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Fenton's Trzmielewski has an all-around good meet

Years from now Emily Trzmielewski might sit back while watching the Olympics and talk fondly about her time as a gymnast.

For now the multisport athlete is enjoying her senior year as captain of the Fenton girls gymnastics team, knowing her time as a competitive gymnast is running out.

Trzmielewski won the all-around during Wednesday's triangular against host Riverside-Brookfield as well as Glenbard South, but the Bulldogs prevailed with 122.7 points, followed by a 105.1 by the Bison and a 97 from the Raiders.

"I feel like we all did our best and we had good scores but not what we expected," she said. "We pulled through, though, and supported each other and I feel that's the most important thing. We have a lot of team spirit and support each other."

Also a diver and a track and field athlete, Trzmielewski excels at time management and at her studies; she's ranked No. 1 in her class.

"She's a great kid, a great student and very well-focused at the top of her class," Fenton coach Paula Parat said. "She's always been very determined and organized. She's very responsible and she loves gymnastics. She grew up with the park district and hopefully she'll finish on top."

Fenton's numbers aren't great. The program is down to just 14 gymnasts, but the girls are putting in the effort to get better and are having fun.

"We have some girls who had no real knowledge of gymnastics at all," Trzmielewski said. "It's really fun. It gives you something else to focus on instead of schoolwork. You can get out of that mindset of thinking about homework and tests."

Tests were most certainly on the minds of the Raiders. They are in the middle of final exams this week.

"I had calculus and statistics and my senior composition class today so it was kind of hard coming out of that today," Glenbard South's Katie Weiss said. "It was a long day so the meet was kind of tough, but we still had fun."

Weiss was most pleased with her effort on beam.

"Maybe it was just me not focusing so much on it," she said. "I can get in my head a lot, but today I wasn't so stressed out about it. Today I was just here having fun."

A couple of freshmen for both teams continue to make great progress, including Glenbard South's Brook Poltrock, who posted a 28.9 in the all-around.

"We didn't do too badly," Raiders coach Lee Wood said. "The kids love the sport, but this is a tough week with exams and you never get used to it. So it's nerve-wracking for them and these finals before Christmas thing is still new to them. It's just three years now for me."

Freshman Natalia Szala has made great progress as a first-time gymnast for the Bison and looks to be a key part of the team's future. Her 7.4 vault was her top score of the meet.

"It's hard for us because we'll get kids who don't have any background in gymnastics," Parat said. "Natalia has come in though with that natural presentation so that's at least one thing you can knock off. She's a big part of our future."

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