Girls State Gymnastics Meet update

Prairie Ridge junior Jenny Covers successfully defended her vault title, and also added a championship in floor exercise at the IHSA Girls State Gymnastics Meet Saturday at Palatine.

Covers executed a twisting Yurchenko in layout position on her final vault to score 9.8 and win the event. Covers scored 9.625 on her first vault and decided to add the full twist on her second attempt. That allowed her to pass Warren's Kim Gotlund (9.75) and win the vault again.

Covers, who won the vault and all-around last year, took third in the all-around in Friday's competition. She struggled with her landings in warmups, but in the real competition she delivered.

Later, on the floor exercise, Covers scored 9.625, an improvement from her 9.45 in the preliminaries and good enough to nip Lake Forest's Kylie Carlson (9.6) for first place.

Covers' teammates Molly Sandquist (balance beam) and Taylor Weber (floor exercise) also won medals Saturday, both tying for fifth in their events.

Sandquist scored 9.35 to tie for fifth on the beam after scoring 9.225 in the prelims. Weber scored 9.4 on floor exercise, improving from 9.325 in the prelims.

Prairie Ridge improved its team score to 145.825 in the individual finals, up from 145.400, and narrowly missed a team trophy. The Wolves were fourth behind Mundelein Carmel (147.250), Lyons (146.775) and Fremd (145.925).

– Joe Stevenson