Smith, Conant nab regional crown
Danielle Smith has a kick.
Smith, won two events along with the all-around to help Conant capture the team title Tuesday at the girls gymnastics regional at Conant in Hoffman Estates.
After finishing second on the vault and fourth on the bars in the first half of the meet, Smith closed out strong. The junior won the beam with a 9.35 and then won the floor with a 9.05. Tha gave her a 36.175 and a the all-around championship.
"It was awesome to go here and push everything and finish out strong," Smith said. "Having people look up to me is pretty exciting."
The Cougars also got a huge performance from freshman Sofia Presta, who won the bars with an 8.75 to finish just ahead of teammate Lea Faouaz. Hoffman Estates' Elyssa Wuerffel was third with an 8.525.
"I am really excited about today," said Presta, who finished fifth in the all-around with a 35.40. "It wasn't my best meet, but I had a good time. I am just glad I did my best in what I could do."
Smith and Presta got help from Faouaz, who was fourth in the all-around with a 35.425. Julia Betts (4th on floor), Julia Grzesik, Allegra Chapp and Mikeala Kaminski (4th on beam) helped the Cougars to their second regional title in the last three years.
Conant scored a 142.325 to automatically qualify for sectionals next Wednesday at Schaumburg. Prospect was second with a 135.70 and will have to await the results of the regionals at Palatine Wednesday and Maine South on Thursday to see if the Knights get an at-large bid.
Conant coach Anthony Avella was pleased with his team's performance.
"I think the girls got the nerves out of the way tonight," Avella said. "We are going to prepare for the next one. Overall it was good night. I was happy with the way they competed."
Wuerffel won the vault with a 9.45. She held off Smith, who had a 9.40 and Presta, who was third with a 9.30.
"I just didn't think about it that much and tried to have fun," said Wuerffel, who threw a Yurchenko-Pike.
Wuerffel also finished second in the all-around with a 35.575. Her teammate, Sol Serratos, was second on the beam with a 9.30 and also qualified for sectionals.
"It was a good meet to build on, a meet that will get us a couple people to the next round," Hoffman Estates coach Dave Kalisch said. "For the most part, we did a nice job."
Prospect will have to play the waiting game as a team.
"We started out strong," Prospect coach Monica Donner said. "We struggled a bit in floor, but picked ourselves up on beam. We have our fingers crossed for an at-large."
The Knights did have Marina Andic qualify as an individual. Andic was third in the all-around and qualified with a score of 35.475. She also qualified on vault (4th), bars (5th), beam (3rd) and floor (5th)
Liliana Sanchez broke her foot before the start of the season. But the Maine West senior worked her way back to help lead the Warriors to a 120.725.
"I have seven seniors and they all hit their career highs tonight," said Maine West coach Amanda Harrison, who also got a nice performance from junior Emily Divilbiss.
"It was an amazing meet for us."