Lake Park edges Glenbard West at York Invite
One of the ways gymnasts alleviate the pressure of competition is to imagine they're just practicing.
That was the approach Lake Park took during Saturday's York Invite.
It worked wonders.
The Lancers' best professed practice was also their finest effort of the season; they edged Glenbard West, 147.05 to 146.375 to snag the championship.
"I told the girls before the start of the meet that this was practice for the sectional," Lake Park coach Jake Luketin said. "We're going to be at that Glenbard West sectional and we're going to see strong teams like we saw today, lots of teams that hit over 140 today, like Glenbard West, Lincoln-Way co-op and Sandburg/Stagg co-op. I told the girls it doesn't matter where we end up today and it worked well. They're peaking when we want them to."
The York Invite awards the top teams in each event rather than individual accolades.
Lake Park won vault with a 37.675 and bars with a 36.35. Glenbard West claimed top honors on beam with a 36.575 and floor with a 36.725.
The Lancers easily eclipsed their previous high of 145.45 from Jan. 9 at the Lake Forest Invite.
"This is what we are. We hit 18 out of 20 again," Luketin said. "Our misses were counting scores but pretty far back in our lineup so we still have some potential to go a little bit higher. They're jelling as a team better than any other team I've coached, so it's just a great atmosphere in the gym every day."
Izzy Shaw took third in the all-around with a 36.8, teammate Kelly Zehnder was sixth with a 36.1 and Nina Gallichio won bars and placed second on beam to lead the Lancers.
"I think we're getting a lot better now at hitting our routines under pressure," Shaw said. "We're relaxing ourselves better than before and we just take each meet and have a lot of fun with it."
Shaw admitted that there was extra motivation because of the caliber of the competition.
"When you see other teams putting up similar skills to you, it pushes you to compete the skill better and try to stand out more for the judges," she said. "There were so many good teams here and it makes you want to hit your skills."
One of those good teams also featured the best gymnast, Maddie Diab, who established a school record in the all-around for Glenbard West with a 38.4. The freshman averaged an amazing 9.6 per event and won vault, beam and floor.
"She's getting more and more solid and doing it at the right time," Hilltoppers coach Carlos Fuentes said. "For her to be able to hit like that was big. We needed those big scores, so she's really coming through and playing a big role on the team."
Sarah DeStefano took seventh in the all-around with a 36.025 while Amber Broucek was fourth on beam and Amanda Rosch was fifth on bars for the Hilltoppers.
"This was a great meet and kind of a preview of things hopefully to come in the sectional," Fuentes said. "Several of the teams that were here, we'll hopefully see get to state. Lincoln-Way co-op scored a 142.4 and took third today so that's a hard pill to swallow because they had a fantastic meet."
Conant also was strong, placing fourth with a 138.8 thanks to a second-place effort in the all-around from Melynda Meyrick.
Glenbard West also showed how deep its program is when its JV squad took seventh place with a 132.1.
Waubonsie/Metea Valley co-op was eighth with a 131.75. Claire Samojedny led the team, taking eighth in the all-around with a 35.650.
Highlighted by Colleen Mauro placing 10th on beam with a 9.05, Neuqua Valley took ninth place with a 127.425. The Wildcats finished ahead of the hosts as well as Naperville North.