Girls gymnastics: Conant edges Hersey to win regional crown
The pressure was on Tuesday night when Hersey hosted the second of four IHSA girls gymnastics regionals that feed into the Conant sectional next Monday.
Hersey’s team scoring got a huge lift with the return of sophomore standout Maria Reyes from a knee injury to their lineup. But that was not enough as Conant captured the regional championship by a 137.75 to 136.075 score over runner-up Hersey to advance to its own sectional.
Buffalo Grove placed third in the meet with a season-high 130.725 points.
The top five individuals in each event and the all-around advanced to sectionals. Prairie Ridge won the Schaumburg regional Monday while Palatine and Fremd host regionals Wednesday and Thursday.
Reyes won the all-around competition with 36.65 points (9.16 average) while Conant's Julia Shulman took second place with 36.45 points.
Also advancing to sectionals were Hersey's Emilia Rogowski (35.225 points) in third, Buffalo Grove's Lucy Kummerow (34.4 points) in fourth, and Conant's Marissa Shulman (34.025 points) in fifth. At-large cut-off scores for sectionals will be announced after the Fremd regional.
"It was a fight tonight, and we have a lot of freshmen who it is their first time going through the state series," said Conant coach Victoria Zervos, whose team won their 16th regional crown in school history. "Hopefully we go back home on Monday (for sectionals), and it's our house so I hope with the home field it will kind of take some pressure off of them. They just have to continue to trust what they've been doing year-round because they've worked so hard."
Reyes won uneven bars (9.55) and floor exercise (9.2) despite using watered down routines on all four events in her first meet back since Dec. 20.
"It feels great. I'm so happy to be back, and it (knee) doesn't hurt too bad," said Reyes. "My first practice was yesterday. Everything turned out really good, and I'm going to try to go all out at sectionals."
Julia Shulman won vault (9.325) and Kummerow (9.175) won balance beam. Conant's Izabella Richards (9.225) took second on vault and third on beam (8.95).
"It was just exciting that she (Reyes) was able to come back and pull it out, and hopefully at sectionals she will be at full strength," said Hersey coach Shannon Barrett. "We want to peak at the end. I hope she (Reyes) advances to state, and I think she can be a state champion."
Besides Kummerow, senior teammate Emily Krause also advanced to sectionals for the Bison with a fourth on uneven bars (8.65).
"It was very exciting that she (Krause) made it on bars after having kind of a rough go at it last year so it was kind of a redemption routine for her," said Buffalo Grove coach Amy Rivera. "We had some injuries and sickness that hit the team, but everything kind of came together at the right time so it's nice to see it come full circle to end on a high note."
Conant's Marissa Shulman placed fifth on vault (8.75) while Hersey's Lorraine Jablonski placed fifth on uneven bars (8.3). Conant's Sam Cerasani placed fifth on beam (8.875) while Marissa Shulman and Kummerow (8.525) tied for fourth on floor.