Elites gather for Lake County Invitational
Hitting routines and receiving high scores seemed like the norm for former state gymnastics champions Lindsay Borkan (Stevenson) and Ashley Alden (Warren) going back to the early part of last decade.
Borkan and Alden were around on Saturday afternoon — now watching some of those same girls who used to watch them compete. And, like then, some of the state's best gymnastics were being watched.
Stevenson's girls gymnastics team chalked up a season-best 150.4 and outdueled Carmel 149.35 in the Lake County Girls Gymnastics Invitational in Lincolnshire. Lake Forest finished third at 147.7.
Carmel's Kristin Mirski neared perfection with a vault that received a score of 9.95.
“Maybe it motivated the team,” said Ali Castriano of some of the other Patriots talking to Borkan. “I've heard a bunch of stories about her and she used come into the gym a bunch of times. Borkan had a lot of consistency, she would hit a lot and perform, getting high 9s.”
Castriano finished second in the all-around (38.15) but tied for first on floor with Lake Forest's Kylie Carlson (9.65). Castriano also tied for third on bars with teammate Caitlin Pagano (9.5) and placed third on beam (9.5).
Thanks in part to Castriano's efforts, Stevenson found its way over the 150 mark for the first time this season.
“We're not surprised about it,” Castriano said. “We've worked hard all week and over winter break in practice. We definitely deserved the score that we got. The competition and pressure helped our team, because we all got focused together out there.”
The Patriots' Teresa Wojton was third in the all-around (37.55) and tied for fourth on floor with Lake Forest's Brittany Moccia and teammate Riley Trebilco (9.45).
Stevenson took a nice jump to break 150, beating its previous high of 148.75. The Patriots now have the highest score in the state this season.
“We really didn't want to have a target on our backs,” Stevenson coach Judy Harwood said, “Before the meet, I challenged the girls: ‘It's the second half of the season now. Don't put pressure on yourselves, but I want you to win this meet.' It's nice, because they've competed against the best teams in the state and finished in front of them.
“These teams are all so good and it's the small things that make the difference. One small mistake can cost you a lot. We were pretty lucky, because most everybody landed on their feet.”
Inluding Mirski on her career-best vault — a Yurchenko layout.
“It was one of the best ones I've done,” Mirski said. “It was a lot of practice, hard work and repetition of doing it over and over. I just wanted to go hard and help the team out. I would never expect a score like that, it was awesome to see it.”
On vault, Carmel put together an amazing 39.1. Lauren Feely finished second (9.85), Jen Zeller took fourth (9.75) and Anna Brandmeier contributed a 9.55.
“I've never coached that before,” Carmel coach Sarah Doyle said. “I knew we would be strong in that event. It was beautiful and exciting.”
The Corsairs, however, had problems on both the beam and the floor with a number of falls which set them back a bit in trying to catch Stevenson.
“Having a meet like this will keep you humble,” Doyle said. “It reminds you that anything can happen. The girls know what they need to do to clean things up. We'll get this stuff out of the way and move forward.”
Feely won the all-around with a season best 38.2 and also was second on bars (9.55) and fourth on beam (9.45). Zeller settled for fifth in the all-around (37.2) but swung to top honors on bars (9.65), and Sarah Cohen-Smith posted a personal best on vault (9.8).
“Being consistent is key,” Feely said. “You have to hit all your events and then you can be awarded.”
Libertyville's Leah Herchenbach danced to third on floor (9.55) and finished fifth on beam (9.4).
Lexi Marsella chalked up second place on beam (9.6) to lead Barrington and was right behind Katie Meyer (9.7) of Lake Forest for the top spot.
The Fillies were glad to have Tiffany Persels back to the all-around for the first time this season. Persels entered the year with an elbow injury and has worked her way completely back. Persels' best event was vault with a 9.2.
“She was able to do well and may not have scored well,” Barrington coach Jason Loeffler said. “At this point for the first time on all events, she did well competing. It's just great to see make it back and being out here.”