Girls gymnastics: Wheaton co-op takes title at Lake Forest
There was some stiff competition when 12 teams met at the Straus Invitational hosted by Lake Forest Saturday afternoon to kick off the second half of the 2023-24 girls gymnastics season.
It was a nail-biter waiting for the final results coming down to the final competitor on the final event. But when all of the tabulations were made it was Wheaton co-op and senior all-around champion Haylie Hinckley that would take home the team title by a 141.275 to 140.14 margin over the runner-up host Scouts.
New Trier edged Lake Park 139.65 to 138.8 for third place followed by Carmel Catholic (137.575) in fifth, short-handed Vernon Hills (136.15) in sixth, Warren (135.9) in seventh, and Geneva (134.75) in eighth.
The all-around competition also went down to the wire as Hinckley (9.35 average) was able to hold off second-place finisher Julia Bartnik of Lake Park 37.4 to 37.2 for the overall crown. Vernon Hills' Livy Tran edged Geneva's Reese Lackey 35.875 to 35.75 for fourth in the all-around.
Hinckley posted first-place scores of 9.6 on vault and 9.4 on floor exercise while tying for first place with Bartnik (9.5) on balance beam.
"I think it was a season-high by five-one hundredths of a point. It was a good meet, and it was a beautifully run meet," said Wheaton co-op coach Maureen Kermend. "It was some really good competition. Our bars was a strong event for us, and beam went pretty well today where we were able to minimize errors."
Despite struggling a bit on uneven bars (8.9), Hinckley was pleased with her performance while dealing with the pressure that is a major part of the sport.
"I was honestly super-happy about today. The only thing I'm a little upset about was bars because I missed my Jaeger again and I missed it the last meet," said Hinckley. "I think that's just because I get really nervous. But other than that it was a really good meet and I'm really excited about how the team did also."
Wheaton's scoring was bolstered by a second-place 9.35 by Mia LaFretta on uneven bars followed by Warren's Nora Werner (9.25) in third, and Vernon Hills' Mya Brusso (9.17) in fourth on that event.
Defending state vault champion Bartnik placed second on vault with a 9.5 while placing sixth (9.25) on floor.
"She (Bartnik) does a lot for the team. She did well at state last year, and she really helps lead the team and rally the girls around her," said Lake Park coach Jake Luketin. "We didn't graduate anyone last year. It was not our best day today, but I think we found a few areas where we can improve."
Brusso (35.575) placed seventh in the all-around followed by Wheaton's Jordan Wach (35.375) in 10th. Carmel teammates Alyssah Arends (34.875) and Julia Bukowski (34.825) placed 11th and 12th, respectively.
"They really worked hard over break," said Carmel coach Sarah Mikrut Doyle. "We have some work to do on vault and bars, but the girls are pushing past mental blocks to try to increase our difficulty on those two events."
Vernon Hills was without top all-arounder Annika Chudy for the meet as the Cougars have already posted an impressive season-high 144.8 this season.
"We're still on winter break so we're missing a few athletes," said Vernon Hills coach Denise Caton, whose team got a second-place 9.325 from Tran on floor. "One of our seniors got a migraine halfway through the meet and missed two events."
Tran added a third-place 9.25 on vault while Arends (9.1) placed fourth on balance beam. Arends also added a fifth-place 9.275 on floor.
"I think this goes to show we have a lot of potential. Each meet we're kind of working on improving little things," said Geneva assistant coach Kelsey Oswald. "And even though we still had some small bloops here and there we have a lot of room to grow."