Girls Gymnastics: Led by all-around champion Anna Diab, Glenbard West wins seventh straight District 87 title

Glenbard East’s Becca Honig wins vault, first outright district title for short-handed Rams

GLEN ELLYN – Glenbard East senior Becca Honig began previous gymnastics seasons after starting at setter for the volleyball team.

This school year, when volleyball was moved to March by the COVID-19 pandemic, Honig continued training as one of the state’s top all-arounders.

“I don’t usually get to work out in the offseason because of volleyball. It was actually easier for me, even though COVID happened, but we all still got to practice a while before competing,” Honig said.

Glenbard West captured the District 87 Invite for the seventh straight year in impressive fashion Saturday in Glen Ellyn with a season-high 141.60 points to top the Rams (131.20), Glenbard North (122.95) and Glenbard South (101.50).

While Glenbard West senior standout Anna Diab swept all-around (36.925), balance beam (9.525), floor exercise (9.2) and the uneven bars (8.95), Honig achieved her first outright District 87 title with a 9.3 vault.

Honig remains busy with gymnastics when volleyball officially starts March 8 but will be done before the March 18 season opener.

“Honestly, it might be a little bit better for me than going from volleyball to gymnastics,” Honig said. “Already I have cardio because gymnastics is all cardio. I feel like once I go from gymnastics to something else, I feel stronger.”

In the Hilltoppers’ first meet since Feb. 12, they easily surpassed scoring 139s in two duals. The invite’s continuation allowed the schools to compete outside of their respective conferences.

“We’ve been trying to beat that 140 so I think we’re all happy,” Diab said. “If we didn’t have this meet, it would just be duals and conference. I love the invites. They’re always really fun.”

Diab also won all-around and won or shared three event titles at the 2020 District 87 Invite. A five-time all-stater, Diab was second at last year’s state meet in all-around and floor and fourth on uneven bars.

“I’ve been improving and I think I did better than the last meet,” Diab said. “I was pretty solid on beam, which I’m usually a little shaky, especially at meets. I usually mess up on one thing, but I was pretty confident.”

Honig also was second in all-around (34.825), fourth on beam (8.525) and fifth on floor (8.65). A 10th-place floor finalist and 12th in all-around at state, Honig shared the 2020 District 87 vault championship with Diab (9.5).

“I’ve never really won something in a while, especially against hard teams like this, so it feels great,” said Honig of her pike Tsukahara vault. “It feels good because I know I deserve it and I’ve been waiting for it. Everyone’s so similar in skills so it’s basically how you perform them.”

Glenbard West junior Alina Bhagwakar, sophomore Sammy Hopper and Diab shared second on vault (9.25). Hopper was second on floor (8.95), sophomore Breana Game was second on beam (8.825) and sophomore Skylar Oh shared second on uneven bars (8.8). Glenbard West senior Haley Trippel and junior Meagan McNamara and Glenbard East freshman Abbie also were top-five medalists.

On March 13, the Hilltoppers seek another West Suburban Conference Silver Meet title at Glenbard West. The Rams can repeat as Upstate Eight Conference champs if they win the UEC Meet at Riverside-Brookfield.

Glenbard East competed Saturday without senior Kali Kartheiser, the program’s only all-stater who re-injured her back falling off beam onto the hardwood floor in Wednesday’s home dual. Kartheiser said she should be healthy by conference. Eliza Pugacewicz is the other returning senior from the Rams’ program-best, fourth-place state lineup.

“Gymnastics is definitely one thing I’ve planned on doing for as long as possible,” Pugacewicz said. “It’s a little weird this year. We’re just trying to have fun and trying our best to do as well as we can and make the best of the year that we have.”

Glenbard South competed four all-arounders, led by freshman Skylar Fischer, who was 11th on beam (7.25), and three seniors, Jensen Moloney, Amber Hood and Kayla Caday.

“I’ve done it for four years. This is the most different year, but it’s still just as fun,” Moloney said. “It’s just nice to be back with the girls and doing it. Even though it’s different, it’s still gymnastics, which is better than nothing.”

Glenbard North senior Sarah Ozeki, an all-state fifth on beam in 2020, was second Saturday (9.175), tied for second on uneven bars (8.8) and was fourth in all-around (34.275). Brooklyn McQuillan was fourth in all-around (32.725). Ozeki took time off from training when the season was interrupted by Tier 3 COVID restrictions in mid-November.

“Now I’m really starting to get all of my skills back and they’re starting to be as easy as they were to perform from before,” Ozeki said. “I think that my bars and beam were still good (Saturday) and I’m happy about that.”