The Conant girls gymnastics sectional featured some great teams and individuals Monday battling it out for a berth to the IHSA state meet next weekend at Palatine.
Prairie Ridge got off to a great start on vault and uneven bars to surge ahead of the six-team field with 73.875 points after two events.
And the Wolves were unstoppable after that point as they rolled to the sectional championship with 144.575 points. The host Cougars took second place with by far their season-high score of 141.875 points.
St. Charles co-op placed third with 136.875 points followed by Hersey (136.1), Palatine (134.925) and Fremd (134.525).
The top five finishers in each event earned a berth to state. Twelve at-large qualifiers from the four sectionals will be announced following the Lake Forest Sectional on Thursday along with four at-large teams.
Conant freshman Julia Shulman (37.6 points) and Palatine senior Jolee Waddington tied for first place in the all-around while Hersey sophomore Maria Reyes (37.3) placed fourth. Prospect’s Callan Morris (35.3) placed seventh followed by Conant’s Izabella Richards (35.2) in eighth, Barrington’s Anna Kruse (35.15) in ninth and Conant senior Marissa Shulman (35.1) in 10th.
“I’m honestly just speechless right now, and this is what we’ve been looking for all season,” said Conant coach Victoria Zervos. “I couldn’t have asked for anything more from them. They showed up and put all of the pieces of the puzzle together.”
Waddington won vault with a 9.7 and beam with a 9.55. Julia Shulman took second on uneven bars (9.45) and balance beam (9.35) while tying for second on vault (9.525).
“This was my best all-around score, and felt my vault and bars were really good,” Julia Shulman said. “I’m excited (for state). It’s my first big meet at the high school level so I just want to hit all four events and have fun.”
St. Charles co-op was competing without injured top all-arounder Natalie Sieloff again, but the squad did get a sixth from Abby Werner on floor exercise, which should earn her an at-large berth to state.
“The judging always gets tighter here. On beam we didn’t have a great event, but vault and floor were better than we did at regionals,” St. Charles coach Tim Wirth said. “We have one girl in each event who is sitting in a good place to reach state (at-large).”
Kruse placed third on uneven bars (9.425) while Buffalo Grove’s Lucy Kummerow placed fifth on beam (8.925) to reach state. Reyes took second on floor (9.45), fourth on uneven bars (9.375) and fifth on vault (9.425).
“I think (Reyes) had a great meet for still not being 100 percent healthy, and we have more surprises for her at the state meet,” Hersey coach Shannon Barrett said. “I’m hoping our freshman Kate Catlett and junior Emilia Rogowski can both qualify for state.”
St. Charles’ Kaelyn Reder placed sixth on beam while Morris placed seventh on bars. Hoffman Estates’ Izabella Richards and St. Charles’ Alayna Krzystofiak tied for seventh on vault.