U-46 co-op third at Independent Conference meet
Most of the girls gymnastics teams that compete in the Independent Conference face regional competition early next week. And what could be the better tuneup than league competition?
DeKalb co-op prevailed for the top spot in Saturday's meet held at Oswego and won the season championship as well. However, St. Charles co-op and U-46 co-op were right behind them with strong performances that gave those squads some momentum heading into regionals.
DeKalb won Saturday's 11-team meet with a 145.450. St. Charles was second at 140.950 and U-46 - composed of gymnasts from Bartlett, Elgin, Larkin and Streamwood - finished with a 134.900 for third. Batavia was fourth (134.200) and Geneva fifth (133.200).
Glenbard East was the top DuPage County finisher in the meet with a seventh-place 132.200. Glenbard South was ninth (117.200) and Fenton 10th (88.600).
DeKalb also won the overall season championship with 14 points, which included points earned for regular-season dual meets, with U-46 and St. Charles tied for second with 12.
"They absolutely did an incredible job," said St. Charles coach Amy Wojdelko. "They know what little different things they can work on before the regional and they know what they did well. And the team was picking each other up."
St. Charles will be in the Geneva regional on Tuesday.
St. Charles' Emma Grace Redmond-Mattuci had the distinction of being the only gymnast not from DeKalb to win a conference title. Her 9.3 on balance beam got her the top spot on the medal podium.
"I'm really happy with being beam champion. It makes my day. I had been having confidence issues on beam," Redmond-Mattuci said. "I think I did well overall. I was confident on everything."
She said the team is ready for regional competition.
"The team is all together. We just need to focus on us and not the competition. It just has to be on us," Redmond-Mattuci said.
Redmond-Mattuci was third on floor exercise and fourth on vault. And she was third in the all-around at 36.600 with a 9.15 average.
"She did really great. If she continues her skill level, she has a great chance for state," Wojdelko said.
Other top finishes for St. Charles came from Dani Buoy on balance beam and Grace Levita on floor exercise.
Ashley McKee of U-46 faced a major challenge in November when she fractured her hand on the balance beam during practice and missed a portion of the season.
She returned in very competitive form, finishing fourth in the all-around with a 36.150 overall score and 9.0375 average. McKee was also third on uneven bars, fourth on beam and tied for sixth on floor exercise.
"I've been injured before, but still able to compete. But with this, there was a lot of work after being out so long," she said.
U-46 heads to Lake Park for regional competition Thursday.
"We're definitely very excited to come here and tie with St. Charles and beat these other teams," coach Tim Whelan said. "(U-46) are seeing their hard work pay off."
The top 10 finishers in each event earned medals. Medalists from southern Kane County schools included Megan McGee of Batavia on floor and Kelly Frank of Geneva. Batavia's Lauren Stangl was sixth on beam and Molly Lambillotte of Geneva tied for 10th on vault. McGee was 10th on uneven bars.
The top performer from the DuPage County schools was Glenbard East's Veronika Srey who tied for eighth in the all-around. Srey was also sixth on uneven bars.
The Independent Conference is a gymnastics league composed of school teams that don't have enough schools in their own conferences fielding gymnastics teams to make league competition possible.