Another invite, another Carmel victory

After competing against some of the best teams in the state, Carmel Catholic's girls gymnastics team now knows where it stands heading into the holiday break.

And the view is pretty nice.

The Corsairs won their third straight invitational in as many weeks and won the New Trier Holiday Invitational on Saturday in Winnetka.

Carmel posted a 146.3, Fremd finished second (144.845), Stevenson took third (144.725) and Warren fourth (139.975) out of eight teams competing.

"I think we're capable of much more," said Carmel coach Sarah Doyle, whose team had won the Rolling Meadows and Conant invites the previous weekends. "We had to get through this meet after all the final exams, illnesses and injuries.

"Those girls in the third, fourth and fifth spots are super important and stepping up for us. I can only imagine where we can be if were 100 percent."

The Corsairs' Jen Zeller was consistent in all four events. She took third in the all-around (36.975) behind Stevenson's Ali Castriano (37.25) and Warren's Kim Gotlund (37.15).

Zeller finished fifth on vault, tied with teammate Amber Mirski and Castriano at 9.5. Zeller also placed fourth on bars (9.425), tied for sixth on beam with Castriano (9) and took ninth on floor (9.05).

"We need to have consistency and have a lot of focus," Zeller said. "I didn't realize I got third (in the all-around). Actually, I don't look at the scores and focus on the events."

Amber Mirski placed second on bars (9.5), and her sister Kristin tied for second on vault with Niles North's Citali Cuevas and Warren's Kelci Schulz (9.55). Kristin also secured second on floor (9.45).

Fremd keeps improving too, and produced its best score thus far.

"It's been a difficult beginning," Fremd coach Jim Guest said. "Coming to this (invitational), the competition is great. We've got a young team, getting their feet on the ground and learning from it."

Caitlin Golota finished first on bars (9.55), while teammate Shannon LeMajeur placed second on beam (9.375) and third on floor (9.3) for the Vikings.

"I've been working real hard on the routine" Golota said.

The Patriots' Castriano earned top honors in all-around and tied for fourth on floor with Niles North's Cuevas (9.275). Castriano also tied for fifth on bars with teammate Caitlen Pagano (9.375). And Pagano tied for third on beam with Theresa Wojton (9.05)

Castriano and the rest of the team performed on floor with Christmas music.

"I just wanted to have fun on the floor," Castriano said. "We practiced all week with the music. It gave us fun and we were energized, so we could be pumped up for the routines."

Stevenson, the reigning state champion but with a younger team this year, keeps growing and improving. The Patriots' scores have been steadily around 145.

"We've got a lot of room for improvement," Stevenson coach Judy Harwood said." We're definitely making progress and learning new things. We're moving forward, trying to get better.

The Northern Illinois-bound Gotlund won three events, posting season-best scores on vault (9.7) and floor (9.6). Gotlund also earned the top spot on beam (9.45).

"I'm glad to come back and do well on the last three events after a bad bar routine," said Gotlund, who had a fall on bars. "A good beam routine got my confidence up a little."