Clean sweep for Fremd's Burke

It has been determined that, after a full night of pounding the keys of a row of calculators and using some long-thought forgotten mathematics, that winning six out of a possible six state medals happens only once in 22 years.

Make that two times in 23 years.

Two years ago, Conant great Allison Buckley became the first gymnast ever to win all four individual medals at state. She also added the all-around title and a medal for leading her team to the state championship to earn the maximum number of championship medals.

This weekend, Fremd's Mary Burke, with her sister, Katie -- a senior gymnast at the University of Iowa -- watching her younger sister in high school for the first time ever, matched Buckley's achievements.

But Burke was silent about her goal for this weekend until after picking up her sixth medal for the state champion Vikings on Saturday night at Palatine.

"My goal was just to enjoy it," Burke said. "I wanted to have a good senior year."

As for going 6-for-6, Burke said, "Not at all. I wanted to take it one step at a time. It means a lot. The state meet has always been the best time of my life and to go out with six medals was the best.

"I was relaxed. The team (title) had already been decided and I looked forward to it (the finals). I started out on vault and I did well.

"Beam, probably the best beam I've ever done. My bars were pretty clean so I had to be happy with that. Floor, I was still on a high from beam. I could let it all out."

Teammate Tori Sarantakis also had a good final, winning a medal on beam.

"I wanted to try and raise my team score even more," she said. "I was just really happy with the way things went."

Palatine senior Rachel Corcoran, who hopes to walk on at Iowa next fall, won five medals.

"I guess all the pressure was off the team," said Corcoran, whose team was locked into sixth place. "You just go out and have fun. It was my last time out there. You can't let it get to you. Just because it's your last meet doesn't mean you have to act like it."

The only thing close to a competition was between conference rivals Stevenson, in second place with 147.4 points, trying to hold off Warren, which was third with 146.9.

With only three finalists, Stevenson raised its team score three times. With four finalists, Warren managed to up its team total twice.

This is the seventh time we've met Warren this year," said Stevenson coach Judy Harwood. "They beat us every time except the last two. So it's not who won first, it's who won last."

"It would've been nice, but we knew it would've been really, really hard," said Warren coach Carrie Parker. "I told them to hit their routines, relax a little bit and do what they do in practice. As long as we won a trophy, it's OK."