Wochinski leads Fremd to season-best score

Fremd and Vikings coach Jim Guest were looking for bit more consistency, and the Vikings seemed to have found it at the Mari-Rae Sopper Invite on Saturday.

Senior Maegan Wochinski took second in the all-around (37.10) in helping host Fremd secure the title with a season-best score of 146.975 in Palatine.

Lyons Township (143.55) took second followed by St. Charles Co-op (137.5), Oswego and Naperville Central, who tied for fourth with 132.5.

But it was the Vikings who lifted their game — especially on beam, where they took the top three spots.

“It's been a year of adjustments, but things are finally starting to come together,” said Fremd coach Jim Guest. “We've been looking for more consistency. That's what we've been searching for all year. I think today is something we can build on.”

And Wochinski was definitely the cornerstone, propelling the Vikings with first-place finishes on the floor (9.55) and beam (9.5), and adding a third-place finish on the vault (9.5).

“We needed a confidence boost and today really helps,” said Wochinski, “Now we just need to keep building toward the end.”

Fremd took a hit coming off the holiday break when it narrowly lost a close triangular to Mid-Suburban League West champ Schaumburg 140.45-139.95.

But the Vikings and a talented group of sophomore looked sharp from the beginning on Saturday.

Sophomore Stephanie Gallo took fourth in the all-around (36.50), finishing third on the beam (9.275) and fifth on the vault (9.5). Sophomore Emily Pinderski took third on the bars (9.075) and sophomore Shannon LeMajeur added a fourth-place finish on the bars (9.05).

Senior Kelsey Onesto added to Fremd's attack by taking second on the beam (9.4), and the Vikings seemed to find the consistency they were looking for.

“That was a wake-up call for us,” said Gallo of the Vikings' early January loss. “We've been working hard at practice since then and I think today it showed. Now we have to keep working and it will all come together.”

Senior Carolyn Cozza took third in the all-around (36.925), adding a pair of first-place finishes on the vault (9.7) and bars (9.4) to help Lyons secure second place.

Taylor Southworth contributed a pair of fourth-place finishes on the vault (9.55) and floor (9.35), adding a fifth-place finish on the bars (8.95).

“As a team we've been having really good practices, but we haven't been bringing it to the meets,” added Cozza of the Lions attack. “Now we're looking to improve our scores.”

Junior Kaylee Arnold took third on the floor (9.4) to help St. Charles Co-op take third.

“We started off kind of slow this year,” said Arnold of St. Charles' early season results. “But we've become more confident and added new skills.”

Alexa Messina took first in the all-around (37.25); adding second-place finishes on the vault (9.65), bars (9.1), and floor (9.45) to lead Sandburg-Stagg Co-op to sixth place.