Gymnastics shines at CSL meet
Murdock wins final regular season meet with score of 37.675
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The team celebrates after an invite on Jan. 25
In their last competition of the regular season, the gymnastics team came in second place in their CSL conference meet held at Glenbrook South High School on Jan. 31.
They competed against Maine South, Niles West, Glenbrook South, Glenbrook North, and Evanston where they came away with a season- high score of 146.7, while Glenbrook South took first place with a score of 147.0. Glenbrook North placed third with a score of 136.15.
Senior Maeve Murdock was the overall winner of the conference with a score of 37.675, including first place finishes in bars and floor.
Junior Kate Gorney identified the energy of this conference meet surpassed that of their previous competitions and noted their high score was rewarding.
“Our team had some of the most energy we’ve had all season with lots and lots of really loud cheering,” said Gorney.
“We got one of our higher team scores of the year which is exciting because it shows off all the hard work the team has been putting in to these last and most important meets of the year.”
Junior Amelia Montgomery said the team started out strong with vault and bars, getting all 9s in the latter.
“On bars, three of our girls finished top three; Maeve Murdock being first, Rachel Zun being second and [myself] being third,” she said.
Head coach Jen Pistorius added that this meet showed a true culmination of the team’s efforts and abilities.
“We did well on all events, but all five of our girls who competed bars medaled in the top eight. It was a true team effort as everyone contributed and we scored our highest team score, even having to count two falls and a few missed connections,” said Pistorius.
Murdock acknowledged that while this conference doesn’t matter as they head into the postseason, it was beneficial to have the opportunity to face off against some of their competition.
“[Glenbrook South] is our biggest opponent in both the conference and one of the biggest opponents at state so it was fun to see them and compete against them before that starts,” Murdock said.
Despite falling short of first place, senior Avery Faulkner still views this conference as a success for their team.
“Even though we got second we know that three-tenths doesn’t really show who had better gymnastics because that is something as silly as a few steps so we really took this meet as a success,” said Faulkner.
Gorney said continuing to refine the smaller aspects of their routines is something the team is hoping to work on.
“I think overall everyone is trying to improve on the things they may not focus on as much, like the little things that add up in their routines and deduct points that may be needed in our end total,” Gorney said.
Faulkner added that working on being more consistent is key if they want to see more success as they progress through the rest of the season.
“We really need to get back into the gym and start grinding out beam routines and more vaults to get more consistent,” she said. “Doing lots of numbers is a really big part of how to be successful during the postseason meets. [We] also [need to make] sure every turn counts so we can stay as healthy as possible.”
Pistorius also stressed that consistency is crucial but that it’s also important they have their whole team healthy and able to compete.
“I think we need to focus a little more on beam and vault. Rachel Zun has been injured with a badly sprained ankle for several weeks, so we are hoping that will heal soon,” she said.
As they start off their battle to state with regionals at Lake Forest on Feb. 6, Montgomery is confident that as long as they keep working hard, they will be able to reach their full potential.
“We are getting ready to work super hard during practice in the next few weeks and just go out there and show everyone what we can really do,” Montgomery said.