York's Davidson Qualifies for State Meet

York freshman Meghan Davidson has battled weak ankles and calves all season but never wanted to use tape on her feet.

She finally relented after badly hurting her right foot landing a vault during the West Suburban Conference Silver Division Meet Jan. 29 at York.

“I taped my ankle after that day,” Davidson said. “I never thought it would work, so I never taped it. And then (York coach Jessica Golden) told me to tape it and I just taped it and it felt so much better.”

Now Davidson feels elated. She has qualified for the state meet on balance beam as an at-large qualifier thanks to her career-high score of 9.3 at the Lake Park Sectional Feb. 8. The state meet is Friday and Saturday at Palatine High School.

Davidson, who finished sixth at the sectional, just missed out on an automatic state berth with a top-five finish. She had to wait until Thursday night to find out that she advanced by being among the 12 best remaining scores from among the state’s four sectionals. The at-large state cut for beam was 9.125.

“I’m really happy that I get to go to state. I just feel accomplished,” Davidson said. “I would always think about it. Every minute I was like, ‘Would I make it to state?’ My mom would come up and tell me, ‘You have a 99 percent chance of making it to state.’ ”

Davidson’s berth adds to the great finish by the Dukes, who scored a season-high 134.675 points at sectionals to finish fourth of six teams in their first sectional team appearance since 2001. York advanced by posting a then season-best  134.075 for second place at the Glenbard West Regional Feb. 5.

York sophomore Haley Cleeton and freshmen Jenn Gentile and Kelly Mordini also earned individual sectional berths. Seniors Peyton Cross and Abby Barlow and freshman Krisna Morales also competed at sectionals for the team. Cleeton’s career-high 9.125 on vault came close to that state cut of 9.375.

Davidson is York’s first competitor at the state meet since 2008 graduate Jackie Stefani qualified as a senior and freshman, reaching the 2005 event finals on the uneven parallel bars. 

“It’s just a great way to end our season. I don’t think this season could have been any better for us,” York coach Jessica Golden said. “Meghan’s routine (at sectionals) looked fantastic. I wish she connected that flip-flop, flip-flop (series) but everything else was solid. It was among the best routines of this year.”

Davidson hadn’t scored higher than 9.1 on beam this season but she managed to come through not only under the pressure of sectionals but also as the final competitor on the event.

"I don't really like going last because it makes me more nervous, but it didn't really affect me at all," Davidson said.

Now she has plenty of time to work on her flight series for her state routine. Friday’s preliminaries begin at 5 p.m. for all events. Gymnasts among the top 10 preliminary scores advance to Saturday’s event finals at 5:30 p.m.

“(My goal is) just go out there and do a good beam routine,” Davidson said. “I just want to connect my back handspring, back handspring (flight series). That’s it. That’s all I want.  That’s all I’m going to work on (in practice).”

And she’ll be doing it with her ankle taped. Davidson said she was reluctant to use tape this season because when she broke her left ankle doing gymnastics two years ago, she felt restricted wearing a protective wrap.

Because of her ankle injury during the Silver Meet, Davidson scratched from competing on floor exercise. She returned as an all-arounder for regionals and sectionals.

“I think that (tape) really helped. She knew she had to compete at regionals and I think it was mind over matter and giving in to something that we all said was going to help her ankle,” Golden said.

At the Silver Meet, Golden was announced as WSC Silver Head Coach of the Year, and York’s Kristen Manetti was named co-WSC Silver Assistant Coach of the Year with Lyons Township’s Courtney Douglas.

Things got even better at regionals. As the No. 8 seed in the sectional, the Dukes advanced to the six-team sectionals by surpassing their previous-best score of 132.675 – well beyond the 125.555 they scored in the Nov. 24 season opener. 

“When they found out that they made it as a team, they were beyond excited because they really felt like they deserved it. They worked hard,” Golden said. “Everyone was texting each other, calling each other, calling my parents. I had told them, ‘You all have the physical ability. It comes down to your mental ability. Are you going to be like a champion gymnast?’ They really got it. The whole team was positive.”

And that was with Cross and Barlow as the only Dukes in the lineup with previous high-school gymnastics experience. Freshman Sidney Rosene also was a varsity regular but suffered a season-ending ankle injury the day before regionals.

Having such a young varsity roster created additional challenges of trying to mold a team and teach the differences between club and high-school gymnastics. That included having to change routines and add or adapt skills to accommodate a different scoring system.

