Another top invite finish for Carmel
The Carmel Catholic girls gymnastics team is making a habit of improving its scores.
The Corsairs won an invitational for the second straight weekend, showing they're among the best teams in the state.
Carmel posted its season-best score with a 144.9 to finish ahead of runner-up Fremd (143.25) in the eight-team New Trier Holiday Invite in Winnetka on Saturday afternoon. The victory comes on the heels of a top finish in the previous weekend's Conant Invitational.
"It was finals week, and it's always a draining week for the girls," Carmel Catholic coach Nicole Stroup said. "They always seem to pull together and get their energy back up for these two meets."
The Corsairs had some struggles on the beam, but they did quite well in their other events Saturday.
"We still have some work to do over the break," Stroup said.
Sam Lococo earned top honors on the floor exercise for the Corsairs with a 9.625 and also took the top spot on balance beam (9.325).
"I have a new routine this year and I really get into it," Lococo said. "My teammates really get into it on the sidelines. I can see them out of the corner of my eye, and it really pushes me through."
Antonia Durnil chalked up first place on the bars (9.3), third on vault (9.5) and was the runner-up in the all-around (36.175).
Durnil and the rest of the team got a kick out of seeing Maddie Graf deliver a strong vault (8.55) in her return from injury.
"I love getting to watch her vault," said Durnil who followed up by sticking her own Yurchenko pike. "I was just happy to land that one."
Kelly Gustafson placed third in the all-around (35.7) and took fourth on vault (9.375). Anna Osowski also had the second spot on vault (9.275) and second on the bars (9.275), and Alyssa Legerrata finished fourth on beam (8.975).
Carly DeFilippo of Fremd earned top honors in the all-around with 36.375. She also was second on vault (9.575) and fifth on bars (9.05).
"Vault and floor (9.125) are my biggest events," DeFilippo said. "We really shined on those events. It's exciting to take the all-around. There's still more improvements to come, but my teammates are the ones helping me out all the time."
The Vikings were glad to have Gab Lytle competing on her only event of the day. She landed a Yurchenko pike and placed in the top spot on vault with a 9.65. Lytle returned from a sprained ankle she suffered in a warmup for the opening meet of the season.
"This was my first meet back and it was exciting for me," Lytle said. "There was a lot of question marks in the last couple of weeks. But to finally be able to go there and hit it was really exciting for my team and me. The best thing was probably the landing. I wasn't sure if I stuck it. But the landing has been impeding me so far - I was over-rotating it or landing short. I wasn't able to go out there and land it. This was the best one for me."
Fremd also had good routines on floor exercise, with Abby Moran taking third (9.4) and Lisa Radochonski fifth (9.2).
But this Vikings' team has been improving step by step and has posted one of its best scores of the season.
"This team isn't a very deep team," Fremd coach Elise Ference said. "This team is small, and they're taking the baby steps and doing it the right way. They don't want to peak right now. Every meet they're getting better. When we take second in an invite, you can take something back to the gym and work on it.
"If this team peaks in February it will be that much more rewarding."
Stevenson was led by Mikaela Webb who placed third on the bars with a 9.25 and was seventh in the all-around (35.175)
Teagon Albert of Warren finished fourth on the floor exercise (9.35) and fifth on beam (8.925).