Bulldogs’ Phelan makes splash in gymnastics opener

Riverside Brookfield High School junior Paige Phelan wasted little time diving into her next sport. Fresh off her best diving season, Phelan earned three top-10 medals in the RBHS girls gymnastics team’s annual season opener Nov. 26 at Hinsdale South’s eight-team Hornet Thanksgiving Invitational. RBHS (120.95 points) was sixth. 

“It’s a quick switch around [from diving] but I do club gymnastics so I’ve been practicing this whole year so I felt prepared,” Phelan said. “I think it’s going to be really fun (this season) because we have a lot of new girls coming in. I think it’s just going to make the team dynamic a lot more fun.”  

The Bulldogs certainly are young with Natalia Maruska their lone senior yet still fairly experienced. Phelan is a two-time individual sectional qualifier. Maruska and sophomores Cora Rosenfeld, Elly Dickerson, Ana Bacik, Aaliyah Noel, Renee Murray and Sophie Dickerson also are back from the regional lineup, helping RBHS score a third-place 123.975. The Bulldogs had scored a season-high 127.11 to finish second at their first Upstate Eight Conference Meet and second in the final overall standings. At the Hornet Invite, RBHS coach Karyn Domzalski used 10 Bulldogs by adding freshmen Greta Zhukova and Cadence Henry-McGreal.

Phelan was fifth in all-around (33.40), tied for sixth on floor exercise (8.55), tied for seventh on balance beam (8.6) and had team-high scores on uneven bars (11th, 7.9), vault (8.35).

“I was pretty proud of my beam score and I’d say floor, too,” Phelan said. Last year, she qualified for sectionals in two events and was 23rd in all-around (33.20) and tied for 28th on floor (8.525). For her all-around, she scored 9.05 on vault by landing a tuck Tsukahara for the first time in competition. As a freshman, Phelan qualified for sectionals in all-around, beam and floor. 

At diving sectionals, Nov. 8, Phelan scored a personal-best 399.25 points for 11 dives to just miss the at-large state cut of 408.35. For gymnastics, she has quickly gone from a freshman all-arounder to one of the veterans.

“Being one of the older ones is kind of different from what I’m used to,” Phelan said. “I really want us to score well as a team. And maybe make my scores go up at sectionals. I’m just working a lot on form.”

At the Hornet Invite, Zhukova competed on three events, Maruska, Bacik, Elly Dickerson, Noel and  Rosenfeld two each and Murray, Sophie Dickerson and Henry-McGreal one each.

LTHS girls gymnastics

Lyons Township junior Brynn Krantz battled back from a stress fracture in her ankle last season to somehow qualify for sectionals individually. The injury once again will affect this season and possibly end it prematurely. Krantz will undergo surgery to remove a bone chip Dec. 19. The date of her return is uncertain.

“It’s just been hurting really bad. I only have like a month of gymnastics and then I have to get surgery,” Krantz said. “I’m glad because I just want to get it healed. I’ve been dealing with it for so long. I just want to be pain-free.”

Krantz, senior Clare Byrne, sophomores Jomarys Santos Morales and Mia Kosensky and currently sidelined senior Katherine Tucker are the lone returnees from last year’s powerful postseason lineup. LTHS scored 138.275 at regionals to miss the six-team sectional team berth by 1.425 points. The Lions said goodbye to a great senior class and three individual state qualifiers (Emmy Bertucci, Dahlia Highland and Ava Hepokoski).   However, two new all-arounders, junior Katherine Trolley and freshman Emily Martinez, have made immediate impacts. 

The Lions opened with 133.20 points Nov. 26 to finish second at the Hornet Thanksgiving Invite to host Hinsdale South/Lemont co-op (135.35). Martinez (34.10) and Trolley (34.00) were second and third in all-around, just shy of the first-place 34.30. Senior Maggie Denja and freshman Kaitlyn Sullivan also made their varsity debuts at the invite.

“[I’m impressed by] our strong group of senior leaders. They’re really great. And then some new talent,” LTHS coach Brittany Milovanovic said. “Then just the level of everybody and having a lot of girls that are enthusiastic to learn new skills and really compete for those varsity spots.” 

Martinez also was second on vault (9.1), fifth on floor (8.7) and tied for eighth on uneven bars (8.1). Trolley also was fourth on beam (8.95), fifth on uneven bars (8.3) and tied for 10th on floor (8.45). Krantz was fourth on the uneven bars (8.35) and tied for 11th on beam (8.3) and Kosensky tied for eighth on vault (8.6).

Krantz hardly had a transition from reaching her first 16-diver state finals, Nov. 15 after being a state preliminary qualifier the previous two seasons. She took 15th (419.95 points for 11 dives).

“The past two years I’ve really wanted to make state, day two. I was a little worried that certain dives would not go well but it all went well, I made it and I was so happy,” she said. “It’s honestly not that hard (to transition). I’ve been doing it for two years. I go straight to gymnastics. I’m really no different.” 

Krantz was a sectional qualifier in all-around and all four events as a freshman as the Lions won their first regional since 2015. After being sidelined last season since late December, she received medical clearance two days before regionals and advanced on uneven bars (8.775).

Could she make another comeback? At the team scrimmage Nov. 21, she earned a 9.0 on uneven bars from an IHSA judge even with a conservative routine. 

“Brynn being Brynn she was able to pull out a beautiful routine,” Milovanovic said. “It’s supposed to be a small, quick surgery so [her return] just depends on the how it will fall with the postseason. [If not] she’s so encouraging to everybody. She’s a great leader. She helps me, knows what I need constantly and she’s always willing to help.”