Schaumburg completes perfect run through West
Schaumburg entered the season with high expectations, and so far the Saxons have met the challenge.
Host Schaumburg held off a stiff test from Palatine to nail down its first Mid-Suburban League West division title with a school record 144.10 on senior night.
Palatine took second with a season-best 142.35, followed by Hoffman Estates (100.45).
“They're starting to believe,” said Schaumburg coach Jami Stilling, whose team finished with a perfect 5-0 record in the West. “If they each do their job, and each person does matter, they are looking to prove things.”
Scores on floor exercise proved to be very generous, with Palatine hitting a 38.10 and Schaumburg hitting 37.40, with 10 individuals scoring a 9.0 or better.
Junior Ashley Miller took first in the all-around with a 37.20, hitting her Tkachev release in taking first on the bars (9.75), adding a second on the beam (9.15), and taking fifth on the floor (9.5) to pace the Saxons.
“It's huge for us to take first in the division — it's never happened,” said Miller. “I'm just really excited for what's ahead; we just have to keep challenging ourselves.”
Senior Brooke Shimon took third in the all-around (36.8), adding a first on the floor (9.7), second on bars (9.2), third on vault (9.1) and fourth on the beam (8.8) to keep the Saxons rolling.
“We're on such a high right now we just need to keep working,” said Shimon. “We knew we had to hit tonight because Palatine was on our backs. We knew we had to pull it out and we did.”
Senior Caitlin Barrett added a second on the vault (9.2) and a third on the bars (9.1) aid a deep Saxons team.
Palatine is also hitting its stride at the right time. The Pirates were coming off an impressive third-place finish at the Naperville North Invite and kept rolling on Tuesday.
Sophomore Nicole Kuksuk paced the Pirates by taking second in the all-around (37.0), first on the vault (9.3) and beam (9.3), and second on the floor (9.65).
“The team score is a reflection of how hard we've been working in practice,” said Kuksuk, who is emerging as one of the top all-arounders in the MSL. “The more meets the better and I'm feeling much more confident.”
Sophomore Abby Alden added a third place for the Pirates on the floor (9.55), with junior Autumn Petersen (9.5) taking fifth, and seniors Nicole Barba (9.4) and Alyssa Alden (9.3) taking sixth and seventh.
“We know that Schaumburg has high expectations on going to state, and we wanted to compare ourselves to them,” said Barba. “It was exciting that it was close, now we need to keep progressing.”
Junior Alex Tuminaro hit a 9.15 on the floor to lead Hoffman Estates, with junior Maitri Majithia also aiding the Hawks.
“We've all grown together,” said first year Hoffman coach Natalie Balsley of the young Hawks team.