Shanahan, Mundelein claim regional championship

Taylor Shanahan is finding out that being on Mundelein's girls gymnastics team was a good move to make in her sophomore year after spending the previous year as a Mustangs cheerleader.

She still gets to cheer a bit - for her team, as it's been concentrating on taking a successful next step in the state series.

For the second straight year, Mundelein is a regional champion. The Mustangs scored 142.275 to edge Warren (121.1) i nthe regional hosted by Mundelein on Tuesday. Niles West finished at 134.2 and Evanston 124.6.

"I have been doing gymnastics all my life and took a break last year," Shanahan said. "I decided to come back. I wanted to support the school, and I missed gymnastics. This year has been amazing with a great group of girls that are very talented."

Shanahan took fifth in the all-around with a 36.025 and tied for fourth on vault with Niles West's Catherine Steegmueller at 9.35. Shanahan was also fourth on bars (8.875) and fourth on floor (9.0).

"I was proud of my vault," said Shanahan, who threw a Yurchenko pike. "I thought I was very powerful, and my next goal is to stick my landing."

Mundelein and Warren have been very close to one another in scores all season. Warren won the dual meet portion of the schedule, while Mundelein captured the North Suburban Conference meet last Friday. The two schools shared the overall NSC title.

"It definitely has been close and the competition has been very tough," Mundelein coach Nancy Toland said. "This was one of the toughest regionals to win, because we were so close together.

"Their goal was to be two-time conference champs and two-time regional champs. We still made some mistakes. We can learn and grow from this for Monday's (Mundelein) sectional."

Mundelein earned an automatic team qualification spot in the sectional. Warren is so far leading the at-large scores; two more non-winning teams from four regionals will advance ot the sectional with at-large berths.

The Mustangs' McKenzie Kehr was the runner up in the all-around with a 37.275. She had seconds on vault (9.425), bars (9.275) and third on beam (9.225) and floor (9.35).

Nicole Ornoff placed fourth on beam (9.0) for Mundelein.

NIU-bound Emily Basara of Warren won all the events, including the all-around. She accomplished the same feat at the North Suburban Conference meet last Friday. Basara posted a 38.6 for the all-around after excelling on bars (9.675), beam (9.675), vault (9.65) and floor exercise (9.6).

"I really wasn't really thinking about placing, I wanted our team to win the regional or see us qualify for the sectional," Basara said. "For the first regional, it was very intense. High school is very team-oriented and you have to get used to the team part. You really want the team to do well, and it adds to the momentum."

Basara's teammate Teagon Albert, a freshman, added a lot as she was third in the all-around (36.575). She had an outstanding floor routine, good for second with a 9.5, and also placed third on bars (9.0).

"On floor, I just felt more comfortable," Albert said. "Even before going up there, I didn't feel stressed and I knew that I had nothing to lose. I just had to go out there and throw everything."

"It was too close," Warren coach Mary Kovac said. "It's nice to know that we have a lot of things we can go back and fix. I really think our team can do it this year. We want to come back and give them a hard fight next time."