Girls gymnastics: Vernon Hills edges York to win Hersey’s Candy Cane invite
The Candy Cane Invite couldn't have been much closer Saturday when Hersey hosted this powerful 11-team girls gymnastics meet.
In the end, Vernon Hills edged runner-up York 135.225 to 134.75 for the team title. Deerfield (134.25) took third while Stevenson nipped the host Huskies 133.425 to 133.05 for fourth place.
Vernon Hills junior Mya Brusso captured the all-around title by a narrow 37.05 to 36.9 margin over Mundelein's Lexi Ede. The Mustangs (130.525) took sixth place followed by Maine South (129.025) in seventh and Prospect (128.225) in eighth.
"The girls enjoy coming to this meet, and it's nice to come here and have another successful day," said Vernon Hills coach Denise Caton. "We knew coming in today that we had to do well, and there are a lot of great teams in this meet."
York's Melania Veselovsky (35.8) placed third in the all-around followed by Maine South's Maya Raczynski (35.25) in fifth, Hersey's Emilia Rogowski (34.3) in sixth, Prospect's Callan Morris (34.125) in seventh, and Stevenson's Kate Staub (33.825) in eighth.
"We did win our invite last week at Rolling Meadows, and I think there are still things we can improve on after the break," said York coach Alexis Fitzgerald. "There's things that we can work on to improve by the end of the season, and I think that there is still more to come for York gymnastics."
Brusso won vault (9.55) and uneven bars (9.5) while Ede (9.6) won floor exercise. York's Lily Zmrhal (9.05) took first on balance beam. Hersey's Maria Reyes took second on uneven bars and floor.
"I'm very happy. It's still early on in the season so it's been getting a lot better," said Brusso. "We were super happy to win this meet. We're a very young team so it's super exciting to have a lot of improvement from our last meet."
Raczynski and Ede tied for second on vault while Vernon Hills' Olivia Miller (33.775) and Hersey's Katherine Catlett (33.1) placed ninth and 10th in the all-around. Buffalo Grove teammates Emily Krause and Lucy Kummerow placed 11th and 12th in the all-around.
"We have a young team, and Maria (Reyes) was only doing three events today, but she'll be back full-time," said Hersey coach Shannon Barrett. "Emilia (Rogowski) was out pretty much the whole season last year, and this was one of the first times that she stuck the beam."