Glenbard East 2nd, U-46 co-op 3rd at Upstate Eight meet

Deep and talented, the Oswego co-op gymnastics team is excited to see what it can accomplish in the postseason after winning Saturday's Upstate Eight Conference meet on the heels of sweeping its regular season conference dual meets.

Receiving team scores from eight gymnasts who earned 11 finishes in the top five places, Oswego co-op was clearly the top team in Lombard with 139.75 points and the host Rams a distant runner-up at 133.45.

Riverside Brookfield was third with a 130.55 and U-46 co-op took fourth place with a 127.65.

"We're pretty happy," Oswego co-op coach Amanda Zielske said. "It's been a while since we won conference, at least for varsity. This was our best vault day of the season."

Sam Phillip won the vault with a 9.45, and she needed all of it to barely outscore teammate Sara Mustafa's 9.4 for the individual conference title.

Kelsie Freundt, who would win the conference beam and floor championships, took fifth with a 9.15. Gwen Berenyi was eighth with an 8.9 for the final contribution to the team score as Kylie Phillip scored an 8.8 but the team couldn't use it.

Amelia Soriaga finished in second on bars with an 8.6, third on floor with an 8.85 and fifth on beam with an 8.55.

"It was a really good meet, I was really impressed with how everybody did today," Soriaga said. "I've been working really hard to sort of clean up everything throughout the season and it was really good to see that pay off, and I was up on the podium for all the events I competed in today so I was really happy with our performance."

That included watching her younger sister Hailey Soriaga take third on beam and Freundt win it with one the meet's top moments, with a 9.3.

"I still think we can improve on beam," Amelia Soriaga said. "It was a really good meet, though, and I think everybody did what they needed to do for us to win."

The conference champs received big-time contributions that included an 8.9 on vault from Gwen Berenyi. On bars, Olivia Valenti tied U-46's Amelia Lis with an 8 for seventh place. On floor, Kylie Phillip scored an 8.8 to tie Glenbard East's Riley Olson for fourth place.

Riverside Brookfield's Lia Christiansen won the all-around with a 34.8. Sam Phillip was second with a 33.85 and followed by Olson and fellow Ram, Abbie Johnson, who tied for third place with a 33.6.

Glenbard East's Olivia Broyles took fifth place in the all-around with a 32.7, landing the final call to the podium, sneaking past the 32.65 that Geneseo's Addison Pischke and U-46's Brynn Kerber each tallied.

"We did really, really good," Johnson said. "We got second. Everybody did the best they could've. I was proud of all of us."

Last summertime may feel like forever ago for Johnson, but she was brought back to those sunny days when she was working on adding her bail skill.

"This actually feels really good because I worked really hard to get that bail this summer," Johnson said. "The bail has been decent and the routine has been there, but sometimes it's a little off or I go a little too far and hit my feet, but today that was the best one I've done."

Emma Iwaniszyn took second on floor with a 9 for the Rams.

Oswego has a quick turnaround as the girls head to the Lyons regional on Tuesday optimistically.

"Monday is a quick practice and then we see how the regional goes and then we've got three days to train to get our highest sectional we could possibly get," Zielske said. "We expect to win regional and our goal is to get to the sectional and do the best we possibly can."

The 141.425 that Oswego co-op scored on Jan. 8 is the highest-score among teams in its sectional. Based on scores this season, Oswego's top competition in the sectional title would likely come from Lincoln-Way co-op, Downers Grove co-op and Hinsdale Central.

"We know we're very close to being able to compete with the next closest team, but it's going to be a big (challenge)," Zielske said. "We're nervous, but excited, and we're excited for the potential for so many girls that can qualify individually even if we don't get there as a team."