St. Charles improvises to victory over WWS
No one could blame Amy Lill if she had a case of the Mondays.
That's because the St. Charles Co-op girls gymnastics coach had to put together a lineup which lacked standouts Stephanie de la Torriente (illness) and Danielle Goebbert (sports banquet).
Lill's improvisation worked just well enough for St. Charles to squeak past Wheaton Warrenville South 130-6 to 129.2 Monday night.
"We didn't have our varsity team so that obviously affected us," she said. "It was a little disappointing tonight, but considering the circumstances, we did the best we could."
Senior Liz Fairweather, one of the leaders from last year's state-qualifying squad, wasn't at her best - but she still captured top honors in the floor exercise (8.65) and won the all-around with a 33.75.
"I had a few mistakes all over - floor, beam, even on my vault I didn't land like usual," Fairweather said. "I just had a rough night, but I saw where I need to improve and will get back at it and correct some things."
A.J. Francioni (31.3) and Brittany Bauer (31.15) also competed in all four events for the victors, while Kristin Sheehan, Meredith Beird and especially Megan Brogan played significant roles.
Brogan won beam (8.3) and finished second on floor exercise (8.6).
"We have 18 girls this year, which is nice," Lill said. "Tonight we had to pull some girls up to varsity, but these meets are always good and show us what we need to work on."
Wheaton Warrenville South also competed short-handed, as coach Maureen Latimer had to shift girls around to fill several spots because of the absence of four varsity members for an assortment of reasons.
"For the group we had we did really well," she said. "We had some girls competing in events that they're normally our sixth or seventh (girls) on, but that gave them a chance to work on some skills."
Highlights for the Tigers included Shannon Nevins winning vault (9.0) and the early rise of newcomer Emily Cook - who took third on vault (8.55) and bars (8.4).
"Shannon landed on her feet on vault, which is always exciting," Latimer said. "Emily is one of three standout freshmen we have this year, and unfortunately she had to leave halfway through, so unfortunately we didn't get her floor or beam scores because they would've helped us."
Tigers senior Cassidy Peterson won bars (8.7), and she returned from an ankle sprain to make her season debut on beam.
"It was good to have her back on beam and she's a pretty good beamer and just getting used to it again," Latimer said. "She has high hopes to do well and ended last year pretty well, so we're just trying to keep her healthy and working in some new skills."
Christen Saccucci (31.7) and Maggie Ciesielski (31.45) both competed in the all-around for the Tigers.