Girls gymnastics: Doyle twins help Carmel win Glenbard West invite

Twins Maddie and Brooklyn Doyle have grown up around the Carmel gymnastics program.

Now they’re competing for the Corsairs and coach Sarah Doyle, also known as their mom.

The freshman twins made their high school debuts during Saturday’s Glenbard West Hilltoppers Invitational, helping the Corsairs prevail in a tournament which featured six of the eight teams that placed at state last February.

Carmel outscored defending state champion Downers Grove co-op, 142.35 to 141.15 for the title. Lake Park was third with a 137.55.

“What gymnastics has brought into my life is incredible,” Carmel coach Sarah Doyle said. “This is my 25th season and getting to spend it with this type of group, and obviously having my daughters in there is great, but it’s really like all of them together and the energy around all of them. It’s so fun to come to practice every day, and I’ve done this long enough and I know they’re really talented.”

Maddie Doyle took second (36.95) in the all-around, senior teammate Alyssah Arends was fifth (35.65) and Brooklyn Doyle was ninth (34.95).

“I was not expecting to get second all-around,” Maddie Doyle said. “I’ve been looking forward to competing for Carmel for such a long time, and to do it with my best friends is so much fun. And we have really good team energy and I feel like we’re going to have so much fun this year because we have big goals this year for state and stuff.”

The Doyle twins were born in the midst of Carmel’s three-peat from 2009-2011.

“Having my mom as a coach is on a different level, but I love my team so much,” Brooklyn Doyle said. “Knowing we were up against a lot of the best teams in the state from last year was definitely nerve-wracking, but it was so much fun. I love it. For our first meet to open up with a 142 isn’t too bad.”

Arends took a spill on bars, but battled back on her next event to win beam with a 9.45.

“She’s going to be a little sore tomorrow,” Sarah Doyle said. “But she’s like a rock star.”

Sometimes you just have to dust yourself and move on.

“I feel it was really rewarding knowing I could have just given up after wiping out on bars,” she said. “I feel like I did that for myself and I was really thinking about the team. I can’t let everyone down after one little mistake.”

Prairie Ridge co-op junior Nora Terhaar won vault (9.5), floor (9.45) and tied for first on bars with Lake Forest’s Lyla Drowne (9.3). Those wins pushed her to the all-around title (37.1). Terhaar is the defending state bars champ with a 9.575 at Palatine last year.

“I was working all summer doing a lot of bars work to try to get my Level 9 routine from last to Level 10 this year,” Terhaar said. “I felt pretty good; 37, I’ll take it. I wasn’t expecting to catch my Jaeger because I didn't in warmups so I was a little nervous so it was a pretty good feeling.”

Vernon Hills’ Mya Brusso (36.25) took third and Downers Grove co-op’s Caroline Phillip (36.05) placed fifth in the all-around. Phillip also took second on vault (9.4).