Just as Lyons Township High School senior Emmy Bertucci always hoped, she was competing at her first girls gymnastics state meet Friday alongside senior teammates Ava Hepokoski and Dahlia Highland.
“One of my favorite moments was when we walked out and were standing on the floor and looking at the audience and everyone that came to watch,” Bertucci said. “It was such a unique experience after three years being in the audience. It was such a huge achievement and very emotional for me. It was very special and made it all the better that it was all our last year and we got to share that with each other.”
The trio shared their first state berths at Palatine High School after being at-large qualifiers from the Hinsdale Central Sectional, Feb. 10.
At state, Highland tied for 18th on vault (9.35), Bertucci was 20th on balance beam (8.825) and 32nd on floor exercise (7.85) and Hepokoski was 22nd on beam (8.625).
“[Qualifying] was just pure joy. It was probably the happiest I’ve ever been,” Highland said.
“It was amazing because we all three wanted it real bad,” Hepokoski said. “It would have been a little bit sad if only one of us or two of us made it. The fact that the three seniors made it was like the cherry on top of the season.”
Bertucci and Highland have been four-year gymnasts and Hepokoski joined as a sophomore. They didn’t automatically advance to state with top-five sectional finishes, but they still could qualify by being among the 12 highest remaining scores from the state’s four sectionals.
However, Hinsdale Central was the first sectional and the final sectional was rescheduled to Feb. 14. That meant one additional tense day of watching and waiting out results and cutoff scores.
“It was so stressful. I told myself I wasn’t going to watch [results] but I ended up checking every night,” Hepokoski said. “Then when the one sectional got moved to Friday, I was freaking out. It was a rough week but it ended up great.”
Bertucci a Brookfield resident, looked probable to qualify on beam with her 9.1, which shared the No. 4 score. The other berths were borderline all week.
Hepokoski (8.9 on beam) beat the cut by .025. Highland (9.25 on vault) and Bertucci (9.1 on floor) shared the final cuts.
Within half an hour after the last sectional, Highland and Hepokoski found out they qualified in Texas while at a club meet with Flying High Gymnastics. They soon celebrated with Bertucci, who was battling illness and following scores with her mother.
“[Hepokoski and I] were together so that was definitely a fun moment,” Highland said.
“It was definitely very stressful. Ava and I were in it together, which I think helped to kind of lean on each other. But I think it made finding out 100 times better.”
The gymnasts went to state in style. They stayed overnight in a suburban hotel and went out for breakfast.
Brittany (Glowa) Milovanovic, who has had state qualifiers all four seasons as the LTHS head coach, never got that state chance herself when she competed for the Lions.
“We tried to make it super-special. It was a really fun experience,” Milovanovic said. “Just super happy because I started [coaching] four years ago with Emmy and Dahlia and three with Ava. It was really fun to see it all come together. A lot of emotional tears [Friday].”
“I was very emotional because it was my last time ever competing after doing 12 years of gymnastics,” Bertucci said. “A lot of big emotions. Everything was so amazing.”
The Lions’ first state competitor, Highland was the only one to score higher than at sectionals thanks to a solid pike Tsukahara.
“I personally think it was the best vault I’ve ever done. If you’re going to do a good vault, do it at state,” Highland said.
Beam followed. In a perfect world, Hepokoski may have qualified on the uneven parallel bars, often her stronger event.
“It just felt like I’ve accomplished my goals. It was like my dreams coming true,” Hepokoski said. “It would have been nice to make it on bars because I put in a lot of work and I was scoring high but everything happens for a reason.”
Last year, Bertucci’s 8.95 beam at sectionals missed qualifying for state at-large by .05. Adding to her state joy this year was also advancing on floor.
“Floor has always been one of my favorite events. This year, I’ve improved so much. Even though I was extremely excited to make it on beam, floor was the bigger reward,” Bertucci said.
“My beam routine went really according to plan. I hit that really nicely. On floor, I slipped on one of my passes but that didn’t bring my mood down, considering state is such an accomplishment in itself.”