Prospect clinches sixth straight East title
Prospect struggled coming out of the gate in Saturday's girls gymnastics triangular meet at Rolling Meadows - but the Knights finished with a flourish.
Barrington captured first place with a season-best 144.45 points, the second-highest score in the Mid-Suburban League this winter behind Fremd's 150.10.
Prospect hit a school-record 142.45 to take second in front of the host Mustangs (season-high 138.55). In the process, the Knights secured their sixth consecutive MSL East Division title.
"We want to start peaking," said Prospect coach Julian Basler, "Last week we sat down and refocused on what we needed to do, and tonight is what happened."
Prospect started with 34.50 on balance beam, but the Knights rebounded to secure a school-record 36.45 on floor exercise.
"After the beam we just really kicked it up," said Emily Rossdeutcher, who tied Barrington senior Laura Sculley for first on vault with a 9.5. "It was a big meet for us - and it turned out to be our best."
Christina Pekar aided the Knights with a third place on beam (8.85) and hit 9.25 on floor.
Katie Colmone, who is working her way back from a sore shoulder, hit 9.2 on floor, and freshman Lauren Johnson contributed a 9.1 on uneven bars.
Sculley led a strong Barrington effort. In addition to tying for first on vault, Sculley took seconds on floor (9.6) and beam (8.9) and was third on bars (9.3).
"Everyone is pulling it together now as we get closer to state," said Sculley, who finished second in the all-around with 37.30. "Everyone is just stepping it up. We're just performing really well at this point."
The Fillies' Tori Brunet took second on bars (9.4) and third on vault (9.2), while teammate Lexi Marsella tied for second on vault (9.3) and took third on floor (9.5).
The Mustangs' Jen Anderson, who won the all-around at the Prospect Invite last Saturday with a 37.10, had no letdown as she scored a career-best 37.60 to finish first in the all-around. Anderson took first on bars (9.5), beam (9.15), and floor (9.65), and tied for second on vault (9.3).
"Each meet I want to improve a little bit more, then peak at state," Anderson said.