Hilltoppers look on the bright side
Last year it was Glenbard West's excellence on beam that pushed it past Sandburg/Stagg co-op to win the York Invitational.
On Saturday not even a school-record setting effort on vault could propel the Hilltoppers past a senior-laden Sandburg/Stagg, which is arguably its best in school history. Sandburg/Stagg ran way with the title with a score of 146.925, but a bigger concern for the Hilltoppers was that Hinsdale Central defeated them, 143.825-141.925, for second place.
It was the third time this season the Hilltoppers have faced the Red Devils, with their lone victory coming at the Naperville North Invite on Jan. 10. They meet again next Saturday in the West Suburban Conference Silver Division meet.
"We counted a miss or two which we usually don't and they got us today," Glenbard West coach Carlos Fuentes said. "But we scored the first 37 on vault in school history and now we'll gear up for the postseason."
Sarah Udelhofen, Kinnari Badger and Becky Mladucky all earned a 9.325 on vault, while Shannon Dietz closed with a 9.175.
"Three of our five vaulters are doing tsuks for the first time, and we had four girls throw pike tsuks today," Fuentes said. "Becky finally made it back into all-around and hadn't done vaulting in a long time and she gets a 9.325. That's an awfully big score and now we can put some big scores on vault."
Waubonsie Valley's Danielle Christy certainly put up a big score on vault. She led the Warriors to a sixth-place finish by tying for first in the event with a 9.8.
Christy, who sat out Monday's quad meet at Neuqua Valley due to injuries, came back with a bang after falling twice on beam.
"I just wanted to forget about what happened on beam and since vault is my strongest event I think it helped," Christy said. "Vaulting is so easy for me; it's always a lot of fun."
This invite hasn't always been a fun one for Neuqua Valley, although the Wildcats were the runner-up in 2007. They competed without standout Catherine Miller, who was battling the flu, and finished with a 130.025.
None of the Wildcats finished in the top 10 in an event, and Maddie Strick led the team with an all-around total of 33.750.
"We haven't done well here, but it would be a lot harder to take if we did this at regional, sectional or the state level," Neuqua Valley coach Mike Kaplan said. "We wanted to make sure we didn't leave here with injuries, and we were able move some new people up and give them a chance."
With one gymnast on crutches, another with her right arm in a sling and only four gymnasts available to compete in half of the events, one would think morale was down for Naperville North (128.625).
"They haven't let the injuries get them down," Naperville North coach Chris Stanicek said. "I've been really impressed how they've gone about their business, and we called a JV kid (Marissa Pedersen) up and she's made good progress and they've done a good job of welcoming her and rooting her on."
Carolyn Filarski took fourth on bars while Megan McLerran tied for eighth in floor exercise and tied for ninth on beam.