Solka helps Prairie Ridge co-op win at Lake Park

Prairie Ridge co-op junior Maddie Solka wasn't even supposed to compete on Thursday night at the Lake Park girls gymnastics sectional.

Solka, a Cary-Grove student, had injured her back in practice early in the week and was listed as doubtful for Thursday.

But Solka ended up saving the day for the Wolves.

Prairie Ridge was down to three gymnasts for the final event, floor exercise. Solka stepped in and gutted out a clutch performance in taking 10th place with a 9.3, propelling the Wolves to their fourth consecutive sectional title with 149.25 points in Roselle.

Without Solka, Prairie Ridge would have finished with 139.93 points and missed the state cut. Instead the Wolves joined Geneva, Lyons Township, and Glenbrook South as automatic qualifiers. Fremd (146.25), Barrington (144.275), and Prospect (144.075) finished 2-3-4 at Lake Park and join DeKalb/Sycamore as at-large team qualifiers to state.

The girls gymnastic state meet will be held at Palatine on Feb. 20 and 21. The preliminaries in the individual events, finals in the all-around, and team competition will start at 5:05 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 20. The championship finals individual events and team trophy competition will be on Saturday, Feb. 21 starting at 5:45 p.m.

Solka, who did not even warm up on floor exercise before the meet, was given a brief warm-up preceding the actual competition and she didn't miss a beat when it counted.

"I haven't done anything since Monday," said Solka, who also scored a 9.1 on bars. "After I got done with my floor everybody was pumped. That is what we needed."

Senior Rachael Underwood was solid once again, taking first in the all-around (38.375), adding firsts on the vault (9.725) and bars (9.275), tying for third on floor (9.6) and adding a fourth-place finish on beam (9.325).

Sophomore Nikki Baars, also a Cary-Grove student, took third in the all-around (37.75), first on the floor (9.725), and fifth on beam (9.3) helping overcome an injury suffered on bars that sidelined senior Dylann Perrone.

"With Dylann getting hurt we needed Maddie to step up and she did," said Underwood of the Wolves' first-place team performance on floor (38.075). "That was important for us to get that score. It wasn't easy, but we got it done."

Fremd also got it done after recovering from a shaky opening performance on beam.

Senior Christine Radochonski pushed the Vikings' attack, taking fourth in the all-around (37.275), tying for third on floor (9.6) and tying for fourth on vault (9.525).

The Viking qualified for their 22nd consecutive state appearance and were given a big lift by senior Sydney Plichta, who took second on beam (9.5) and added a fifth-place finish on bars (9.3).

"To make such an amazing comeback after beam shows how much we have grown as a team," said Radochonski, who team lit up the floor (37.725) and vault (37.15) after Fremd's opening series. "We kept our attitude up and that was huge for us."

Barrington suffered a blow early in the week when senior Jessica Lee went down with a knee injury, but the Fillies didn't have a letdown at Lake Park, blazing through the first three events.

Junior Abby Hasanov took second on the vault (9.65), tied for third on bars (9.475), and added a fifth-place finish on bars (9.55) in setting the early tone.

But Molly Blanke, who took third on the vault (9.65), suffered a knee injury on her beam dismount as the Fillies limped to the finish line by scoring 34.25 on their final event.

Despite the late struggles, Barrington was able to qualify for its second consecutive state meet.

"We lost Jessica but we didn't let that stop us," said Hasanov. "We started well and we were able to hang on at the end."

Prospect senior Maddie Larock had a big night, taking second in the all-around (38.25), first on beam (9.575) and second on bars (9.55) in leading the Knights to a second consecutive state appearance.

The Knights recovered from a so-so beam performance with sophomore Olivia Gonzalez supplying some punch by tying for fourth on vault (9.525) and adding a big score on floor (9.7).

"After beam it was questionable if we'd make it," said Larock, "but we hit on the floor and vault and that saved us."

Rolling Meadow junior Kelly Johnston tied for fifth on the all-around (37.05) and added a third-place finish on bars (9.425).

"Overall, it was a big accomplishment," said Johnston, who recovered from a fall on her opening floor routine. "It gave me more drive to come back."

Jacobs senior Allison Riedel qualified for her fourth consecutive state meet by tying for third on the vault (9.475). Riedel also took sixth place in the all-around (37.075).

"To make it back to state is big thing," said Riedel, who suffered a severe foot injury at the sectional in her sophomore year. "The doctors didn't even know if I'd be able to walk properly again, so this is big."