A team effort

For the past two years Naperville North gymnast Sami Piotrowski's excellence has often overshadowed what many of her teammates have done on the floor, bars, beam and vault.

Piotrowski proved to be the top gymnast during Saturday's third annual Neuqua Valley Invite, winning the all-around with a 37.35, but more significantly for the Huskies, contributions from Megan McLerran, Emily Costello, Jackie Bullard and especially Carolyn Filarski helped the team edge runner-up Waubonsie Valley 137.7-136.7 for the championship.

"It was a good meet," Naperville North coach Chris Stanicek said. "Even though we had injuries with Caitlin Cavoto and Tori Tanaka, two main contributors to my team. So the score is a nice score for the team we put together."

Filarksi came up huge for the Huskies, finishing in second on bars and tied for fourth on beam while Bullard made the jump from the JV team to compete.

"Carolyn is really starting to shine this last part of the season, which is where you want it to happen," Stanicek said. "Jackie did extremely well and contributed a score on three events."

After finishing in sixth place a year ago, the Warriors battled for this year's championship, falling just a point short of the Huskies.

"Overall we had a great meet," Waubonsie Valley coach Lacy Woulfe said. "The past few weeks we seem to be taking steps in the right direction, and it's exciting."

Danielle Christy led the Warriors, earning second place in the all-around, and Cassy Waldman finished in second on vault.

"I thought it went very good," Christy said. "I was very excited with my scores."

While Woulfe was pleased with the Warriors' finish, she's excited about what the team is still capable of doing the rest of the way.

"We came very close to Naperville North, score-wise, and if we stay healthy we think it's realistic that we can go neck-and-neck," she said.

"We have a few more new tricks and skills to add and a very busy schedule now in January."

Host Neuqua Valley finished in third place with a 136.6. The Wildcats were most impressive on the beam, with Catherine Miller and Amanda Keegan finishing in second and third place, respectively. Miller ended up with the fifth-best all-around total on the afternoon.

Lake Park's Samantha Millikin led the Lancers with the fourth-best all-around score. She took third in the floor exercise.

Addison Trail finished last among the teams, but Alyssa Grzegorzewski put together a performance that left a lasting impression. Her 35.85 all-around score was the third best.

"That was my highest score on everything but beam," she said. "Warmups were shaky, so I was nervous, but when I got to beam I was like, Wow, I'm doing good."