Oehlerking, Falk go 1-2 in all-around

Carmel seniors MaryAnn Oehlerking and Lindsay Falk finished first and second, respectively, in the all-around, but their efforts couldn't help the Corsairs overcome Lyons in the Lake Forest/Warren Invitational at Ultimate Gymnastics in Gurnee on Saturday night.

Lyons chalked a 146.7, edging Carmel, which scored a season-best 146.35. Warren was third at 146.1.

Oehlerking captured the all-around with a 37.35, while Falk was second at 37.325.

"MaryAnn has turned into a great leader," Carmel coach Sarah Doyle said.

"Lindsay Falk probably has turned into the surprise of the season. Just to see her go from being timid to being one of the top all-arounders, I'm proud of her. Four years with Lindsay and MaryAnn has been awesome."

Oehlerking competed for the first time all season in all four events, returning from foot injuries suffered at the end of last year and early this season.

"I'm still not at the point where I was before I got hurt," Oehlerking said. "I'm at 80 percent pain-wise and 85 percent in my performance. I was able to get through every event with some mistakes here and there.

"I expect to add more skills. I have some things up my sleeve for bars and beam. I still thought I had a good start."

Falk won bars with a 9.4, while Oehlerking was second with a 9.35. Oehlerking also finished fifth on floor (9.45). She scored a 9.55 on vault and 9.05 on beam.

Falk was second on vault (9.675), behind Prairie Ridge's Jen Covers (9.85). Falk also placed fifth on beam (9.425).

"It's the first time I've ever won anything in high school," Falk said. "I worked hard to do it. I never hit that bar routine."

Warren's Kacie Holop won floor with a 9.65, placed third on vault (9.65) and took fifth in the all-around (37.125). Blue Devils teammates Kim Gotlund was fourth on vault (9.625) and Katie Volvolka placed second on beam (9.55) behind Lyons' Andrea Skala (9.6).

The Blue Devils had a tough time on bars and beam, experiencing an uncharacteristic number of falls.

"We're a little disappointed because we didn't perform like we should have," Warren coach Carrie Parker said. "Overall, if we would have done better on bars and beam, our score would have been higher."

Conant placed fourth in the 10-team field with a 140.1, just ahead of St. Charles' 139.275.

"We brought up some JV gymnasts and thought this would be a good meet to try out some things," Conant coach Lorel Rohrback said. "I still thought we had a pretty good meet for us. We just wanted to see where we're at."

The Cougars' Cara Cosentino finished second on floor with a 9.5 and posted a fourth-best all-around score of 37.15.

Cosentino's music for her floor routine did not start properly, and but she still managed a good routine.

"When you go out there you've got to concentrate on your event," Cosentino said. "You just have to focus on it. It turned out to be one of my highest scores."