Warren's Basara an all-around success at state
NIU-bound Emily Basara of Warren made her first appearance in the girls gymnastics state meet a good one at Palatine High School on Friday evening.
The senior, competing in her only year of high school competition, managed to land the third spot in the all-around with a 37.825.
She was four-tenths behind the all-around state champion Rachael Underwood of Prairie Ridge (38.225) and runner-up Maddie Larock (37.875) of Prospect.
"I'm pretty happy, I wasn't expecting to be first," Basara said. "I guess it's not a letdown to not be first. It would've been nice. I think it's very different from what I'm used too. The crowd, the teams, the specific times - I'm all right being third."
Basara did qualify to the vault and floor exercise for the Saturday evening finals, which start at 5:45 p.m. She landed her Yurchenko layout on vault (9.725) and on floor exercise (9.4). But fell on the balance beam (9.05) and didn't reach state on bars as she had a (9.65) competing for the all-around.
"Being a part of the state is pretty cool," Basara said. "It's really different and crazy at the same time."
Sam Lococo of Carmel Catholic, also making her first trip, reached the finals on the floor exercise. The sophomore had a qualifying score of 9.475. Lococo didn't get a medal in the all-around, but had a 36.875. He effort included a 9.475 on vault, a 9.025 on beam and an 8.9 on bars.
"It's been nerve-wracking and fun at the same time," Lococo said. "The energy is like no other meet that I've ever been in. You also have the nerves of being at state. I kind of used the motivation of my team, and I'm trying to do it for them."
McKenzie Kehr of Mundelein made her way into the finals by chalking up a 9.2 on the balance beam. She has a chance to finish higher than the seventh-place finish she earned in last year's state meet.
Kehr finished the all-around wit 36.425. She landed her vault for a 9.3 to go with bars (9.0) and floor (8.925).
Stevenson's Elizabeth Shank and Mikaela Webb also competed in the preliminaries but did not reach the finals.
Shank posted a 36.625 in the all-around. She also had had a 9.375 on floor to go with her efforts on vault (9.375), beam (9.25) and bars (8.625). Webb scored 9.325 on vault and 8.825 on bars.