Ultimate Wish Classic supports Make-A-Wish Foundation
Submitted by Jane Feely
Continuing a long tradition of granting wishes for children with life-threatening conditions, Ultimate Gymnastics of Gurnee can now add a 13th successful meet to its list of achievements. This year’s Ultimate Wish Classic, which raises money for the Make-A-Wish Foundation, has already brought in over $55,000 for this great cause and the counting is not done yet.
Held recently at Harper College in Palatine, the 13th annual Ultimate Wish Classic is run strictly by volunteers, explains Ultimate owner Rebecca Sanders.
“Our staff, parents and gymnasts all give their time to help out,” she said. “We even have some parents whose children have outgrown our program and who still come and work the entire weekend. We couldn’t do it without all their hard work and dedication.”
Money for Make-A-Wish is raised at the meet and also by other activities held at the Gurnee-based gym, including the Ultimate Cartwheel-a-thon and the Leos for Wishes sale. Vendors at the meet donate a portion of their profits to the cause and there is a very popular gift basket raffle.
“There are many things that make this meet so special,” Sanders said. “Everyone comes together not only for a gymnastics competition but also to help children and their families who are going through very difficult times.”
In the years since the meet started, Ultimate has raised over $485,000 for Make-A-Wish. The wishes that Ultimate have been able to grant have been very varied from meeting the pope in Rome to trips to Disney World and Hawaii.
“We are delighted to help this wonderful cause,” Sanders says. “One mom’s comment summed it up best. She said ‘Doctors heal the patient, but Make-A-Wish heals the families.’”
Aside from the fundraising, there were plenty of gymnastics trophies and medals at stake and the Ultimate girls team rose to the occasion.
One of the weekend’s outstanding performances came from Libertyville’s Sylvia Raquel. Competing in her first Level 7 meet, she placed first on vault, beam, floor and in the all-around scoring 38.00 in the Junior age group. In the Senior B age group Hailey Shuman was first on floor and in the all-around and took silver on bars while Gabrielle Panlaqui was third on bars. In the Senior A age group Leah Medenwaldt was second on bars, floor and in the all-around plus third on vault.
At Level 5, Ashley Derrick came away with four gold medals in the Junior A age group — only a fourth place on uneven bars prevented a clean sweep of first places. Her teammate Amanda Britton joined her on the podium for a silver medal on vault. In the Junior B age group the top spot all-around went to Kayleigh Glickley, who also placed first on vault and second on beam. Ella Skelton took silver on vault, Lucia Rodriguez was third on floor and Claire Kauppila took bronze on beam. In the Senior age group, Gianna Pasquesi came away with two silver and two bronze medals while Kaylee Rychel placed second on bars and Madeline Medica was second on vault.
Competing in their first Level 8 meet, there were honors for a number of Ultimate girls. Ella Peter took gold on vault and silver on floor and in the all-around in the Junior age group while in the Senior A age group Emily Whitis won floor and Samantha Wahlers was runner-up. In the Senior B age group Hunter Bode was first all-around with Caroline Grumhaus second and Katie Schroeder fourth. The girls also took the top three spots on floor exercise.
At Level 9, Bailee Hardy qualified for state on uneven bars. At Level 10, Gurnee’s Emily Basara won the all-around and placed first on vault and uneven bars. Teammate Lauren Marshall won the beam title and took silver on floor and in the all-around. Grayslake’s Ally Hoyer was second on beam and third on vault.
At Level 6, top honors in the all-around at Junior A went to Lyndsey Basara, who also won the floor title. Meanwhile Emily Isabelli took gold on beam and silver on vault and Gracie Gnatt took the top spot on vault. In the Senior age group Kylie Skie took gold on three out of four events and placed second in the all-around. Delaney Jones won silver on both vault and beam.
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