Girls gymnastics: Carmel captures Lake County crown
Moments before the start of her team’s uneven-bars routines at Monday afternoon’s Lake County girls gymnastics invite at Carmel Catholic, Libertyville coach Tiffany Owens delivered a pep talk that lasted no more than 3 seconds.
“Clean! Clean! Clean!” she shouted to her Wildcats.
Translation: “Get up there and execute spick-and-span moves.”
Owens’ words worked wonders. Ella Cobb led off with a sturdy 8.05 ahead of solid performances from Maya Duffy (8.15) and Kenzie Hughes (8.75). Alyssa Levy stuck a double-back dismount, highlighting her 8.85 gig and eliciting a deafening eruption of cheers from her ecstatic teammates.
Nina Raniszewski then capped Libertyville’s bars set with a stellar runner-up score of 9.55.
“It kept building, building, building,” Owens said of the marks. “Our girls lifted each other with their cheers and their clean routines.”
But when all was said and dismounted, Carmel’s Corsairs got to bow collectively for having thrown the most pristine routines on Monday. Coach Sarah Mikrut Doyle’s crew scored a season-high 142.75 points to capture the 12-team title as a first-time host.
Junior Alyssah Arends paced the Corsairs, tying for fourth place in the all-around (36.85) with Stevenson sophomore Kate Staub and finishing second and third on the balance beam (9.5) and floor exercise (9.4), respectively.
“Faith over fear — that’s what helped us all day,” said Arends, whose tricky beam routine featured a front toss and back tuck and trailed only Mundelein junior Lexie Ede’s 9.55.
Carmel’s Hollyn Krogman placed fourth on beam (9.3). The Corsairs’ second-best all-arounder was Karina Gamalski (11th, 35.1).
“We could feel it this morning, as soon as we got here at 8 a.m.,” Carmel senior Jocelyn Vauk said, alluding to the good vibes her team sensed some 12 hours after helping staffers stage the Patrick A. Salvi Arena for the big meet in Mundelein.
“It was a huge task,” Doyle added. “But it also was nice, having the wonderful support we had from (AD) Nate Brill and (Assistant AD) Mark Pos.
“Our girls have worked super hard all season,” she continued. “We tried to minimize deductions and add things here and there today.”
Ede claimed her third invite all-around title this winter with a 38.15-point effort. The marvelous Mustang — who competed as a club gymnast last year — topped the beam (9.55) and bars (9.65) fields.
“Lexie is never satisfied,” Mundelein coach Daniella Strauss said of the reigning all-around champ at the Hersey and Straus (Lake Forest) invites. “She always wants to get a little bit better every day. She added a bunch of new skills since her freshman season, and she’s truly having fun competing for her high school again.”
Vernon Hills senior and invite all-around runner-up Livy Tran (37.5) won the other two events on Monday, scoring a 9.65 on vault and a 9.55 on floor as the Cougars tallied a season-best and runner-up score of 140.5.
“It’s Livy’s heart,” VH coach Denise Caton said of one of her star’s many strengths. “That’s what impresses me most about her. And I’m really happy with what our team accomplished at a meet that included at least five of the top teams that will compete at a sectional.”
Stevenson’s Staub left Carmel with another medal, this one for her fourth-place 9.35 on floor.
“She’s very powerful,” Patriots coach Judy Harwood said. “Great jumper, great leaper. We were going for consistency today and Kate went 4-for-4. She’s maturing nicely as a gymnast.
“I see her eventually serving us as a strong captain.”
Lake Forest finished third (139.35), followed by Libertyville (139.2), Warren (137.6), Mundelein (136.85), District 117 Antioch/Lakes co-op (135), Stevenson (134.5), Lake Zurich (134.4), Deerfield (130.65), Lake County All-Stars (JVers from a few squads, 120.25) and Barrington (115.6).
Other top-five event finishers: LZ’s Mia McHugh (4th, vault, 9.45); Libertyville’s Raniszewski (5th, vault, 9.4); Warren’s Nora Werner (3rd, bars, 9.5; 5th-place tie, floor, 9.3); VH’s Tran (4th, bars, 9.35); VH’s Mya Brusso (5th, beam, 9.15; 5th-place tie, floor, 9.3); and Mundelein’s Ede (2nd, floor, 9.45).
D117’s Julia Blasinski took 10th in the all-around with a 35.65.