Sports
Girls Gymnastics: It's a Big Stage Experience in Palatine
Waubonsie Valley/Metea Valley sent three gymnasts to Friday's IHSA state prelims, while Oswego co-op's Kyla Price also made the trip.
It was a whole new experience for Waubonsie Valley/Metea Valley co-op gymnasts Elizabeth Brandenburg, Jordyn Penny and Maddie Strick.
The three gymnasts were in Palatine on Friday night for the preliminaries of the IHSA state finals.
Strick's patience was certainly tested. She would compete on uneven bars late in the meet as she was gymnast No. 50 out of 61 who would give it a go on the bars.
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"It was a long day, and we had these little hand warmers that I kept juggling all night to keep my mind off of everything," she said. "They helped me stay positive."
Strick barely missed advancing to Saturday's finals as only the Top 10 finishers in each event moved on to Day 2. She tied for 12th place with a 9.225.
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"Maddie was awesome," Waubonie Valley/Metea Valley coach Nicole Daly said. "She had one of her highest scores of the season and that's with the pressure and the toughest judging in the state."
Only a freshman, Penny got off to an inauspicious start, falling twice on beam.
"My warmups were good, but when I started to compete things didn't go as well," she said. "But I came back strong on my final two events (vaults and bars)."
Penny finished in 30th place in the all-around with a 35.7. She also tied for 14th on vault with a 9.525.
Brandenburg's floor routine was clean for the most part, but she still felt she could've done better than a 9.050 and a 27th-place finish.
"It was a good experience, but so stressful. I'm glad for it to be done," she said. "I wish I could've cleaned it up a bit more, but other than that it was good."
Strick wasn't the only gymnast who spent most of the night watching her peers in front of a large crowd. Oswego co-op junior Kyla Price was the lone representative from her school and she was the seventh-to-last gymnast to vault.
"I had to wait like three hours, so that was a lot of warming up in the other gym and hallway," she said. "I guess it worked OK for me."
Price tied for 28th place with a 9.375.
"I really had nothing to lose," she said. "After I did my first one, I just went all out."
