Girls gymnastics: Reyes, Mazzola lead Hersey to MSL championship
The Mid-Suburban League girls gymnastics meet was a pretty close one Saturday afternoon, but it was defending state champion Hersey that was able to hold off host Palatine to take home the team title of the 12-team meet.
The Huskies posted a winning score of 137.1 points while the runner-up Pirates scored 135.4 points behind the strength of all-around champion Jolee Waddington's 37.2 points (9.30 average).
The battle for third place was razor thin, and it wound up being a third-place tie between Prospect and Rolling Meadows with 132.3 points each. Conant was a very close fifth with a season-high 132.25 points followed by Fremd (131.85) in sixth, Barrington (129.65) in seventh, Buffalo Grove (128.5) in eighth, and Wheeling (126.75) in ninth.
Hersey no longer has the luxury of defending state all-around, vault, and uneven bars champion Sabrina Nemcek on its squad as Nemcek is now competing in club gymnastics. But freshman Maria Reyes (36.5 points) took second in the all-around followed by teammate Gianna Mazzola (35.45) in third overall to help carry the Huskies' scoring.
"It was definitely one of our better scores for sure, but when we got to beam we counted way too many falls," said Hersey coach Shannon Barrett, whose team scored 32.05 on beam. "Maria (Reyes) is great, she's a hard worker, she still has a little bit of nerves, and I did not have my full lineup in today."
Reyes took first place on floor exercise (9.55) and balance beam (9.2) while Mazzola (9.3) and Waddington tied for first on vault. Waddington easily soared to the uneven bars crown with a 9.45.
"I did fall on beam, it was a good floor day and bars was good so after a rough start it turned out really good at the end," said Reyes. "We work really hard every practice so I feel like this meet turned out really well. We all cheered for each other, and we did good on floor and bars."
Barrington's Anna Kruse (35.3) took fourth in the all-around followed by Conant's Marissa Shulman (34.75) in fifth. Buffalo Grove's Emily Krause (33.95) and Rolling Meadows' Isabel Beverung tied for sixth overall while Prospect's Taryn Sorensen (33.75) and Buffalo Grove's Lucy Kummerow tied for eighth. Fremd's Megan Boeke (33.55) edged Conant's Sam Cerasani (33.50) for 10th.
"Going into the conference meet we were undefeated in the regular season in conference and this is the time to try some new things," said Palatine coach Terry Theobald. "She (Waddington) is definitely the anchor. She tweaked her back a little bit in warmups so she wasn't all there."
Prospect coach Monica Donner was happy with her team's performance. "Overall I'm very proud of the girls. They have their things to fix, but they did well on vault and floor," said Donner. "She (Sorensen) had unexpected falls on bars and beam, and she is normally at 9.1 or 9.2 on beam."
Shulman (9.05) took third on floor while teammate Ava Chong (9.05) took fourth on beam. Hersey's Anna McCarthy (12th overall) took fifth on vault (9.1) while Fremd's Sia Purohit (8.75) placed fifth on floor.
"It was a wonderful meet. They all had a personal record on beam, and the energy carried throughout the meet," said first-year Conant coach Victoria Zervos. "It was a season-high for the meet, and a season-high for Marissa Shulman and Sam Cerasani in the all-around today."
Rolling Meadows was coming off a season-high mark of 137 points Wednesday, but the Mustangs could not reach that level again Saturday.
"We had a few too many falls on beam today," said Rolling Meadows coach Mike Costa, whose team had the same 32.05 score as Hersey on that event. "But the progress has been really good, and I tribute that to self confidence."