Carmel earns regional title

Carmel Catholic chalked up a spot in next Wednesday's girls gymnastics sectional at Stevenson Friday night.

The Corsairs posted the highest team score of all four regionals this week with a 148.65 in their own regional in Mundelein, which was moved from Wednesday because of the extremely cold weather.

Glenbrook North settled for second (135.75), followed by Niles West (134.45) and Highland Park (127.875).

Carmel posted its season-best score to begin the state series. The Corsairs will join New Trier (148.575), Glenbrook South (147.325) and Mundelein (141.225) as advancing teams. Stevenson (142.4) and Lake Forest (138.65) will be the two at-large teams that also qualified.

"The girls had a beautiful meet," Carmel coach Sarah Doyle said. "Their hard work and preparation really came together. They performed with great confidence. Obviously, we have a regional event championship and every gymnast contributed their best. But I was equally impressed with how consistent of a performance our senior captain Audrey Lagarreta had tonight. All the girls have every right to be proud and now we move on to prepare for the next step of our journey."

Carmel had all five of its gymnasts take the top 5 spots in the all-around. Lyndsey Basara had the top score (38), followed by Isabella Kropiwiec (37.525), Clare Keane (36.925), Lagarreta (35.5) and Kyla Rapplean (35.275).

Basara also placed first with an impressive vault (9.85), along with finishing first on floor (9.6) and beam (9.3). She also was second on bars tied with Kropiwiec (9.25)

Keane earned top honors on bars (9.575). She also was third on floor (9.425) and third on beam (9.225). Kropiwiec was second on vault (9.725), second on beam (9.275) and tied for fifth on floor with Katie Dahlke of Glenbrook North (9.275). Rapplean took third on vault (9.15) and fourth on bars (9.075). Lagarreta tied for fourth on beam with Niles West's Jasmine Dirks (8.85) and was fifth on bars (8.95).