Shanel, de la Torriente cap 'great year'

It only seemed to make sense that Saturday would last forever for Stephanie de la Torriente and Katie Shanel.

The two gymnasts for the St. Charles co-op girls gymnastics team both scored a 9.4 in the floor exercise during Friday night's IHSA state finals.

Their ninth place finish qualified them to compete in Saturday's finals, and after the two sat through the vault, uneven parallel bars and beam, they finally were able to showcase their talent for one final time during the high school season.

"It was great for them to get here today," coach Amy Lill said. "Overall this was an amazing season and a great accomplishment for the girls to get here."

There weren't many questions regarding who would win the floor exercise as Fremd senior Mary Burke seemingly put that to rest when she opened the event with a 9.85. She won this event as well as the other three. Burke also won the all-around with a 38.725.

De la Torriente scored a 9.225 and Shanel followed in her footsteps with a 9.275. While both scores were down from Friday night, neither gymnast was overly disappointed with the results.

"I was just honored to be on the floor with these girls today," Shanel said. "It's pretty amazing what everyone has been doing here the past two days."

Several weeks ago, it was uncertain if Shanel would compete again due to injuries, but she battled through the pain and wouldn't have had it any other way.

"I felt the pain this morning when I woke up and when I warmed up," she said. "I was able to ignore it enough to compete again today and it allowed me to end my season in a great way."

De la Torriente agreed with Shanel but also didn't want to forget the team's great season either.

"We accomplished all we could do," she said. "There were a few things we could've done better, but we got here and did the best we could. It's been a great year."

Shanel and de la Torriente were the first gymnasts for St. Charles to advance to Saturday's finals since Lauren Van Thoournout won third place in bars and floor exercise in 2000.