Lyons Township High School seniors Emmy Bertucci, Dahlia Highland and Ava Hepokoski had the ultimate dream this season of competing at their first girls gymnastics state meet with their team. They are enjoying the next best option together.
The three qualified as at-large individuals based on their performances at the Hinsdale Central Sectional, Feb. 10. Bertucci advanced on balance beam and floor exercise, Highland on vault and Hepokoski on beam. State prelims are Friday afternoon at Palatine High School with individual state finals Saturday.
“That was the goal, to get all three seniors [to state],” LTHS coach Brittany Milovanovic said. “When we had such a strong start, [our team] was the goal at the beginning. But with (sophomore all-arounder Brynn Krantz) having her injury, we knew the next best thing would be to get the three of them there.”
Top-five sectional finishers automatically advance to state. The LTHS trio advanced at-large by being among the 12 best remaining scores from the state’s four sectionals. For beam, Bertucci, who tied for eighth at sectionals (9.1), shared the No. 4 at-large score and Hepokoski (8.9, 12th) was No. 11. The scores Bertucci on floor (9.1, 11th) and Highland on vault (9.25, 12th) equaled the cutoffs.
Because the Hinsdale Central Sectional was the first, and the last one was postponed until Friday, the trio had a long week of practicing while wondering if they would advance. On Friday, the at-large cuts remained unchanged as only one gymnast advanced by tying the cutoff.
“[The] week was very stressful,” Milovanovic said. “With Emmy, we sort of knew was pretty solid for beam but Emmy really wanted to be on floor as well. Dahlia and Ava were sweating and checking the [other] sectionals. After Thursday, when they were on the very bottom, was very nerve-wracking.”
The Lions’ hopes of at least a third straight sectional team berth were hampered after Krantz was diagnosed with a stress fracture in her foot in late December. Krantz, however, received medical clearance two days before the Lyons Township Regional to compete on uneven bars. Krantz qualified for sectionals, where she finished 33rd (6.95) after an impressive 8.775 at regionals.
“I didn’t even think I was going to get cleared,” Krantz said. “I was really thankful to do [regionals]. I had a really good routine personally, probably one of my best all season.”
In their other sectional events, Hepokoski was 16th in all-around (34.725), 19th on uneven bars (8.325) and tied for 26th on vault (8.65), Bertucci tied for 17th on uneven bars (8.4) and was 18th in all-around (34.45) and Highland tied for 18th on floor (8.85), was 20th in all-around (34.025), tied for 22nd on beam (8.3) and was 25th on floor (8.6) and 29th on uneven bars (7.875).
The Lions’ second-place 138.275 regional finish to top-rated Downers Grove co-op missed the last at-large team sectional berth by 1.425 points. Also competing at regionals were junior Clare Byrne on three events, freshman Jomie Santos on two and sophomore Katherine Tucker and freshman Mia Kosensky on vault.
RBHS girls gymnastics
Riverside Brookfield sophomore Paige Phelan returned to the Hinsdale Central Sectional displaying yet another new skill. Phelan tried – and landed – a tuck Tsukahara vault for the first time in competition. That first of two attempts received a 9.05, her highest event score of the meet.
“I wasn’t sure if I was going to do it, but in warmups it was pretty good so I decided to do it. The first one was OK. I stuck it,” Phelan said. “I basically just decided and [RBHS coach Karyn Domzalski] was all for whatever I wanted to do.”
The performance was among the many strides this season Domzalski cited as she went through Phelan’s events. Phelan previously had been competing a Yurchenko timer with a half twist.
“We trained [the tuck] for the last five days straight and it was going to be a game-time decision,” Domzalski said. “She did two in warmups and then it was gorgeous on the first one (in sectionals). That was definitely the highlight.”
In her two qualifying events, Phelan was 23rd in all-around (33.20) and tied for 28th on floor (8.525). The floor routine was somewhat affected by tweaking her ankle landing her second vault. Last season, Phelan qualified for sectionals in those two events and beam. At the Hinsdale South Regional Feb. 2, Phelan’s 8.15 on beam with a fall just missed advancing.
“I think that I’m proud of just improving overall and getting my scores up and I’m proud of the team for working together and helping our team scores too,” said Phelan, who was the leader of a lineup of non-seniors at regionals, where the Bulldogs were third (123.975).
Also competing were junior Natalia Maruska and freshman Cora Rosenfeld as all-arounders, freshman Elly Dickerson on three events, freshmen Antonia Bacik on two and freshmen Aaliyah Noel, Renee Murray and Sophie Dickerson on one each.
“We’re looking forward to next season. We have a few more eighth graders coming in and so a lot of them showed up today to watch so that’s huge,” Domzalski said.
RB, LT boys basketball
Riverside Brookfield (20-9) reached the 20-win mark with a 54-23 victory over Elgin, Friday, behind Danny Loftus (18 points, 6 rebounds), Cameron Mercer (9 points, 6 rebounds), Mantas Sleinys (9 points) and Vince Dockendorf (7 points).
Lyons Township (12-15) moved to 4-7 in the West Suburban Silver by beating short-handed Oak Park and River Forest 64-47 Saturday to snap a four-game losing streak.
Senior Ian Polonowski (20 points, 16 rebounds) had a huge double-double, followed by Timmy Sloan (12 points, 6 assists), Owen Carroll (7 points, 5 rebounds), Marshaun Russell (6 points), Josh Gutierrez (5 points, 7 rebounds, 5 steals) and Danny Janiszewski (4 assists).
“Huge [win]. With our league, the schedules that we play, you can’t have a bad night,” LTHS coach Tom Sloan said. “We’ve played four straight games against really good competition and not gotten over the hump so it was really nice for the kids to get their confidence going.”
The Lions lost to Downers Grove North 44-32 Friday. Polonowski (11 points), Sloan (9 points) and Ryder Hilding (6 points) were the Lions’ top scorers.