Hilltoppers Gymnasts Advance to State Finals

Another narrow victory over Glenbard North, another sectional title and another trip to the state finals.

The great run of the Glenbard West girls gymnastics team continued during Tuesday’s Lake Park sectional as the Hilltoppers finished ahead of runner-up Glenbard North 146.525 to 145.125. The 1.475 scoring difference was only slightly better than last season when the Hilltoppers beat the Panthers, 146.525 to 145.125 in the Glenbard West sectional. Just like a season ago, the Hilltoppers used eight different gymnasts.

Although the Hilltoppers won, it took them awhile to get going on Tuesday. The team had mixed results when opening on beam with Missy Guzman (9.45) and Becky Mladucky (9.4) finishing in second and third place respectively. Megan Brennan added an 8.95 and Abbie Garchitorena’s 8.8 also counted toward the team’s total. Glenbard West’s 36.575 on beam was still a meet-best score.

“We started relatively strong on beam, a nice start for the most part,” Glenbard West coach Carlos Fuentes said. “But we missed on floor.”

Floor is normally not a problem for the Hilltoppers, but it suddenly became a struggle for the team. Mladucky’s sixth-place 9.15 on floor was the Hilltoppers only Top 10 finish in the event.

“We talked a week or so ago that there’s going to be point where we struggle and it feels like everything is going wrong and crumbling around us,” Fuentes said. “That’s where we need to compose ourselves and buckle down and do our gymnastics and we did that.”

The best medicine for the Hilltoppers proved to be vault. Garchitorena had a 9.125 and Guzman posted a 9.225 before Nicole Pagor turned it up a bit with a 9.4. Megan Brennan then closed the event for the Hilltoppers, tying for second place with a 9.6. DeKalb’s Jessica Morreale won vault to close the sectional with an eye-popping 9.9.

“We had a little bit of a rough meet at times today, but we pulled it together when we needed,” Brennan said. “Vault was really exciting. I was pretty happy with a 9.6.”

Glenbard West finished with a 37.350 on vault, more than a point better than Glenbard North’s 36.075. None of the other four competing teams scored better than 35.425.

“It was really nice to go out there and stick all our vaults,” Pagor said. “I think that’s the first time we’ve stuck them all that nicely. It was really nice and fun to see how successful we were today.”

Glenbard West carried its success on vault over to bars. Shannon Dietz tied for third with a 9.175 and Mladucky once again showed why she should contend for a state title on bars, winning with a 9.525.

"I think I was most pleased with how they came back in the second half," Fuentes said. "They turned it up a notch on vault and just did an outstanding job in standing up to the pressure and then pulling through on bars. They knew what they had to do and stepped up."

Glenbard West won its first sectional title last season. Getting back to state was a primary goal for the team after finishing fifth in the state last February, especially with this being Brennan, Dietz and Mladucky’s senior year. Guzman, Pagor, Garchitorena, Shauna Gialluisi and Maggie Phillips all should be back next year to try to make it three straight, but right now the focus is Palatine on Feb. 18-19.

“With this being my senior year I wanted to get my team back to state,” Brennan said. “Hopefully we can do well there."

While Carmel (151.60), Stevenson (148.925), Lake Forest (147.6) and Fremd (146.575) have all scored higher than Glenbard West in sectional play, Glenbard West feels confident it can score a few points better than it did Tuesday, as long as it eliminates the mistakes it made.

“That wasn’t quite the score we could’ve done. We left three-and-a-half points out there,” Fuentes said. “But we did our job, and it’s like the NCAA tournament (basketball). You survive and advance and try to put it together at the state meet.”

The state meet begins at 5 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 18 at Palatine High School.

Glenbard West Results from the Lake Park Sectional:

Team: 145.7 (first place)

Events: 36.1 bars, 36.575 beam, 35.675 floor, 37.350 vault

Brennan, Megan: 8.95 beam, 8.425 floor, 9.6 vault

Dietz, Shannon: 9.175 bars

Garchitorena, Abbie: 8.8 beam, 8.9 floor, 9.125 floor

Gialluisi, Shauna: 8.550 bars

Guzman, Missy: 8.6 bars, 9.425 beam, 8.925 floor, 9.225 floor, 36.175 all-around

Mladucky, Becky: 9.525 bars, 9.4 beam, 9.150 floor, 9.1 vault, 37.175 all-around

Pagor, Nicole: 8.2 beam, 8.7 floor, 9.4 vault

Phillips, Maggie: 8.8 bars

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