Girls gymnastics: Carmel, Arends take titles at Conant
Ten minutes before the start of Carmel Catholic's vault rotation at Saturday's Conant girls gymnastics invite, Corsairs coach Sarah Mikrut Doyle went to work - as an on-the-spot athletic trainer.
Doyle unsnarled gobs of tape from a pair of her Corsairs' ankles and legs. She then wrapped fresh tape around and around and around the same body parts.
"No idea, but it's probably a lot," Doyle said of the number of miles of tape she has applied to her gymnasts during a decorated coaching career.
"She does such a good job," Carmel freshman Alyssah Arends said of Doyle, the medical professional. "I'm not hurt; taping my ankles before vault helped me gain confidence."
The tale of the taped-up Corsairs on Saturday: secure, steady, sturdy, splendid.
Again.
Doyle's dandy athletes topped the 12-team field with a score of 143.425 points. Lake Park silvered (139.5), followed by Warren (139.2), Lincoln-Way co-op (136.05) and Lake Zurich (134.4).
Carmel junior Sarah Arends (Alyssah's sis) paced the champs, capturing the all-around title (37.575) and garnering gold on the uneven bars (9.3) and balance beam (9.4).
"Our team's warmup session this morning was not good, not good at all," recalled Sarah Arends, who underwent ankle surgery in late March. "We struggled. But we regrouped, and a lot of that had to do with our coach getting us together and telling us to have faith over fear."
Warren senior Amanda Hamann - a Carmel varsity gymnast as a freshman and still a big Doyle fan - has talent and strength and speed, plus a Yurchenko-layout vault in her repertoire. No wonder she dashed, pounced, flew and landed her way to a first-place 9.725 in the sport's quickest event.
"I'm hoping to perform a layout full at our next invite (Jan. 4)," said Hamann, who tied for fourth place on vault at last winter's state meet and hopes to make the University of Iowa women's gymnastics team as a walk-on next winter.
"The vault doesn't scare me," the Blue Devil added. "Beam? That gets me jittery, a little."
Junior three-sport athlete Haylie Hinckley, of Wheaton's co-op squad, displayed steely resolve during her field-topping 9.55 floor exercise. She added a leap ahead of her first tumbling pass and described her music as "mysterious, dark and fun" afterward.
Hamann edged Hinckley 37.225-37.2 for runner-up honors in the all-around. Lake Park juniors Julia Bartnik (37) and Cali Keefe (35.950) finished 4-5.
"Julia," Lake Park coach Jake Luketin said, "is such a mentally strong kid. An injury forced her to miss her entire freshman season, and then she put in the work - the hard work - to make sure she was ready for her sophomore season."
Bartnik qualified for state on beam last winter, executing a first-place 9.225 routine atop the unforgiving log at the LP sectional.
"If there's weakness in any of Julia's routines, she works to eliminate it," Luketin said.
Wheaton co-op finished sixth (132.25), followed by Conant (124.55), Schaumburg (123.975), Bartlett U46 co-op (123.625), Geneva (122), Prospect (120.9) and Hoffman Estates (118.4).
Other top-five results Saturday: beam - Lake Zurich's Gianna Mirabella (2nd, 9.25), Bartnik (3rd, 9.2), Hinckley (4th, 9.15), Carmel's Chloe Byrne (5th, 9.1), LZ's Mia McHugh (5th, 9.1), and Lincoln-Way co-op's Lainey Lekki (5th, 9.1); vault - Hinckley (2nd, 9.7), Bartnik (3rd, 9.6); Sarah Arends (4th, 9.475), and Schaumburg's Chali Baumann (5th, 9.45); bars - Warren freshman Nora Werner (2nd, 9.25), Hamann (3rd, 9.2), Carmel's Lilly Bruschuk (4th, 9.0), and Bartnik (5th, 8.95); floor - Sarah Arends (2nd, 9.4), Hamann (3rd, 9.35), Bartnik (4th, 9.25), and Alyssah Arends (5th, 9.2).
Carmel's Ava Fendel (8th, all-around, 34.55), Julia Bukowski, Emma Haas and Kylie Halman also competed Saturday.
"They all performed beautifully," Doyle said.
Quote-worthy: Hoffman Estates coach David Calisch deserved a '10' for his hilarious quote Saturday afternoon near the end of the Conant invite. "I've been coaching gymnastics for quite a while (since the 1993-94 school year)," he began. "When I started, floor-exercise music was performed by a pianist playing in the corner of a gym." ... Carmel coach Sarah Mikrut Doyle, on guiding her conference-less team: "We're like a lone wolf. We love coming to Conant every year for this invite. We're grateful for host schools like Conant." ... Conant coach Anthony Avella, after his Cougars had completed their first two rotations Saturday: "I've seen teams cheering for gymnasts from other teams. Lots of positivity out there." ... Carmel's Alyssah Arends, on her team's mindset before the start of Saturday's invite: "Calm confidence. None of us wanted to be overconfident."