Glenbard West takes second at inaugural invitational

Glenbard West was the only team to finish in the top three in every event during Saturday's inaugural Glenbard West Gymnastics Invitational, but it still wasn't enough to beat New Trier, which edged the defending state champions 142.85 to 141.95.

The Hilltoppers only used Taylor Ramirez as an all-arounder, and she finished third with a 36.05. Ramirez was competing for the first time as an all-arounder this season having recently come back from an injury.

"I think it was a good meet for us with great competition," Ramirez said. "There are some spots we need to clean up and we're not fully there yet, but we were happy with the effort. We're looking forward to when the team is in full swing and everyone is feeling 100 percent."

Fellow Glenbard West senior Maddie Diab didn't vault but finished second on bars and won beam and floor.

"I felt really good about my beam and floor and I was just excited to go out and perform in front of my home crowd," Diab said. "Bars was a little shaky, but I picked myself up and did really good beam and floor routines."

Anna Diab, Katherine Hoban, Claire McGurk and Abby Myers also contributed for the runner-up Hilltoppers.

Mundelein edged Prairie Ridge co-op, 137.3 to 137.05 for third place.

"Any time you can beat Prairie Ridge is a good day," Mustangs coach Jesse Piland said. "We had a pretty good meet, but there are plenty of things we can improve upon."

Piland particularly praised the efforts of Emma Hallin, Amanda Muench and Sydney Naddy

"We didn't do anything perfect overall on any event, but good enough all around," Piland said. "Some girls have been dealing with injuries so others stepped up. Sydney Naddy was on JV earlier this week and was big on bars today."

Elle Mishler was Mundelein's lone all-arounder, taking ninth place with a 33.85 while Naddy led the Mustangs on bars with an 8.2. Hallin was the team's top finisher in any event, taking second on floor with a 9.25.

Cary-Grove freshman Sydney Hallsten shined in her high school debut for Prairie Ridge co-op, taking second in the all-around with a 36.05.

"It was pretty similar to club," she said. "I honestly thought it was a lot more low key and just like club, there were some ups and downs, but overall I thought it went well."

Hallsten won vault with a 9.55, while teammates Gracie Willis and Maddy Kim placed second and third, respectively, on beam.

"I was most happy with my vault because I pulled out a layout, which I hadn't done in a long time," Hallsten said. "I think this is great. I love getting a score that helps the team."

Conant took seventh place with a 130.0. Danielle Smith and Lea Faovaz led the Cougars in the all-around with a 33.8 and 33.25, respectively.

"We did OK and it's still early," Conant coach Anthony Avella said. "I think we improved on some events, mainly beam. We had more than one fall last meet but only had one today. So our score went up on beam and I was happy on floor and vault, but we still have some work to do."

Half of the eight teams competed at state last year, so the invite was loaded with talent.

"This is a good preview of what state is going to be like," Piland said. "But everyone also still has work to do. It made it less intimidating as the event was going because even the best were falling."