Glenbard West finishes in fifth place

Glenbard West knew it was a long shot to overtake Fremd for third place in Saturday's girls gymnastics state finals.

The Hilltoppers also realized it wouldn't take much for Prairie Ridge co-op to catch them for fourth place.

Glenbard West entered the finals crammed tightly between Fremd (145.925) and Prairie Ridge co-op (145.4) with a score of 145.525. The Hilltoppers would finish looking up at both teams as Prairie Ridge co-op converted 3-of-4 opportunities to improve its team score and leaped the Hilltoppers for fourth place with a 145.825. Glenbard West ended up in fifth place with a 145.65 while Fremd remained unchanged in third place. Carmel won with a 147.250 while runner-up Lyons posted a 146.775.

Becky Mladucky tied for second place on bars with a 9.525 to raise Glenbard West's score but she and Missy Guzman couldn't do the same in the floor exercise nor could senior Sarah Udelhofen on beam. Udelhofen placed eighth with a 9.275, Guzman was ninth with a 9.2 and Mladucky took tenth with an 8.925.

"It felt really good to know I hit my bars," Mladucky said. "We would've liked to have stayed in fourth place, but it's been a huge accomplishment getting here and we're going to look at the positives and go for it again next year."

Prairie Ridge co-op tied Glenbard West at 145.65 after Taylor Weber registered a 9.4 in the floor exercise. The Hilltoppers dropped into fifth place when Jenny Covers not only raised her team's score with a 9.625, but won the event.

"The girl (Covers) was last year's (all-around) champion and she's a fantastic gymnast and today their individual was better than us," Hilltoppers coach Carlos Fuentes said. "We came out knowing that we were a better team then them yesterday. This was the highest we've ever finished in the state and we're moving up."

In its only other state appearance in 2005, Glenbard West took seventh place. Everyone except for Udelhofen should be back next season.

Hinsdale Central sophomore Kristin Grilli's first appearance in the championship finals proved to be a huge success individually and for her fellow Red Devils.

After placing fourth on vault with a 9.675, Grilli pushed the team past Glenbard North for sixth place in the team standings when she tied Mladucky and Carmel's Amber Mirski for second place on bars with a 9.525.

"I knew bars was my best chance to do it for the team because I don't think I could've done it on beam," Grilli said. "Hearing everyone cheering and doing well on vault really helped a lot."

Grilli, who along with Stevenson's Ali Castriano were the only two underclassmen to compete in 3-of-4 championship events, suffered a fall on beam and settled for ninth place with an 8.675.

After sharing a meet-high 9.525 on bars in Friday's preliminaries, Naperville North senior Carolyn Filarski was looking to become the first Huskies' state champion since Shannon O'Brien accomplished the feat on beam nine years ago.

Duplicating the difficult release move eluded Filarski. She ended up in ninth place with an 8.975.

"She put in the big release move and had to throw it," Huskies coach Chris Stanicek said. "It's disappointing that she came up short, but she set high goals and accomplished a lot."

Addison Trail still hasn't had a state champion since 1978. After placing second in Friday's all-around, Alyssa Cruz was in the running for top honors on vault, bars and floor exercise but heel injuries beleaguered her chances.

Cruz's scores were collectively 1.375 points lower than what she posted in the same three events on Friday.

"I don't think she's stepped on her heels the last four days," Blazers coach Mike Galfi said. "She was really a champion to push through it, taking second in the all-around and competing again tonight when she can barely walk."