St. Charles tops run through UEC

The St. Charles co-op girls gymnastics team capped an undefeated conference season by winning Friday's Upstate Eight Conference championship at Lake Park.

Led by the one-two punch of Stephanie de la Torriente and Danielle Goebbert, who finished in first and second place, respectively, in the all-around, St. Charles finished comfortably ahead of runner-up South Elgin/Bartlett/Streamwood, 141.6-138.7

"We're starting to be a lot more consistent, which is where we need to be," St. Charles coach Amy Lill said.

De la Torriente's effort was truly consistent from beginning to end.

She opened by tying for second on bars, took third outright on beam and vault and then closed her evening with a big smile on her face after winning the floor exercise.

"I was excited to be here tonight," she said. "I just tried to take it one event at a time and keep my focus."

Goebbert certainly kept her focus. During a season mixed with injuries and illness, the senior took second on beam en route to her 35.150 all-around total.

"Danielle's been getting stronger, which is nice to see with all she's been through," Lill said. "We started to kind of see where she was at last year and she had a beautiful beam routine tonight."

Wins by Heather Summers on bars and Catherine Miller on beam were noteworthy, but as a whole Neuqua Valley's 137.3 total only secured third place.

"Overall I was pretty proud of our effort tonight," Wildcats coach Mike Kaplan said. "It was a decent night and most importantly I thought we ended good which is a nice way to head (into regionals)."

Thanks to a pair of 34.5 all-around scores from Ashley Nelson and Melissa Horgan, host Lake Park finished in fourth place with a 134.050.

While the Lancers weren't even close to their season-best score of 138.15 on Jan. 21, coach Keith Matune called it one of the team's best performances of the season.

"I'm not sure if the score reflects it, but this one of out best meets," he said. "I was really proud of their effort."

After standout Danielle Christy suffered a minor ankle sprain in warmups, Waubonsie Valley had to shift its lineup. The Warriors finished with a 129.35.

"Hopefully, this was just a clean up meet for us before Tuesday (regional)," Warriors coach Lacy Woulfe said.

Brianna Conlin took sixth on bars and Kendyl Berger finished seventh in the floor exercise to pace the Warriors.

DuPage Valley Conference meet: Glenbard North girls gymnastics coach Edsel Clark was hoping his team would be energized for Friday's DuPage Valley Conference meet at Naperville North.

The Panthers didn't revitalize themselves to Clark's liking, but they were still able to win handily. Glenbard North (144.05) finished nearly 10 points better than runners-up Wheaton co-op and Naperville North, which battled to a 134.85 tie for second place.

"We still have the inability to rise up for a big meet, and we made careless mistakes again," Clark said. "January's been a tough month for us. It's a lot of ups and downs with good events and then bad ones, so tonight was pretty par for the course."

Marissa Bosco won the all-around with a 36.8 to lead Glenbard North. Bosco also won the floor exercise and Emily Ryan captured top honors on bars.

Wheaton was paced by sophomore Angie Cronk, who won vault and took third in the floor exercise and all-around.

"We placed where I thought we would," Wheaton coach Lee Wood said. "We could've scored better, but we had some extra bobbles on beam and bars that would've made a difference in being tied for second."