Blue Devils soar at Mundelein

How high can Warren's girls gymnastics team go?

The Blue Devils posted their season-best score and one of the highest in the state Wednesday night with a 147.1. Carmel chalked a 141.3 and host Mundelein had a 126.75 in the triangular meet.

"I'm real excited to see us have a score that high right now," Warren coach Carrie Parker said. "We still have room to improve on beam (35.75) and bars (35.8).

"Getting (147.1) is beyond our expectations right now, but we'll take it. We just have to stay healthy to keep things going."

The Blue Devils' Kacie Holop put together a season-best routine on the floor exercise, earning a first-place score of 9.65.

"We've been doing a lot of numbers with tumbling, endurance and cardio," Holop said.

Holop nailed her first pass and landed a double-back somersault.

"I get nervous before doing it," she said. "It's my first year (trying it). Once I do it, it makes everything else a lot smoother."

Also on floor, the Blue Devils' Kim Gotlund was second (9.6) and Chelsea Youngberg placed third (9.4).

Warren scored a 37.95 on floor and a 37.6 on vault.

Gotlund earned top honors in the all-around (37.9) and on vault (9.65) and tied for first on bars (9.5) with Carmel's Amber Mirski and MaryAnn Oehlerking.

Holop tied for second with Mirski (9.45) on vault. Youngberg tied for first on beam with Carmel's Lindsay Falk (9.2) and Gotlund was second (9.15).

Oehlerking is hampered by a foot injury after she stepped on some glass in the last couple of weeks and developed an infection. She needed to have surgery on her right foot last week to remove some more pieces of glass but recovered enough to compete on bars Wednesday night.

"I can't wait to go all-out this Saturday (in the New Trier Invitational)," said Oehlerking, who injured her left foot at the end of last season. "All of it makes me better and I appreciate what the team can do missing an all-arounder. They work hard out there."

The Corsairs were also without Ofelia Carmichael, who pulled a hip flexor. It was their first full meet.

"I thought we held our own in three of the four events," Carmel coach Sarah Mikrut-Doyle said. "We got to start off the year going above 140 without MaryAnn. I'm just proud of the younger girls that are stepping up."

Mirski (37.1) and Falk (36.9) took second and third in the all-around.

Mundelein hit its highest score this season but is battling through a number of injuries, according to coach Nancy Toland.