Petruniak, Glenbard East barely beat hurting Huskies

If you had asked Naperville North girls gymnastics coach Chris Stanicek on Tuesday about his Huskies chances of winning Thursday's dual meet against DuPage Valley Conference visitor Glenbard East, he probably would have told you the chances were pretty good.

But that was before two of his starters went down with injuries on successive days.

The Huskies' makeshift lineup still came within a hair of beating the Rams, losing 136.95-136.90.

Glenbard East's Andrea Petruniak scored the highest in every event but the vault to edge Naperville North's Sami Piotrowoski 37.1-36.75 in the all-around. The Huskies' Megan McLerran was third with a 35.15.

"We can do better than a 136.9," Stanicek said. "But you put out there what you have. Injuries are part of the sport."

Caitlin Cavoto of Naperville North (1-3) rolled her ankle in practice Wednesday and is expected to miss at least two weeks, while Tori Tanaka severely strained her knee attempting a tuck tsuk on the vault, her first event Thursday.

Because of the injury to Tanaka, Emily Costello, who was supposed to perform only on the vault, went in and threw impressive cold sets in the other three events.

Coach Jessica Stob of Glenbard East (5-2) was impressed by her team's performance but was keenly aware that the Huskies' injuries were a major reason for the victory.

"The injuries really contributed to our win," Stob said. "They would have beaten us with those two girls."

For Petruniak, the all-around title was another achievement in an outstanding season.

"Andrea hit everything she did tonight," Stob said. "She got her highest score, a 9.65, on the beam, but she was best on her floor exercise. She showed great form in scoring a 9.35."

Petruniak shared No. 1 on the uneven bars with Naperville North's Carolyn Filarski at 9.2.

"Andrea is a solid all-arounder," Stanicek said. "She's a competitor and she's strong in all four events. She'll qualify for state."

Piotrowski, who was in the top three in all four events and won the vault competition with a 9.8, is still battling back from last year's shoulder surgery.

"It was just an OK meet for me," Piotrowski said. "The vault was fine, but then on the bar routine, I hurt my shoulder a little at the same point that I was hurt last year. I think it scared me more than it hurt. It was hard to come back from that, and I did a shaky beam and my floor routine was just OK."

McLerran finished second in the vault with a 9.1 and on the beam with a 9.0 and she was third in the floor exercise with an 8.85

"When McLerran goes up I have very few worries," Stanicek said. "She's going to hit her set. You want those kind of gymnasts."

The Huskies still have hopes of making the playoffs. Stanicek is confident Cavoto will be back in time to compete, but Tanaka will have her knee checked out today.

"If we don't have one of those girls in the lineup it impacts the makeup of our team," Stanicek said. "Without Tanaka it will be that much more difficult to qualify for state as a team."