Feely, Carmel vault to New Trier title
Lauren Feely nearly hit a near-perfect Yurchenko layout full vault on Saturday afternoon in the New Trier Holiday Invite in Winnetka.
The Carmel Catholic junior took one small landing step and chalked up an amazing 9.9.
“I knew it was good and I hoped it would be a good score,” said Feely who had a previous high of 9.875. “I was thinking 9.8, but when I saw the score I was pretty happy. I knew I took a little step.
“It’s been the skills I’ve been working on. You need a good height and a good landing, and you need to put it all together.
Feely also landed the all-around title for the second straight year with a (38.375). Feely’s two other events were also winners, floor exercise (9.575) and beam (9.45).
Two-time defending state champ Carmel posted its season-best score of 149.875. Fremd finished close behind (146.1) in second, followed by Stevenson (144.35) in the eight-team field.
“The score was very good,” Carmel coach Sarah Doyle said. “Our girls have very high expectations with their performances. We didn’t have some things go right on bars, beam and floor. The girls work so hard — I’m just as surprised when they don’t do as well. We still have some room for improvement.”
On the vault, the Corsairs posted a spectacular (38.925), led by Feeley’s nearly perfect score plus strong efforts from Kristen Mirski (9.825), Jen Zeller (9.8) to complete a 1-2-3 Corsairs sweep. Anna Brandmeier and Sarah Cohen-Smith both scored (9.4).
Cohen-Smith placed second on beam (9.425), Feely took third on bars (9,45) and Mirski finished tied for fourth with Fremd’s Stephanie Uhrich (9.4) on bars. Zeller finished tied for third with Stevenson’s Ali Castriano (9.45) on the floor.
Zeller placed third in the all-around (37.675) and Mirski took fourth (37.075).
Fremd gets ton hit the holiday break after its best showing of the season, having beaten its previous high by more than 3 points.
“We had some ups and downs, but we’re moving into the right direction,” Fremd coach Tim Hamman said. “In the first half of the year, we’ve seen some definite improvements.
“This meet, we made a stride, where previously we stalled a bit. Now we can improve some more.”
Fremd’s Stephanie Gallo tied for first place on bars with Stevenson’s Castriano (9.475).
The Vikings’ Shannon Lemajeur placed fourth on the vault with a 9.7.
“ So, far that was my best vault this year,” said Lemajeur, who hit a Yurchenko pike. “The landing felt great. Once I hit the floor, I knew it would be a good score.
“We all hit the vault pretty well and it gave all of us a positive attitude going forward,which carried us through the rest of the meet.”
The Patriots’ Theresa Wojton took fifth on floor (9.4) and fifth on beam (9.325). Castriano also was fifth in the all-around (37.025).
“I think 144 is OK, and I’m pretty pleased with it,” Stevenson coach Judy Harwood said. “We’re pretty good at this point of the season, and it’s a work in progress.”