Fremd takes Big Purple Invite

Fremd freshman gymnast Shannon LeMajeur hadn't been born yet when Fremd won its first Mike Williams Big Purple Invitational in 1993. But thanks to her success on beam, along with the efforts of Caitlin Golota and Elizabeth Uhrich, the Vikings have never lost the invite in LeMajeur's lifetime.

Fremd won Saturday's Invite at Downers Grove North even though it trailed Lyons Twp. heading into beam, its final event of the afternoon. Golota and Uhrich both posted scores of 8.85 while LeMajeur's performance earned her a 9.575.

Fremd outscored Lyons Twp. 27.275-25 on the beam and won the invite for the 17th straight year.

"It's been longer than Shannon's been alive, so that really puts it into perspective," Fremd coach Jim Guest said. "We were just looking to go out there to compete and trying to hit some sets and not worry about where we place. We're very fortunate."

LeMajeur also captured the all-around title with a 36.7, while Uhrich was third at 35.125.

Naperville North was very strong on beam and bars and came away with fourth place.

"We came in today and basically wanted to get through each routine on an individual basis," Huskies coach Chris Stanicek said. "We still have some things to work on, and I think we learned today that we have to elevate our skill level on a few events."

One such event is vault, where the Huskies placed ninth. Morgan McKenna was the lone all-arounder for the Huskies, who also received a third-place finish on bars from Kayla Kinder, and a fifth and sixth on bars and beam, respectively, from Carolyn Filarski.

"I've got some ankle problems but am doing the best I can and hopefully will continue to get better," Filarski said. "I'm still trying to do a Tkatchev (release move on bars) and have been doing it in the gym and hopefully will work that into my routine."

Glenbard East settled for 11th place but had a good showing.

"Everyone went and did their routines really well," Rams coach Jessica Stob said. "We had a couple mistakes but overall did pretty well."

Jessica Griffin posted an 8.3 on vault and Emily Costenaro finished with an all-around of 30.875 for the Rams.

"Emily's doing a great job," Stob said. "She's adding some new tricks, which is always good and she stepped up for us."

Naperville Central found itself at the bottom of the 12 teams participating, but coach Glen Reimers was satisfied with a lot of what he saw from his Redhawks.

"Our goal was 85 to 88 and we hit 91, which I thought was great," he said. "The girls need to really work on their form because the tricks aren't going to come as fast without the form."

Downers Grove South senior Rachel Haake won the floor exercise and had the fifth-best all-around total.