By thinnest of margins, Fremd wins MSL crown

Fremd coach Kacey Kronforst has the utmost confidence in Kacey Tokunaga. So much so that she has the freshman as the anchor competitor for the Vikings on the balance beam.

Kronforst's confidence was rewarded in a big way Wednesday at the Mid-Suburban League girls gymnastics conference finals at Barrington.

After three consecutive falls by her teammates on the balance beam, Tokunaga was just hoping to stay on. She did more than that.

Tokunaga was able to stay on top of the beam and score a 9.05. That score was just enough for Fremd to win the conference meet with a score of 142.15 to Barrington's 142.10.

" Kacey has been our ringer on the beam especially," Kronforst said. "She started the season kind of shaky trying to figure things out. But she has been hitting the beam and the floor pretty solid the last couple of weeks. She found her groove and I'm happy with her timing."

Tokunaga didn't have a clean routine. She nearly fell about halfway through, but recovered enough to finish third in the conference with her score.

"I just knew I had to bring the team back," Tokunaga said. "I just tried to do what I could to do my best. I am happy that I could do that."

Kronforst, who thought the falls on the balance beam had ruined her team's chances at the conference title, was shocked that her team hung on.

"I am very surprised," Kronforst said. "We had a real good meet before beam. The girls had done a great job and we had pretty good momentum."

Also coming up huge for the Vikings was Katie Vessell. The senior won both the parallel bars and the vault with scores of 9.45 on each event. She had two falls on her beam routine, but still had enough to win the all-around title with a 36.15.

"I am really pleased with how things went for me," Vessell said. "My hard work has paid off."

Barrington just came up a bit short for the conference meet title. The Fillies were led by Lauren Tenbrunsel, who tied for third in the all-around with Hoffman Estates' Elyssa Wuerffel and Buffalo Grove's Leah Oyen with a 35.95.

Brooke Husby, who was third on the vault and Ellie Marquis, who was second on the beam and floor and third on the bars, also came up big for Barrington.

"That is as close as we can get without tying," Barrington coach Jason Loeffler said. "It was a crazy meet. I was confident coming in because we were home. With regionals coming up, it shows that the mistakes we have tonight just can't happen."

Conant edged Palatine for third place by the same .05 margin that Fremd held off Barrington with. Conant scored a 140.50 to Palatine's 140.45.

"I started telling the girls back in November that conference was going to come down to tenths," Conant coach Anthony Avella said. "I was right. The MSL is really good this year. Our girls bounced back nicely tonight. We had a couple of falls early that we don't normally have."

Sofia Presta, who would finish second in the all-around with a 36.05, set the table for teammate Danielle Smith on the floor. Presta scored a 9.50 and Smith followed next with a 9.55 to win the event.

"It was exciting," Smith said. "My team had a couple of falls before. Sofia really got things going and I kept the energy up."

Palatine, which won the MSL West regular season title for the first time since 2008, was more focused on next week's regionals according to coach Terry Theobald. The Pirates were led by Elly Nilse, who was seventh in the all-around with a 35.60, Waddington, who was third on the vault, and Alyssa Eckels, who was fourth on the bars.

"We came in a little banged up," Theobald said. "Because of that we prepared for regional with hopes to get to sectionals. That is the goal."

Rolling Meadows, which won the East for the first time since 1994, finished fifth with a 139.05. Nicole Kane finished second on the bars and Melina Moreno was third on the vault and fourth on the floor to lead the Mustangs.

Schaumburg's Alexis Rothmeyer won the beam with 9.45. Rothmeyer, who just returned to practice after battling the flu, said that she got in lots of practice when she returned.

"I have been working really hard on beam and I have been feeling really confident," Rothmeyer said. "I do mental routines as well, so I feel real strong on beam."