was the appearance of sophomore Andrea Davenport and senior Kayla Carlson in the event finals.
Davenport took ninth place on beam with an 8.825.
"For my first year of qualifying as an individual, I thought it was really great to finish off in the finals," she said. "It was a little stressful. I just tried to stay relaxed through the whole thing."
Carlson tied for 10th place on floor with a 9.35.
"I couldn't have done a better floor routine so that was a great way to end it," she said. "It was a little bittersweet knowing it was going to be my last routine ever in high school, but it was super fun."