Hinsdale Central wins Naperville N. invite
A season ago Glenbard West beat Hinsdale Central in an important West Suburban Silver meet and then was runner-up to the Red Devils in the Naperville North Invitational.
On Saturday, the Hilltoppers once again fell short of the Red Devils, but the key conference meet still lies ahead Monday.
Led by all-arounders Kristen Grilli, Leah Tarabour and Erin Morgan, Hinsdale Central edged Glenbard West 144.825 to 143.950 for the Naperville North Invitational championship.
“This is one of probably five times we'll see (Hinsdale Central), including, hopefully, the state meet,” Glenbard West coach Carlos Fuentes said. “We hope to hit the best of the five, which is that last one. Fortunately, this one doesn't affect the conference standings, but you'd still like to come out with a win.”
Competing in just her third all-around meet of the season, Glenbard West's Becky Mladucky edged Grilli for the all-around title, 37.1 to 37.0.
“We don't look to her as an all-arounder anymore, so that was a bit of a surprise for us,” Fuentes said “She does that twisting vault, which isn't the same of what she used to do. But she goes 9.1 and then goes 9.5 on bars, which is untraditional, a flip-flop with what everyone else does scoring-wise.”
In addition to winning bars, Mladucky was second on floor with a 9.175.
Megan Brennan, Mladucky and Missy Guzman took second through fourth place, respectively, on beam for the Hilloppers. The team finished the meet very strong on bars. In addition to Mladucky's big win, Shannon Dietz placed second with a 9.3 and Guzman was fourth with a 9.25.
“The big upside was a lot of our bar routines,” Fuentes said. “That was a nice bright spot to be the last team and to finish strong.”
Palatine took third place with a 138.75. Nicole Kuksuk paced the Pirates, taking fourth in the all-around with a 35.550. Abby Alden added a 34.45 and senior Nicole Barba contributed a 34.3.
“I think we did pretty well,” Barba said. “We had a few errors here and there, but we took out a few things because guys we're getting hurt and it still was one of our better meets.”
Barrington claimed fourth place with a 132.825, followed by Hersey's 131.1 and Naperville Central's 130.925.
Kendall Hassler had an 8.475 on beam, Grace Ellis contributed an 8.525 on floor and Claire Savard posted an 8.6 on vault and took seventh on beam with an 8.925 for the Redhawks.
Meggie Kania tied for third place on floor with a 9.1 to help Prospect take seventh place with a 128.9.
Host Naperville North finished in 10th place with a 124.275.
“Hope Turner and Kat Noreen led the team,” Naperville North coach Chris Stanicek said. “We're still trying to hit clean sets throughout a meet, and this was basically a good meet for us.”
Noreen finished just ahead of Turner, 32.9 to 32.55 in the all-around.