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Lake Park claims DuKane Conference crown

Just because you know what you need to do doesn't make it any easier to do it.

Lake Park knew it needed a great finish on beam to win Friday's DuKane Conference meet, and the Lancers showed they can come through while competing under immense pressure, scoring a 142.9 to surpass runner-up Wheaton Warrenville co-op's 141.6.

"Hitting is never promised to anyone," Lake Park coach Jake Luketin said. "They took care of business when they needed to, and being last up on balance beam, they knew they could do it, but they still had to do it and that's a lot of pressure. Everybody knew we had to have 4-of-5 girls hit and put up good scores, but knowing you have do it doesn't make it easy."

Annabelle Jung laid the foundation with an 8.5 to start on beam, which the Lancers used after Racquel Suhr rebounded from a fall to score an 8.0. Paula Naronowicz was clutch with a 9.175, her sister Julia Naronowicz kept the momentum going with a 9.075 and Julia Kurek finished with a 9.425 to not only win the event, but to give the Lancers the team title.

"It's good when the whole team starts with a hit," Kurek said. "It's a lot easier to feel confident and to stay on the beam when all of your other teammates had really good routines."

Of course it took more than Lake Park's strong finish to lead it past Wheaton Warrenville co-op.

It got a strong start on vault with Paula Naronowicz and Kendall Nelson each scoring a 9.0 to tie for fourth place. On bars, Kurek placed third and Abigail Mizzi was fifth.

The Lancers then put on a show on floor with Aleks Gierasimiuk tying for fourth place; Julia Naronowicz taking second; and Olivia Perez winning with a 9.6.

"We've all been working hard on our routines and stuff so we could come in here and do the best we possibly could," Perez said. "Everybody played their part today, which is what we needed so everybody stepped up and when they needed to hit, they hit."

Lost in Lake Park's fearless effort was the performance of Wheaton co-op's Emily Burnham, who placed first on bars, was third on floor and second in the all-around; Jamie LaBue who tied for first on vault and took second on beam; as well as specialists, Natalie Gillis, Ashley Huang and Maura Clark.

"Lake Park competed so well," Wheaton Warrenville co-op coach Maureen Kermend said. "And actually all our events went pretty well too. There are just some little tweaks here and there that we need to make so we can be ready for next week."

Glenbard North's Sarah Ozeki edged Burnham for the all-around title, 36.25 to 35.875, while fellow Panther, Katie Wagner, was third with a 35.675. The Panthers placed fourth with a 134.675.

Taylor Novotny tied for first place on vault and was fifth in the all-around to lead Batavia to third place with a 135.2.

"It was really nice to have a consistent meet where we hit every single event and didn't have one that tore us down at all," she said. "We were very confident and we all stuck beam which has never happened so it was super cool to all get that."

Geneva finished strong on floor with a 34.6 but had difficulties in the other three events, scoring a 132.175.

"We just didn't pull it together today," Vikings coach Kim Hostman said. "Hopefully having a nice finish on floor will help us regroup."

St. Charles co-op was without one of its top gymnasts, Sydney Kamin, who was out sick but hopes to be back for next week's regional. Maddie Kramer took seventh in the all-around for St. Charles, which totaled a 126.55.

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