Girls gymnastics: Carmel, Conant finish 2-3 at Lake Forest’s Straus invite
The Robin Straus Invitational came down to the last few routines Saturday afternoon as host Lake Forest and Carmel Catholic went toe-to-toe for the championship of this powerful 11-team girls gymnastics meet.
And it was the host Scouts who were barely able to topple the Corsairs by a very narrow 143.35 to 143.3 score to capture the team title.
Conant easily locked up third place with a season-high 138.8 points followed by D117 Antioch/Lakes co-op (132.3 points) in fifth, Geneva (129.55) in seventh, Lake Zurich (128.8) in eighth, and Mundelein (127.6) in ninth.
The Mustangs did have the all-around champion in the meet as senior Lexie Ede took first place with 38.1 points to soar past Lake Forest's Asha Patel (37.05) in second place. Conant freshman Julia Shulman edged Carmel freshman Maddie Doyle 36.85 to 36.80 for third place.
Carmel identical twin freshman Brooklyn Doyle (35.0) tied for eighth place followed by Conant's Izabella Richards (34.6) in 10th, and Antioch/Lakes sophomore Evelyn Perna (34.55) in 11th.
"This group worked ridiculously hard over break, I'm really proud of the team, and the commitment they showed to get the work done showed today," said Carmel coach Sarah Mikrut Doyle. "We're in a great position now to just go up from here, and I'm so grateful for the way our senior leadership pulls all of our team together."
Ede was the champion on all four events with winning scores of 9.65 on balance beam, 9.55 on vault, 9.55 on floor exercise, and 9.35 on uneven bars.
"I think beam for sure was my best event, I had no wobbles, and that set me up for the rest of the meet," said Ede. "Early in the season I hurt my foot so I'm building up and hoping to peak at the right time."
Shulman (9.15) and Arends tied for second on vault while Maddie Doyle took second on beam with a 9.5.
"We're coming out of winter break so we're starting to put in extra reps and upgrades, and we're working together to figure out what it's going to take to get us where we need to be," said Conant coach Victoria Zervos. "Our goal is to win our sectional (on Feb. 9). Beam has been a challenge for us all season, but today we had four hits so that is what we needed."
Mundelein's Ella Kessel placed 14th in the all-around followed by Conant's Marissa Shulman in 15th and Antioch/Lakes' Leah Ortega in 17th. D117's Leah Ortega placed 17th overall followed by teammate Isabella Aya in 19th, Lake Zurich's Natalia Skora in 20th, and Geneva's Caelen Donley in 21st. Lake Zurich's Parvana Gireesh and Warren's Leah Arceo tied for 22nd.
"It was our season-high today, it was a fantastic performance, and our girls are being more consistent and focused," said D117 co-op coach Kristie Blasinski. "It was by far her (Perna's) best meet this season, and her best events were beam and floor."
Warren's Nora Werner (9.2) took fourth on uneven bars while Julia and Marissa Shulman went 3-4 on beam.