A memorable night for Naperville North
No matter the outcome, Naperville North planned to remember Friday night’s DuPage Valley Conference girls gymnastics meet at Glenbard East.
Then the Huskies surprised favored Glenbard North to win Naperville North’s first DVC championship in 10 years. The Huskies scored 137.725 to the Panthers’ 136.875.
“(Chris Stanicek), our coach, said in the beginning, this meet is really just about the memories you’re making,” Naperville North senior Kaitlyn Daly said. “Don’t mind the scores or mind how many falls or wobbles or sticks you might have. It’s all about the memories created.
“This memory is definitely a big one that will always be remembered.”
Daly had a lot to do with that, winning the vault with a 9.625 and the beam with a 9.05. Teammate Michaela Robert took the uneven bars championship with a 9.5.
“It feels fantastic,” Stanicek said of his first league title as coach. “These ladies came right out of the gate. We got to bars, had our best bar set of the season, so right away it felt like something special was going to happen. Went to vault, did the same thing, so we started off really strong in our first two events. We’ve been working on focusing and finishing a meet. Sometimes we don’t finish the meet, but they did it tonight. It’s just awesome.”
Daly was happiest with her vault.
“I feel pretty confident and strong in vault,” Daly said. “My warmup was not exactly what I wanted it to be, but I brushed that aside and I gave it my all today.”
The Panthers didn’t walk away emptyhanded. Mariah Matesi won the floor exercise with a 9.45 and the all-around championship with a 36.875. Teammate Erin Panhorst took second on floor and fifth in all-around.
“It was a good meet,” Panthers coach Allison Nelson said. “The girls were going up and fighting for their skills, fighting on every event that they could do. Mariah and Erin both did phenomenal fighting for their skills.”
Glenbard North had to overcome an injury in warmups to Adina Crawford, forcing Nelson to rearrange her lineup at the last minute.
Wheaton Warrenville co-op placed third at 132.575 led by Gracie Erickson and Brianna Mulhearn placing 2-3 on the balance beam and freshman Julie Galo taking third on the floor exercise. Naperville Central was fourth with a 130.90, and host Glenbard East was fifth at 124.2.