“It’s been such a crazy, amazing ride for us this year.  It was just so new, trying to get a unified team together and it was kind of like that all through Christmas break, and then something changed within the team and it’s just been amazing since then,” Golden said.

“I really feel like we were fighting an uphill battle and we finally got over that peak. I really just want them to take out of it that they can do anything if you have a good attitude about it and work hard and you’re a positive person.”

The Dukes certainly are more positive about next season. Davidson also qualified for sectionals in all-around and the other three events (uneven parallel bars, balance beam and floor exercise). Cleeton qualified in all-around, vault, uneven bars and floor, Gentile qualified on vault and beam and Mordini qualified on beam.

 “We work really hard in practice and the coaches pushed us and our teammates pushed each other and supported each other so that helped a lot,” Mordini said. “I hope that we keep improving and keep getting better as a team and supporting each other.”

Lake Park Sectional
Team scores: 1. Glenbard West 145.70*, 2. Glenbard North 144.225, 3. Geneva 138.95, 4. York 134.675, 5. Lake Park 134.475, 6. Wheaton Warrenville South co-op 133.775
York individual sectional qualifiers
All-around: 9. Meghan Davidson 35.525, 18. Haley Cleeton 33.60
Vault:  11T. Cleeton 9.125, 21. Davidson 8.9, 24T. Jenn Gentile 8.7 (Other York team entries: Kelly Mordini 8.65, Krisna Morales 8.075)
Uneven parallel bars: 14T. Davidson 8.525, 22T. Cleeton 8.1 (Other York team entries: Gentile 8.15, Abby Barlow 7.1, Morales 6.85)
Balance beam: 6. Davidson 9.3*, 23. Kelly Mordini 8.175, 31. Gentile 7.425 (Other York team entries: Peyton Cross 8.075, Cleeton 7.85)
Floor exercise: 20. Davidson 8.8, 28T. Cleeton 8.525 (Other York team entries: Mordini 8.55, Cross 8.15, Morales 8.1)
*- State qualifier

Glenbard West Regional
Team scores: 1. Glenbard West 145.60, 2. York 134.075, 3. Glenbard East 128.45, 4. Willowbrook 123.20
York individual results
All-around:  4. Davidson 34.30*, 5. Cleeton 33.85*
Vault:  6. Cleeton 9.05*, 7. Gentile 9.0*, 8. Davidson 8.95*, 11. Mordini 8.425, 17. Morales 7.9
Uneven  parallel bars:  7T. Davidson and Cleeton 8.2*, 13. Morales 7.625, 14. Barlow 7.55, 15. Gentile 7.475
Balance beam: 5T. Davidson and Gentile 8.5*, 9. Mordini 8.2*, 11. Cleeton 8.1, 12. Cross 7.825
Floor exercise:  7. Davidson 8.65*, 8. Cleeton 8.5*, 9. Mordini 8.4, 11. Morales 8.225, 19T. Cross 7.025
*- Individual sectional qualifier

West Suburban Conference Silver Division Meet
Team scores: 1. Glenbard West 144.625, 2. Hinsdale Central 144.45, 3. Lyons Township 142.875, 4. York 130.95, 5. Oak Park-River Forest 125.25, 6. Downers Grove North 125.175.
Dual standings: 1. Hinsdale Central (5-0), 2. Lyons Township (4-1), 3. Glenbard West (3-2), 4. York (2-3), 5. Oak Park-River Forest (1-4), 6. Downers Grove North (0-5).
Final overall WSC Silver standings: 1. Hinsdale Central, 2. Glenbard West, 3. Lyons Township, 4. York, 5. Oak Park-River Forest, 6. Downers Grove North.
York individuals
All-around: 11. Cleeton 32.575
Vaulting: 10T. Cleeton 9.15, 14. Gentile 8.95, 20. Mordini 8.65, 21. Morales 8.45, 23. Davidson 8.4
Uneven parallel bars: 12. Davidson 8.425, 17. Rosene 8.0, 18. Cleeton 7.95, 22. Barlow 7.8, 26. Morales 7.45
Balance beam: 14. Davidson 8.5, 18T. Gentile 8.0, 21. Cleeton 7.75, 23. Cross 7.625, 24. Mordini 7.575
Floor exercise: 15. Mordini 8.2, 18. Cross 7.975, 20. Rosene 7.775, 21T. Morales and Cleeton 7.725

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