Sharing title with Nelson easy for Grzegorzewski to say

Pronouncing Alyssa Grzegorzewski proved to be extremely difficult for a public address announcer on Saturday.

While saying her name was an adventure, the Addison Trail gymnast had little trouble in showing why she was one of the top gymnasts competing in the 4th annual Neuqua Valley Invite. Grzewgorzewski tied Neuqua Valley's Ashley Nelson for top honors in the all-around with a 35.4.

"Very exciting day for me," Grzegorzewski said. "I've been going strong for about two weeks now and been getting better and better. I was happy most with bars and vault today."

Nelson, meanwhile, had a lot to do with the Wildcats winning the Invite for the first time since the inaugural one in 2006.

"We just wanted to do our best today," Nelson said. "We wanted to win but didn't want to jinx it by talking about it. "

Nelson won the beam with a 9.0. As a team the Wildcats posted a 34.775 on beam, and were just one of three teams to score better than a 30 on the event. Junior Catherine Miller, also helped the Wildcats score a season-best 140.350. She was third on vault, beam and all-around.

"Our goal is to still try for state so if we keep progressing we can get there," Miller said. "I was really happy with the consistency with my vault and I stayed on beam which was good, but I still need to improve on bars and floor."

The Wildcats also received a third-place finish on bars from Heather Summers and a second-place floor routine from Maddie Strick.

Waubonsie Valley is still recovering from injuries as its top two gymnasts recently came back. One half of the duo, Kendyl Berger, won the floor and took second on vault to help the Warriors claim second place for the second straight year.

"Kendyl is back and going strong," Waubonsie Valley coach Lacy Woulfe said. "She was up there with a couple medals around her neck and the rest of the girls are staying consistent which is nice." Lake Park, competing without coach Keith Mature who is in Washington, D.C. for the presidential inauguration, finished in third place with a 127.9.

"We're excited that we came in third but beam kind of killed us," Lancers assistant coach Katie Schultz said. "We've got to work on staying consistent and sticking beam."

Naperville North, which competed shorthanded with only three gymnasts because of injuries, finished in eighth place with a 97. Paige Bloodgood took third in the floor exercise and Carolyn Filarski won on bars for the Huskies.

"It was a great way to end the day for me," said Filarski, who admitted her bars routine wasn't the best she's had this season. "It was tough with only three of us, but sometimes I guess good things come out of bad situations."