Carmel's Mirski returns; Gotlund wins all-around

Amber Mirski didn't get to enjoy her winter break as expected.

The Carmel senior gymnast ended up staying home for the holidays and dealt with a bout of mononucleosis.

Mirski spent the last couple of weeks resting and watching the rest of the girls gymnastics team in practices. On Thursday, she was cleared to return to competition by her doctor.

"It was tough, because I wasn't allowed to do anything," said Mirski, who found out the bad news after the New Trier Holiday Invitational."I was sick for a week and couldn't even get out of bed."

Mirski managed to go through a couple of practices the last two days and made it for Saturday night's Lake Forest invitational.

She found enough strength and pulled through to win the balance beam (9.6) and compete in vault (9.4) and uneven bars (9.1).

"I wasn't looking for the score and I wanted to help the team out," Mirski said. "I knew the routines as long I was mentally prepared."

Carmel scored 146.255 and finished second as a team to defending invite champion Prairie Ridge (147.275).

"Fantastic for (Amber Mirski) coming back, but it was disappointing for the rest of the girls," Carmel coach Sarah Doyle said. "We've got a lot of work to do. It's more mental than physical. These girls are so capable even though we've got some nagging injuries."

Corsairs' Kristin Mirski was second on floor (9.45) behind Jenny Covers of Prairie Ridge (9.5). Jen Zeller placed third on bars (9.4) and fourth in the all-around (37.1).

Warren posted its season-best score by an unbelievable 7 points and tied Lyons (145.475) for fourth place. Host Lake Forest finished third (145.9) in the 12-team field.

"It was finally one of those meets where we finally put everything together," Warren coach Christy Worth said. "Our top varsity girls really hit. Everybody down to our fourth or fifth girls were a huge help.

"This gives us a huge boost of confidence and big turnaround for the team."

Northern Illinoisbound Kim Gotlund won the all-around with a season-best 38.275. She was first on bars (9.55), second on vault (9.85) behind Covers (9.9), second on beam (9.525) and fourth on floor (9.35).

"I finally hit my routine on bars," said Gotlund, who hasn't been able to hit all four events at one time. "We had a lot of good energy as a team and it helped out.

Also, the Blue Devils' Katie Vovolka placed fourth in all-around (37.025) and Kelci Schulz took fifth on floor (9.3).