Hilltoppers take share of WSS title

The Lyons Twp. girls gymnastics team literally vaulted into a championship during Saturday's West Suburban Silver meet at Glenbard West.

The Lions scored a 37.775 on the vault, 1.425 points better than runner-up Glenbard West, and it helped them take home top honors, edging the Hilltoppers, 144.225-143.1.

But thanks to the Hilltoppers' perfect conference season, the two teams will share the conference championship.

"To tie for a championship in this conference means a lot to these girls," said Hilltoppers Carlos Fuentes, the conference coach of the year. "The girls are very prideful when it comes to conference and consider it as another step before regionals. We use these steps to remain focused and not get ahead of ourselves."

Glenbard West's Courtney Gonzales isn't getting ahead of herself, but she's scoring ahead of her fellow gymnasts. Gonzales continues to show why she's one of the top gymnasts in all of the state. She won beam and floor en route to taking all-around honors with a 37.825.

"We had a really good meet today," she said. "We stepped up when needed."

While the vaulting display by Lyons was extraordinary, so too was the performance by Glenbard West on beam.

"To finish with four (gymnasts) in the top 10 in this conference is pretty special," Fuentes said. "That was our best beam score of the year, and it shows that the girls are ready to do well in the regional as well as sectional."

Don't be surprised if the Hilltoppers take their beam performance to another level during the state series either.

"We've gotten better and better on beam and there's always little things you can fix," said the Hilltoppers' Rebecca Stephan, who finished third with a 9.325. "We now have a week to prepare and we get to stay at home so that's a good feeling."

The team also has shown an ability to pick one another up.

After two Hilltoppers fell during their floor routines, Stephan answered with a clean 9.025 effort and later Gonzales put an exclamation point on her day's performance with a nearly flawless routine, which netted her a 9.675.

"We knew after the falls that it was our responsibility to step up," Stephan said. ³I guess it was a good wakeup call."

York's Jackie Stefani battled through back pains to finish third in the all-around as the Dukes took fifth in the meet with a 134.3.

"We did pretty well today," Dukes coach Kandi Pajer said. "Jackie and (Kaele) Leonard aren't 100 percent with their backs so we're taking it easy today. We were just trying to work on our cardio but not all our skills today."

Hinsdale Central finished in third place with a 137.325. The Red Devils received a great effort from Colleen Morgan on bars where she finished second with a 9.35.