U-46 co-op qualifies 4 to sectional

One of the advantages of competing in the final regional is that gymnasts, coaches and fans can determine who advances to the sectional as at-large qualifiers.

While the top five finishers in the all-around and all four events automatically qualify for next Thursday's Glenbard West sectional, the 12 best scores, which weren't among the top five in each of the four regionals, also qualify as at-large berths.

The U-46 co-op, whose roster is comprised of athletes from Bartlett, Elgin and South Elgin, snagged three of those at-large all-around spots after doing a little math against the scoresheet and the scores from the previous three regionals.

"This is awesome," U-46 coach Tim Whelan said. "They were a little bit better than usual in some areas and they made some mistakes in some others, but overall they did enough with a lot on the line here."

Junior Ashley McKee took fourth place in the all-around with a 35.15 so she automatically qualified.

Junior Emma Pawelkiewicz (33.55) and sophomores Kya Michels (32.625) and Taegan Vinarsky (32.45) had to wait a bit longer to learn their fate. Vinarsky barely squeezed in as she claimed the final qualifier.

"We're taking almost everyone," Whelan said. "We've had a lot of girls out with injury, including two who qualified for sectionals last year, so this is awesome."

McKee and Pawelkiewicz have advanced before, while it's a first-time achievement for the two sophomores.

McKee also advanced on floor and beam, while Pawlekiewicz qualified on beam and Vinarsky's 8.3 proved to also be enough to do so on bars.