U46 squads seize chances to compete
ELGIN -- The South Elgin/Bartlett/Streamwood co-op gymnastics team failed to defend its title at the 25th annual Larkin Invitational on Saturday, but junior Emily Potts earned two fifth-place medals.
Potts medaled in the floor exercise (9.3) and all-around (35.95) competition to fuel the team to a seventh-place finish with a score of 134.65, three points behind champion Batavia.
Potts also earned an eighth-place medal on the balance beam (8.9), a ninth-place finish in the vault (9.0) and finished 12th on the uneven bars. Taeopae Wetterman finished 17th in the vault (8.6) and 16th in the floor exercise (8.95) for South Elgin/Bartlett/Streamwood.
The 16-team meet was very competitive all afternoon, with eight points separating the top 10 teams.
The Elgin/Larkin co-op finished in 11th place with 122.675, a 12-point improvement from last year's meet.
"It was a lot of improvement. We had a handful of one-fall routines, which is pretty good. Obviously you'd like to have no-fall routines, but they gave a very strong effort," Elgin/Larkin coach Bob Todd said.
Elgin/Larkin's standout sophomore Ashley Horne earned a third-place medal in the floor exercise with a 9.375.
Horne admitted that the circumstances of the meet had her feeling a lot of pressure.
"This is the biggest meet we've had all year -- 16 teams is a lot of team," Horne said. "And with everyone here I was pretty nervous, but all you can do is your best and I think I did that."
Horne has been the team's top performer all season long, and this strong showing at a highly competitive meet will give her confidence going forward.
"There are always things you can do to get better," Horne said. "I'll go back and fix some of my mistakes the best I can and move forward."
Horne also finished 12th in the vault (8.85) and 14th on the uneven bars.
St. Edward finished in 16th place with a 35.15, having only sent one gymnast, Jordyn Madden, to the competition.
Madden fared very well on her own, securing medals in balance beam (5th, 9.15), vault (4th, 9.4) and all-around (7th, 35.15).
Finishing in order behind champion Batavia were Riverside-Brookfield (136.925), Wheaton North (136.55), Wheaton Warrenville South (135.475), Neuqua Valley (135.075) and Schaumburg (134.7).
Riverside-Brookfield's Becca O'Neal and Schaumburg's Brooke Shimon tied for first on the balance beam (9.4)
Buffalo Grove's Linda Dunne took the first-place medal on the uneven bars (9.4) and in the all-around (37.1).
Batavia's Rachel Besic won the vault competition with a 9.7.
