Girls gymnastics: Antioch restarts as Mundelein prevails

It was welcome back to girls gymnastics night as the Antioch co-op marked a return to the sport for the first time in almost a decade Monday evening at Mundelein High School.

The Antioch roster features a total of 14 gymnasts in a program which is a combination of girls from Antioch and Lakes in Dist. 117.

All the gymnasts were happy to get their season started, despite some of the expected nerves that accompanied the competition.

The host Mustangs won the nonconference meet 132.05-102.525 in what was a season-opening meet for the Mustangs, too.

"It's kind of surreal," said Antioch Co-op coach Angel Campese, who has coached at Libertyville and was an Antioch alum/gymnast who graduated in 2005. "I'm excited to get them back in the gymnastics world. The girls were very nervous because 90 percent of them haven't competed in a gymnastics meet. Only three or four have competed in any meet. For many of them this was their first high school meet.

"A lot of nerves, a lot of questions and the season happens fast. We started practicing, and now it's the first meet."

For the opening meet, Antioch Co-op simply wanted to focus on the basics of what it's like to compete in a high school meet. Campese plans a one step-at-a-time process, especially for the new gymnasts.

"It was a good first step," Campese added. "It's all new for us. I thought they did good for the first time this season - I thought they did great for the first meet, ever. A lot of new skills, new girls.

"For us right now, we're trying to build the student-athlete in general, and build them as gymnasts so they have their own personal goals. I was saying to them 'Don't worry about the scores, don't worry about what other teams are doing, just focus on us and have fun.' "

One of the Antioch Co-op gymnasts, freshman Allison Grosche, knew that pulling together as a group was key.

"It's really fun to come out and work together," Grosche said. "We're out there cheering each other on. It's really good with all the support. There were a lot of nerves with this being our first time. We talked about how to get over the nerves. I didn't expect it to be all that good, because it was the first meet. But I still think we did pretty good. We just need to work harder on our skills to get better."

Mundelein, on the other hand, is a team with considerably higher expectations - including eventually scoring as high as 140. That brings a different kind of performance pressure, so the Mustangs too had some nerves and look forward to the benefit of more practice time ahead.

"I saw that the potential of where these girls can go this season is up there," Mundelein coach Jesse Piland said. "We had falls, missteps and stumbles. We left a lot of points on the floor. The next meet we have, I guarantee we will jump up 3 to 4 points, and go upward from there. These girls have a tremendous potential. We have to clean it up in the gym with practice."

Audrey Kafka led the Mustangs by winning the all-around (35.5). She also took top spots on the floor (8.85), beam (8.7) and uneven bars (8.35). Teammates Amanda Muench was second in the all-around (32.325), with thirds on vault (8.7), uneven bars (7.7) and beam (7.825). Elle Misher placed second on vault (8.8) and third on floor (8.225), while Katie Miller chalked up second on beam (8.65) and second on floor (8.675), and Audrey Rehm grabbed second on bars (7.825).