Fewer 'oopsies' help Rams move up

Glenbard East senior gymnast Andrea Petruniak knows full well that this is her final high school gymnastics season and that it'll be over before she knows it.

That's why she's going to try to enjoy each meet and keep her sights set on returning to the state finals in February.

Her efforts paid off during Saturday's 29th annual Big Purple Invitational at Downers Grove North as Petruniak finished in fourth place in the all-around with a 36.275 score and helped the Rams to a fifth-place finish (100.6 points) after finishing in 10th a year ago.

"I set a goal today of trying to get to 36 and I think I got there," she said. "Last year I think I was only at about 35."

The Rams also benefited from a nice performance from Jordyn Hargreaves in the all-around at 33.0.

"We think we'll be able to score in the 130s this season," Petruniak said. "We're starting to see that already. Last year we had a lot of falls on beam and today we didn't have as many oopsies."

She was right, the Rams earned a 24.4 on beam after scoring a low 19.6 in last year's invitational.

Last year it was Sami Piotrowski who made the big splash for Naperville North in this invitational, this year it was sophomore Tori Tanaka. In her first competition of the season for the Huskies, Tanaka displayed no signs of nervousness as she finished in sixth place in the all-around with a 34.325 and seventh place in the floor exercise at 9.075. The Huskies finished in sixth place (100.125).

"She was real excited to compete," Huskies coach Chris Stanicek said. "She did all four events today and what I liked was that she saw what other people were doing and reflected on some of the things she can work on throwing."

The Huskies competed without Piotrowski, whose return date from shoulder surgery is undetermined. They did receive a nice performance from Megan McClerran who earned third on beam with a 9.075 and had a 33.550 in the all-around.

Christina Tardy is the lone holdover from last year's Naperville Central team and an injury limited her to only competing on bars and beam, but she finished in seventh place in both events. The Redhawks also finished in seventh (98.425).

"The girls are working hard but they have big shoes to fill," Redhawks coach Glen Reimers said. "Our goal was a 24 in each event and a 96 overall and we hit 98, so I'm very pleased."

Fremd won the invitational handily with 111.200 points. It was the 15th consecutive year that Fremd has won the invitational.

Mary Burke and Tori Sarantakis finished first and second, respectively, in the all-around to lead the Vikings.