Wolves land 2nd at gymnastics sectional

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LINCOLNSHIRE – Taylor Weber’s excitement almost got the best of her.

The Prairie Ridge junior completed the most difficult skill on her balance beam routine – a flip-flop tuck, which is a back handspring followed by a backflip – for the first time this season. On Tuesday at the IHSA Stevenson Sectional Gymnastics Meet, when her team needed it most, Weber had set a tone for the rest of the Wolves.

“It was overwhelming,” Weber said. “I couldn’t believe it when I landed it. I actually forgot my routine after that.”

After sticking the flip-flop tuck, her teammates let out a huge cheer, and Weber couldn’t help but smile. On a night when the Wolves’ top competitor, defending state all-around champion Jenny Covers, was not at her best, Weber, Molly Sandquist and Kali Herman picked up the slack.

All three stayed on the beam, which was crucial, and Prairie Ridge scored 146.375 for second place. Carmel won the team title with 147.950 and earned an automatic bid to the IHSA State Meet, set for
Feb. 19-20 at Palatine. Each team sectional champion qualifies for state and the next four best team scores from sectionals receive at-large berths. The Wolves’ score likely will get them to state as a team for the second time after the season’s final sectional meet Thursday.

“Jenny had her worst meet of the entire season, but the other girls had their best meets of the whole season,” Prairie Ridge coach Lee Battaglia said.

Covers’ score suffered from falls on the uneven parallel bars and the beam, and she did not qualify automatically in the all-around at 37.200. That tied her for seventh, although it should be enough to get one of the 12 at-large berths after the sectionals are completed Thursday.

“That was the first routine Taylor’s hit all year, and for the first girl to go 9.1 is huge,” Battaglia said. “I keep telling them we have five 9s if we stay on the beam. They threw some real good beams tonight.”

“I usually go off to the side because I turn my hips [on the flip-flop tuck],” Weber said. “I’ve been practicing a lot and been nailing it. We came here to do what we do best. We kept positive and left the events we did behind and looked ahead to the new ones.”

Covers won the vault (9.875) and finished second in floor exercise (9.650). Sandquist (9.150) was fifth on beam to grab a qualifying spot, and her 36.375 may get her an all-around at-large qualification.

“Coming in our goal was to make it to state, and we had to hit our routines,” Sandquist said. “We just focused on hitting our routines, just like we do in practice. Taylor hasn’t landed that in a meet and when she stuck that when it counted, that got us off to a good start.”

It was the second week in a row that Covers fell on the bars and beam, although she had similar problems last year until she reached the state meet, where she completed her most difficult tricks.

“It’s the little falls, I’ve fallen on the same things in three meets in a row,”
Covers said. “Even if we don’t make it [as winning team] I think we’ll get at-large because this is the hardest sectional.”