Lake Park wins regional despite Glenbard North's best effort

Last Friday, Lake Park had its best girls gymnastics meet of the season to win the DuKane Conference invite at Glenbard North.

On Wednesday the Panthers, who were more than 8 points off the pace of Lancers last week, put a little scare into their DuKane Conference rival before falling short of winning the Lake Park regional title, 139.75 to 138.15.

"It's fun to have a competitive meet with another team really close to us," Lancers senior Julia Kurek said. "I think we had a pretty solid meet. We hit most of our routines so that was good. It was a pretty good meet overall."

Kurek led the Lancers, taking second in the all-around while tying for second on bars and winning beam.

"We had a pretty good beam rotation as a team and we've been working really hard to make sure we hit our routines in practice so when we get here we're consistent," she said. "I think the atmosphere and supportiveness for the whole meet was really good with everyone cheering each other. And it's a lot easier to hit routines when the rest of your team is hitting."

Senior Paula Naronowicz tied for vault, was third on beam and third on floor and took fifth in the all-around with a 34.575 for the Lancers.

Junior Olivia Perez won floor for the Lancers while Racquel Suhr tied for fifth on beam and was fourth on floor.

"On beam and floor I was just happy to hit, but I knew either way the team had my back," Suhr said. "After a big win at conference, we knew we just had to stay positive and come here and do what we always do - stay clean, hit and just cheer for our teammates."

One of the big reasons the Panthers challenged the Lancers was the return of freshman all-arounder Brooklyn McQuilla. She missed the conference meet and didn't expect to compete in the regional, but she not only saw action but won vault, took fifth on bars and took fourth in the all-around with a 34.7.

"I have been out for a lot of the season battling injuries and stuff so I was not expecting to compete today," McQuillan said. "So this was a big surprise. I wasn't expecting much since this is freshman year, but I was happy to help out my teammates."

Glenbard North junior Sarah Ozeki may have been the bridesmaid on all four events, taking second outright or tying on bars, beam, floor and vault, but the DuKane Conference all-around champion duplicated that effort with a 36.25.

"I practice with the Lake Park girls in the off-season so it was like this whole competition was really calm," Ozeki said. "It was just nice to compete with my friends and my teammates, who are amazing and really boosted my confidence going into sectional."

Ozeki acknowledged that Lake Park probably didn't think they'd have any trouble outscoring the field.

"Coming into today I don't think Lake Park expected any competition for their regional championship," she said. "I think we gave them a little run for their money, which is good."

Panthers junior Katie Wagner tied Ozeki on vault and had fourth-place finishes on her other three events while taking third in the all-around with a 35.55.

"It didn't feel that scary or like a competition today since (Lake Park's gymnasts) are our friends and wanted everyone to do their best," Wagner said. "Vault's what I was most happy with. Ever since I broke my foot I've hated it, but this year I'm doing something different so to place today is a really big thing."

The Panthers likely will qualify for Monday's Glenbard South sectional thanks to an at-large bid, pending the results of Thursday's Wheaton Warrenville South regional.

Willowbrook's best team season in at least a dozen years came to a close with a 128. The Warriors aren't done, though. Sophomore Bella Naumovsky is a rising bars star, winning with a 9.125 while tying for fifth on beam.

"This was so fun," Naumovsky said. "This is maybe my sixth meet so I was happy to win bars at conference and am now happy to win regional and go to sectionals and maybe state."

Naumovsky explained that she could add a couple more skills to her bars routine for Monday.

"I've got a lot more I can add," she said. "Maybe I'll put them in. I've got three more days to work on it."

Fellow sophomore Tess Placek qualified for sectional by taking fifth on vault. She also was sixth in the all-around with a 32.7 and remains alive for an at-large qualifier.

While excited to extend her season, Placek was sad to see the team season end.

"Our thing this year is family and the team really has been like a family," she said. "Our seniors leaving is so sad, but we're going to have a lot of good things happening next year because we have a lot of people staying who have so much potential. This has probably been the best gymnastics year of my life."

Addison Trail scored a 123.7 behind all-arounders Francesca Scarbaggio, Maddie Muccianti, Delaney Gregory and Alexis Theodore.