Glenbard West, Wheaton North advance

Glenbard West and Wheaton North put on outstanding performances during Saturday's Glenbard West girls gymnastics regional.

In fact the Hilltoppers and Falcons were so strong that it's difficult to say who had the better day.

Glenbard West won the regional and punched its ticket to compete in next Thursday's Neuqua Valley sectional. The Hilltoppers won the regional with another record-breaking performance, scoring a school-best score of 144.60.

Wheaton North finished in second place with a total of 138.425. The Falcons fell just short of surpassing their season-best score of 138.925, but more importantly, they earned an at-large berth and for the first time in school history will compete as a team in a sectional.

"We're real excited with the growth, direction and strides we've made," Wheaton North coach Chad Downie said. "We've been gunning for 140 all season and we were close. We're excited to get to sectional and compete next week."

Senior Sarah Beste led the Falcons, edging Glenbard West's Courtney Gonzales, 38 to 37.8 in the all-around. Beste won on bars and beam, Gonzales took top honors on the vault, and the two tied in floor exercise.

"I was just focused on hitting my routines and qualifying for sectionals," Beste said. "It's important to keep my focus on one event at a time and we had a really good meet today."

Their youngsters had a lot to do with it as 15 of their 20 attempts came from a freshman and five sophomores. Sophomore Allie Hetrick led that group with an all-around total of 34.

"We're a young team, but Beste is a tremendous athlete," Downie said. "She brings a lot to the team."

Glenbard West had the highest score in all four events and for the second consecutive year scored its season-best score during the regional.

"We're really on where we need to be because the girls understand how close it's going to be to qualify or be an at-large team for state," Glenbard West coach Carlos Fuentes said. "We had a really good week of practice and they were as focused as I can remember any of our teams being."

Consistency proved to be key for the Hilltoppers. Becky Mladucky was third in all-around, Sarah Udelhofen was fourth on vault, Shannon Dietz fifth on bar and Gonzales, Rebecca Stephan and Udelhofen finished second, third and fourth, respectively to close the regional in the floor exercise.

"We were much more relaxed being home today," Gonzales said. "We pretty much figured, 'Go big or go home,' and I felt like we accomplished a lot today.

After hearing her name called for top-five finishes on bars and floor exercise, Addison Trail's Alyssa Grzegorzewski was skeptical that she'd earn a trip to sectional as an all-arounder.

That was until the host announcer struggled in saying "Grzegorzewski" for the third time. Grzegorzewski's all-around total of 33.875 was the fifth-best score.

"I really didn't think I was going to make it," she said. "But when I heard I was real excited."

At Saturday night's St. Charles North regional, Wheaton Warrenville South finished in third place with a total of 133.8. Four of its gymnasts will compete in next Thursday's Neuqua Valley sectional.

Cassidy Peterson and Elizabeth Ciesielski advanced in the all-around, Shannon Nevins on vault and Maggie Ciesielski on bars.