St. Charles earns at-large spot to sectionals
St. Charles co-op exchanged hugs and high-fives after finishing its fifth and final beam routine during Thursday's York regional.
The team had just ended their evening with a flourish, posting three of the five best scores on beam, which pushed its score to a 141.825.
While that still wasn't good enough to upend regional champion DeKalb/Sycamore co-op's 145.175, St. Charles co-op was still able to advance to Tuesday's Glenbard North sectional by snagging the first of two at-large team qualifiers.
"I was really happy with how they responded," St. Charles co-op coach Amy Lill said. "We obviously didn't have our best meet, but it's always nice when we end on an event that's been our Achilles' heel and they rose to the occasion and did a really nice job."
Freshman Emma Grace Redmond-Mattucci led the way, taking second on beam with a 9.3. Junior Jillian Horlbeck was third with a 9.225, freshman Grace Levita took fifth with a 9.075 and the team's final counting score was a solid 8.5 from junior Sam Upshaw.
"We did have some hiccups on floor, but I think we channeled that anger into beam," Redmond-Mattucci said. "We tried really hard to stick everything and save every tenth that we could."
St. Charles co-op still wasn't at its best, but it performed far better than the 138.8 it mustered in the Upstate Eight Conference meet last week. The team scored as high as a 146.55 in mid-January.
"We're definitely going in the right direction," Lill said. "They're excited. We know what we have to fix and have two practices to do that, so hopefully they can rise to the occasion."
St. Charles co-op received contributions from seven gymnasts, with Redmond-Mattucci leading the pack. In addition to her success on beam, she was third on bars with a 9.15, second on floor with a 9.275 and third in the all-around with a 36.7.
She was surprised to finish so highly in the all-around. DeKalb/Sycamore co-op sophomore Aleah Leman won it with a 37.925.
"I didn't expect to do this well. Not at all," she said. "I'm very glad."
Fellow freshman Grace Levita contributed an 8.4 on floor, 8.875 on bars and 9.075 on beam.
"We were able to focus and come together as a team and we've been focusing a lot on more than just the gymnastics," Levita said. "We realize if we focus on what we need to do as individuals for the team, then the gymnastics will come with it."
Senior Raquel Favia's all-around score of 33.475 earned her eighth place, and she contributed to the team total with an 8.275 on bars and a team-best 9.1 on vault.
Horlbeck was right behind her with a 9.075 on vault. She also took third on beam with a 9.225.
Juniors Devon Ross and Danielle Buoy also provided two solid scores a piece. Ross had an 8.55 on floor and 8.75 on vault and Buoy had an 8.375 on bars and 8.925 on floor.
Despite not winning a regional, St. Charles co-op's 141.825 points were the third most scored among the six teams that qualified for sectionals.
"The whole year we haven't been comparing ourselves to other people," Lill said. "We're just setting goals for ourselves and seeing if we can achieve them, and hopefully we can advance after next week."
Willowbrook took third with a 127.725.
Senior Tamara Mendez overcame some unexpected miscues to take fifth in the all-around with a 34.5 and advance to the Glenbard North sectional.
"I had no idea I had made it and was very nervous because it was not one of my best meets," she said. "It was just a bad day. I wasn't in it mentally either. Next week will be better."
Mendez's scores on all four events also were good enough to qualify her for the sectional via at-large bids. Teammates Riley McFarlane also had to wait until all the totals from the four regionals were tabulated, but she also advanced in the all-around with a 32.925 and on beam with an 8.3.