Fremd focuses on senior night, clinches West title
Fremd set the tone early in its Mid-Suburban West girls gymnastics triangular meet on Wednesday night.
The host Vikings looked impressive in their opening series on the vault, scoring a neat 37.65, and they continued their momentum on bars, hitting a 36.70.
Fremd didn’t look back cruising to the MSL West division title with 145.50 points in Palatine.
Barrington took second with 141.65 points, followed by Hoffman Estates (118.95 points).
“The girls rely on those events to build,” said Fremd coach Elise Ference of the 1-2 opening punch on senior night. “It definitely gave us a boost.”
Junior Christine Jensen led the charge taking first on vault (9.65). Sophomore Christine Radochonski tied for third (9.5), with freshman Carly DeFilippo (9.3), senior Mary Smaga (9.2), and senior Stephanie Gallo (9.0) also supplying an early punch.
“I’ve been struggling on vault in practice,” said Jensen, “but during the meets I know it’s for the team and it pushes me to another level.”
Sophomore Sydney Plichta gave the Vikings a boost by taking first on bars (9.5) and second on beam (9.2). Gallo (9.3) and senior Emily Pinderski (9.3) tied for third on the bars.
Freshman Mariah Gura also gave the Vikes a lift with a third-place finish on beam (9.0).
Fremd suffered a major blow when Gallo injured her knee during her floor routine, but Pinderski was able to give the Vikings an emotional positive by taking fourth on the floor (9.15).
“The team is what got me through that floor routine,” said Pinderski, who ended the night after Gallo’s injury. “I could hear the wall of sound, and it made a big difference.”
Fremd seems to be peaking at the right time after taking first at the Lincoln-Way Invite last Saturday with an impressive 146.425, and the Vikings took another step forward on Wednesday.
“All year we’ve been saying it’s not about hitting at the beginning,” said Ference. “It’s about taking steps, and that’s what we’ve been doing.”
Barrington freshman Abby Hasanov also took a big step forward on Wednesday. The Fillies freshman took first in the all-around (37.75), beam (9.3), and floor (9.45), and added a pair of second-place finishes on vault (9.6) and bars (9.4).
Hasanov was nursing a back injury, but didn’t hold back in an impressive performance.
“I wanted to do it for the team,” said Hasanov. “I told myself I was going to stick it, and I fought through it.”
Barrington lost sophomore Jessica Lee to a knee injury in late December, but the Fillies came on strong on Wednesday with their second-best score of the season.
Sophomore Jada Jones (9.4) and sophomore Tara Schumann (9.3) helped the Fillies sweep the top three spots on the floor, and freshman Molly Blank tied for third on vault (9.5).
Sophomore Jasminka Sabic took second in the all-around (34.85) to lead Hoffman’s attack.
“She’s been working really hard on the bars,” said Hoffman coach Natalie Tindle, “and she is putting it all together.”
at Hersey: In a Mid-Suburban East triangular meet hosted by the Huskies, all three teams met with a measure of success.
Rolling Meadows led the way in the team scoring at 127.4, followed by Buffalo Grove (124.8) and Hersey (120.45).
Mustangs freshman Kelly Johnston tied for the best score on vault with a 9.2, went on to finish in the top three in the other events and had the second-best all-around score (34.0). Meadows junior Rachel Anderson placed third on bars and floor exercise.
Buffalo Grove got a 1-2 finish on bars from freshman Diandra Duenser (8.5) and senior Jordan Mann (8.15). Duenser also tied for second on beam (8.0), and Mann was third on vault (9.1). Mann finished third in the all-around with 33.95, with Duenser close behind at 32.85.
Hersey junior Annie Johnson had the top all-around effort (34.2), tied with Johnston for top honors on vault (9.2) and floor (9.4), and won beam (8.3).