Several DuPage County competitors shine on 2nd day at state

Downers Grove co-op's Katrina Carlson and Hinsdale Central's Kelly Klobach finished their senior seasons on the award stand during Saturday's IHSA girls gymnastics individual event finals.

Both placed fifth with Klobach improving her vault score to 9.65 from Friday's 9.525 in preliminaries while Carlson scored a 9.125 on beam.

Assigned as the first athlete to compete on beam, Carlson said fighting back nervousness and winning a medal was "just like a dream come true."

"It was really nerve-wracking, especially being first so I was trying to stay as calm as I could going into it," she said. "I know I do my best routines when I'm calm and having fun and just being present."

Klobach saw room for improvement with her vault and then went out and executed.

"I was glad that my vault was better than it was yesterday because now is the time to do your best so that was good," she said. "We were hoping for that yesterday so I was just hoping to do a little better and I'm glad that I did."

She also took ninth place on bars with a 9.175.

"There could've been some improvement on bars for sure, but overall I'm glad with how it turned out and I'm glad that was the last bars routine I'll ever do," Klobach said. "I feel like it was a good routine to end on."

Kathryn Snouffer also represented Downers Grove co-op in one of the finals, which was a goal for the junior since she narrowly missed getter there on floor as a freshman. On Saturday, Snouffer placed sixth with a 9.275.

"My freshman year I was 11th (and the Top 10 qualify) so to come back this year and get into the final and place sixth is really meaningful to me," she said. "It feels almost like redemption for myself almost and I feel like I have more left in me because I'm excited for next year."

While Snouffer's floor routine hasn't really changed the past few years her approach is different.

"My freshman year I was going for titles but now my mentality has changed," she said. "I'm going for the feeling I get during it."

Glenbard West juniors Skylar Oh and Samantha Hopper didn't nudge their team's score while competing for individual titles, but the Hilltoppers still held on and earned fourth place as a team as Carmel improved by .175 to cut the gap to 144.9-144.775.

"I think we all tried our best and fourth place was the best we could've done," Oh said. "There wasn't much today we could've fixed."

Oh placed eighth on floor with a 9.2 and 12th on bars with an 8.9. Hopper was 11th on floor with an 8.7.

"It wasn't my best meet, I was definitely a little bit disappointed," Oh said. "But I was happy to make it here and make it to finals because it was definitely a goal of mine. I'm really happy I got the opportunity to compete and if I get the opportunity to do it again next year, hopefully I can do better."

Naperville North senior Rigley Jump took 11th on bars with a 9.025.

Prairie Ridge co-op increased its team total to 148.5 points leaving no doubt it was the top team in the state, finishing nearly 2 points better than Vernon Hills' 146.7.

Vernon Hills freshman Livy Tran and Libertyville junior Anna Becker each scored 9.725 to share the vault title. DeKalb senior Madi Kees won bars with a 9.65 and beam with a 9.425. Prairie Ridge co-op's senior Gracie Willis and junior Gabriella Riley shared honors on floor, each totaling a 9.675.