Lake Park takes win over Glenbard East, Geneva
Monday was anything but mundane for the Lake Park girls gymnastics team.
Competing for the third time in six days, the Lancers were victorious in a triangular that saw them go head-to-head against Geneva in the DuKane Conference as well as Glenbard East as a nonconference opponent.
Lake Park barely snuck past Glenbard East, 135.4 to 134.95 while Geneva had a really rough day on bars and finished with a 127.7.
"I know (the Rams) didn't have a full lineup today so that was kind of a friendly meet, and then it was nice to get our conference dual against Geneva in," Lake Park coach Jake Luketin said. "We're doing all right in conference after a slow start and we're continuing to build. It's a long season."
Freshman Paulina Lucer was the only all-arounder for the Lancers with a 33.55 and her four scores all contributed to the team total. Abby Mizzi and Alyssa Mizzi each contributed on an event, Julia Naronowicz and Paula Naronowicz did so on a pair of events apiece, and Racquel Suhr and Julia Kurek were difference makers in the three events they each participated in.
"We had a really good day on vault, our best vault day of the season," Kurek said. "I think we're getting better and it starts with practice. Our practices are more efficient and we all did pretty good tonight."
Abby Mizzi stuck her vault for the first time of the season.
"I'm getting better for sure," she said. "I had a really good week of practice and was hitting them consistently. I just had to be patient because that skill on vault takes so much time to get better at."
Glenbard East knows it will get better. The Rams are already very good, but injuries have slowed their progress.
Their top gymnast, Kali Kartheiser, remains sidelined but should be back soon, while Erin Donovan isn't at full strength due to an ankle injury. Donovan did shine on bars, winning with a 9.2.
"We still have a couple of injuries with Kali still being out and one of my new freshmen (Donovan) only being able to do two events," Rams coach Jessica Bugajsky said. "So without them that brings us down a bit. Our goal is to beat (Lake Park) on Saturday (at the Oswego Invite)."
Rebecca Honig, Sierra Olson and Kelsey Donovan went 1-2-3 in the all-around to lead the Rams. Honig won beam while Olson tied for third on bars and vault.
"We used this meet as more of a practice to get ready for Saturday, but we still went out and tried our best," Olson said. "It's been rough with injuries and some of us have been sick, but we're pushing through. We have a lot of potential, but we need to get healthy and put it all together in one meet."
Geneva dropped 4 points from the 131.7 they had last Wednesday against Batavia, but the Vikings are still adjusting to competing. A teachers' strike kept them out of the gym and caused them to miss two invites and forced the rescheduling of this meet.
"Great effort by my girls today," Vikings coach Kim Hostman said. "Working new skills and still putting it all together after the unexpected break. Grace De Vita is moving forward and progressing well. I'm hoping we can begin to feel more confident and relaxed while competing."
De Vita took second on floor and had a 32.6 in the all-around to lead the Vikings along with Lindsay King who had an 8.7 on vault and 8.1 on bars. Sophia Hostasa tied for third on beam.