Prep zone: PR’s youth bodes well for gym future

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Prairie Ridge’s gymnastics team more or less reached the end of an era last year when Jenny Covers graduated.

Covers finished her brilliant career with her second all-around state championship, and by winning the vault and uneven bars, bringing her total of state championships to seven.

The Wolves, who combine with Cary-Grove, Crystal Lake Central and Crystal Lake South, do not have an individual competitor in Covers’ class, but actually might have a better team this season.

Prairie Ridge coach Lee Battaglia said this year’s freshmen, along with the incoming group next year, could make the Wolves a state power for a long time.

“We haven’t had teams that have had this much depth,” said Battaglia, who owns Crystal Lake Gymnastics Training Center, where his team trains. “Jenny was huge as far as all-around. In terms of depth, this is the best we’ve had, and next year’s going to be even better.

“When one or two get hurt, you’re replacing two 9s with two other 9s. We were scrounging last year to get four kids to go [in one event].”

Prairie Ridge missed qualifying as a team largely because of injuries.

The Wolves return senior Nikki Novak, who was fourth on uneven bars last year, and Danielle Dyra, one of the competitors who was injured late last season.

Riley Mahoney and Rachel Underwood head the deep freshman class. Mahoney scored 38.15 in the Lake Forest Invitational two weekends ago.

The IHSA regional meets start Jan. 30 and the state meet will be Feb. 17 and 18 at Palatine High School.

“It’s pretty cool what we can do if we all stay strong and believe in ourselves,” Mahoney said. “We could really have a good chance at state. Jenny was best on the team, no doubt. She won state twice [all-around]. We have a lot more depth now.”

Battaglia said Mahoney’s 38.15 was the highest all-around score a Prairie Ridge freshman has ever posted.

Novak has been strong too and is benefiting from another year removed from a broken ankle.

“My sophomore year I broke my ankle, so my junior year was my first year coming back after that,” Novak said. “My ankles are a lot stronger so I can do more routines. I’ve been doing a harder last pass to increase my difficulty a little bit. And I’m trying to increase the difficulty on my second pass too.”

Novak is not concerned about possibly being upstaged by freshmen.

“I’ve been with them since I was little, so we’ve been waiting for them to come and they’re helping the team a lot,” Novak said. “I don’t mind that they might get a higher score than me because it’s for the team.”

• Joe Stevenson is the senior sports writer for the Northwest Herald. He can be reached by email at joestevenson@shawmedia.com. You also can follow him on twitter@nwh_JoePrepZone.