Panthers deliver, win third place
A matter of inches can mean the world to a gymnast. On Saturday it was half a point.
Heading into Saturday's IHSA individual event championship finals, no more than half a point separated Glenbard North, Carmel, Fremd and Lyons from heading home from Palatine High School with a third-place trophy.
Glenbard North would lose its lead late but capture it right back thanks to Amber Fox and once and for all secure third place. Just like it has been all season, it was a meet full of drama, disappointment and jubilation for the Panthers.
Stevenson (148.9 points) had all but been awarded the championship trophy on Friday night with Sandburg/Stagg co-op (148.1) finishing as the runner-up. This redirected much of the focus to the individual titles and third-place race.
Glenbard North began with an extremely uncomfortable 0.1 lead over Fremd for third place. The Panthers maintained that lead throughout the first half of the meet until Fremd's Sarah Torp opened the beam event with a 9.475, besting her preliminary score of 9.325. Torp's effort would bump the Vikings into a tie with the Panthers, who were unable to increase their total after Marissa Bosco's sixth-place finish on vault and Fox's last-place finish on bars.
As for Carmel and Lyons, the Corsairs failed to increase its team total of 146.425 in any of their four individual chances while the Lions, although successful in increasing their total in 2 of 3 events, could only settle for a 146.2 and sixth place.
Now with those two schools out of the picture the only gymnasts standing in the way of a tie between Glenbard North and Fremd were Fox and Fremd senior Tori Sarantakis.
Neither could outdo their preliminary score on beam, so the stage was set for floor exercise where Sarantakis was the third-to-last to compete and Fox was scheduled as the final competitor.
"It was very nerve-wracking to just sit and watch," Panthers senior Amy Wolf said. "All I could do was try to motivate Amber to do her best."
Sarantakis propelled Fremd into third place with her 9.725 on beam, which gave the two-time defending champions a 0.075 lead over Glenbard North. After District 155 co-op's Jenny Covers' routine, the Panthers turned to Fox to try to overcome the deficit and recapture third place.
It had already been a rough evening for Fox. She began by falling twice on bars and then had a clean beam routine, but it didn't improve the team's chances. It also came right after the public address announcer remarked that Fremd was now tied with Glenbard North. Now what would she do with it all on the line?
Deliver.
The junior's performance was seemingly flawless and her fourth-place total of 9.650 gave the team its first state hardware since winning it all in 1983.
"I'm just speechless; I can't believe it ended this way," Glenbard North coach Edsel Clark said. "The third-place trophy would not have been as special if it didn't happen this way. I mean, the team depended on her score. She had to hit her routine and she did it under that much pressure. I just can't believe we'll be able to go out like this."
Fox said she did it for the seniors.
"They deserve it more than anyone else," she said. "Every tumbling pass I did it was for someone. My double-back was for Marissa and my layout was for Amy because she always tells me to lay it out more. I just felt very good and showed it off more. I am just so excited."
Not to be lost in the Panthers' celebration was the fifth-place finish by Glenbard West sophomore Becky Mladucky on beam.
"It was definitely tougher competition today compared to (Friday)," she said. "I think that made it a bit harder to stick it, but it's kind of easier when you do it so often."
The Hilltoppers also were represented on vault as junior Sarah Udelhofen took 10th place with a 9.4.
"It was really exciting to see her get this opportunity because she's worked her butt off to get where she's at," Glenbard West coach Carlos Fuentes said. "Overall this was a great experience for us. You get to compete with the top teams in the state and show that you belong among them."