Riverside-Brookfield High School sophomore Tatiana Hertogs missed most of last girls gymnastics season because of illness.
She’s quickly made up for lost time on balance beam.
“The whole season, ever since tryouts, my signature skill has been a back extension roll,” Hertogs said. “[Coach Karyn Domzalski said] this is the routine to get to sectionals if I work hard enough. I wanted to prove that by working hard enough to get there.”
Hertogs scored a season-high 8.05 on beam at the IHSA Geneva Regional on Feb. 1 and earned an individual berth for Hinsdale South Sectional on Feb. 5, after the Landmark’s print deadline.
She’ll join sophomore Lia Christiansen and junior Annabel Krueger, both individual qualifiers also in 2022.
The Bulldogs finished third (128.85 points) after a season-high 133.05 at the Upstate Eight Conference Meet on Jan. 28.
“Tatiana was a wild card [going in] because she had not been really in club gymnastics since she was a kid,” Domzalski said. “Her coming in and going this far this year was huge.”
Top-five regional finishers automatically advance to sectionals as well as those among the 12 highest remaining scores from the four feed-in regionals at-large.
Christiansen tied for second on vault (9.05) and was fifth on floor exercise (9.1) and advanced at-large in all-around (33.45) and uneven parallel bars (8.3). Just like last season, Krueger advanced at-large on beam (8.1) and all-around (32.375).
Hertogs shared the No. 12 at-large beam score with five others after previously scoring a couple of 8.0s. She found out she advanced at large after the final regional on Feb. 2.
“I was really shocked when I heard. I think my work this season has paid off for sure,” Hertogs said. “I stuck the whole beam routine.”
Christiansen added vault to the same three sectional berths as 2022. She placed on her usually two strongest events and has a chance at qualifying for state with solid sectional performances.
“It was one of my best bars routines that I’ve had all season, a pretty solid vault and a pretty solid floor routine,” Christiansen said.
Krueger advanced with the No. 11 at-large beam score even with a fall.
“I definitely put more pressure on me, which wasn’t the best thing to do, but I’m glad it worked out,” Krueger said.
Senior Sarah Lindenberg, junior Alexa Cavaliere and freshman Vivian Grusecki also competed.
