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Smiles all around at DVC meet

Lake Park freshman Kelly Zehnder didn't know how to answer, "How does it feel to be the DuPage Valley Conference beam champion?" so she just smiled.

She wasn't the only one who departed with a big smile as a very competitive meet on Friday also saw Glenbard North hold on to edge the Lancers, 139 to 138.7 in the team competition and Naperville North senior Michaela Robert win floor, bars and vault as well as her first DVC all-around championship.

Robert was also competing for the very last time in her four years on varsity at home at Naperville North's comfy upstairs gym.

"I was very pleased with how today went, especially with this being my last DVC meet and my last competition in my home gym," she said. "Winning the all-around here was one of my biggest goals going into the season so I'm happy to accomplish it."

Her only real miscue was her fall on beam, which reduced her score to an 8.75. She had a 9.4 on floor, 9.475 on vault and 9.55 on bars and finished with an all-around score of 37.15.

"The fall was kind of a bummer because it's been something I've been struggling with all season," she said. "I was happy to still finish the routine strong and then shake it out of my head for floor and finish on a high note."

Glenbard North wasn't at its best, but the Panthers were just good enough to win a championship.

"We did not have a good meet, but we're getting healthy and we're peaking at the right time," Panthers coach Kristin Nordquist said. "We'll be working a lot on beam. We had a lot of falls and big mistakes and because of injuries we've been able to work on bars a lot, and look, our best scores tonight were on bars."

Katie Murphy, Allison Wahrman and Erin Bregman finished second, third and fourth on bars to lead the Panthers.

Other top scores for the Panthers included Shayna Bott's 8.875 on floor and Leah Roman's 8.825 on beam while Murphy paced the effort, taking second in the all-around with a 36.025. Wahrman added a 34.825.

"I didn't have my best meet yet, which is OK," Murphy said. "Hopefully, I'm saving it for next week, but I'm happy with my team. We did good overall."

Lake Park's team score may not have been a season high, but the Lancers were arguably as good as they've been all season.

"I'm surprised and ecstatic because the kids did a great job of coming together at the right time," Lancers coach Jake Luketin said. "You've got two, state-caliber judges on each event, so to put up a fantastic score and be just three tenths away from what I consider a state team (Glenbard North), we're in a very good place."

Zehnder edged teammate Linnae Capuder, 9.075 to 8.95 for the beam title. Jesse-Lee VandenEykel added a 9.075 on vault, while Zehnder placed third in the all-around with a 35.5.

Wheaton Warrenville co-op placed third with a 137.2.

Lenna Klein was the team's top all-arounder with a 33.625. She also was fourth on vault with a 9.125. Sienna Thomas placed fifth on beam and bars with an 8.7 and 9.025 respectively, while Katie McDonald was third on floor with a 9.125 and second on vault with a 9.3.

Jill Schuberth placed fourth in the all-around with a 35.2 to help Naperville Central score a 132.2 to take fourth place.

Naperville North finished with a 126.4.

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