GL_122817

28 | December 28, 2017 | The glenview lantern sports
glenviewlantern.com
Girls Gymnastics
Trevians edge Titans
in thrilling CSL battle
Sarah Healy earns fourth
place finish in all-around
David Jaffe, Freelance Reporter
It isn’t often that there’s a tie for
first in all-around, but that’s just what
happened for New Trier gymnasts
Darcy Barkal and Rachel Zun at a
Thursday, Dec. 21 Central Suburban
League South dual meet with Glenbrook
South.
The teammates earned scores of
36.5 and their efforts helped the Trevians
edge out the visiting Titans,
144.2-142.25.
“It’s rare that you end up with a
tie in gymnastics,” Zun said. “But it
felt really good to tie with Darcy and
we were both very happy with the result.”
Barkal won vault with a 9.45,
bouncing back from a tough start.
“My first vault was really bad,”
Barkal said. “But I recovered and
was able to land the next one. Everything
on my second vault went very
well.”
Zun had a very strong floor exercise,
taking third with a 9.4. She
acknowledges her team is a big help
during her floor routine.
“They’re all standing in the corner
cheering me on,” Zun said. “They
show a lot of support and once I
know my tumbling is going well, it
makes things a lot easier and more
fun having that during my routine.”
That support is the biggest reason
why Barkal has really enjoyed high
school gymnastics.
“This is my first year of high
school gymnastics,” Barkal, a junior,
said. “And it’s definitely different
knowing you’re trying to do well for
your team versus club, which is all
individual.”
Barkal also won the uneven bars,
tying with teammate Maeve Murdock
(9.2).
“I was really happy because I
was able to hit my routine on bars,”
Barkal said. “That was one of my
stronger scores on bars and I was really
pleased with how I did.”
She was also fifth on floor (9.1)
and she and Zun tied for sixth on balance
beam (8.75).
Zun tied for third on vault with
Murdock and GBS’ Sarah Healy
(9.2).
“I’ve added something to my routine
for vault this season,” Zun said.
“I think it’s really shown and helped
me get better scores. Also, the energy
the team gives you helped pump me
up.”
She also tied for third on bars
(9,15). Other New Trier finishers
were Murdock winning beam (9.3),
and taking third all-around (36.15),
Avery Faulkner winning floor (9.6)
and Emma Jane Rohrer tying for
fourth with GBS’ Bebe Haramaras
on beam (8.85).
Healy led the way for the Titans,
taking fourth in all-around (35.85)
and second on floor with a 9.5.
“I was very happy with my tumbling,”
Healy said. “I had a good
front handspring front full. And I
made sure I was having fun. That’s
the key to a good floor routine. It took
me a little while to figure out that you
need to stay loose and relaxed.”
She also had a strong vault performance.
“My vault itself was really good,”
Healy said. “I got up very high and I
felt myself floating in the air. And I
was able to land on my feet, which is
always going to be big.”
Healy has put a lot of work into her
routines for this season. And thus far,
it has paid off nicely for her.
“I’ve definitely improved a lot,”
Healy said. “I’ve made my routines
more difficult and so far it’s impacted
my scores in a positive way.”
Healy also was fifth on bars with
8.7 and got an 8.45 on beam. Other
GBS scores were Jenna Hartley taking
second on beam (9), and tying for
third on bars, Sheena Graham taking
second on vault (9.4), Kylie Kruger
third on beam (8.95) and Elena Pauker
taking fourth on floor (9.25).
Wrestling
GBN overpowers GBS
in dual meet showdown
Gary Larsen, Freelance Reporter
The best high school wrestlers
live in a perpetual state
of discontent, a place where
Glenbrook North junior Cam
Casey now resides full-time.
“I’m happy with where I’m
at this year and I’m confident,
but I’m not satisfied,” Casey
said. “I want to score more
points and dominate matches.”
Casey dominated on Thursday,
Dec. 21, winning by
technical fall at 182 pounds
in the Spartans’ 49-27 dual
meet win at Glenbrook South.
Casey also won an individual
title at 182 at a 16-team tournament
at Prospect this year,
and improved to 12-3 with
his win against the Titans.
Casey went 15-18 at 182 as
a varsity sectional-qualifier
last year before placing fifth
at the frosh-soph state meet.
He entered his junior year
ready to take a big step forward
as a varsity wrestler.
“He wants to be a statequalifier
and a state-placer,”
Glenbrook North coach Jason
Erwinski said. “He’s got the
talent to do it. He’s putting
points on the board. We just
want to get him into shape
so he can chain wrestle and
string together two, three and
four moves in a row. That’s
the wish for any high school
wrestler.”
Casey had nine takedowns
in his 22-6 tech fall win.
“I learned some new technique
and I’m trying to get to
my (offense) and dominate
more matches. It just takes
time,” Casey said. “You can
think about it over and over in
practice but it has to become
instinctive if you really want
to be successful.”
Glenbrook North won
seven of the eleven matches
against Glenbrook South,
with three forfeits posted in
the dual. Erwinski only has
one senior in his lineup, and
he’s happy with the effort the
young squad has given him
this year.
“Our guys have been wrestling
really well lately,” Erwinski
said. “We went out
there today and wrestled our
style and if we do that, good
things are going to happen.
It’s a good young group of
guys.
“The move from JV to
varsity is a different animal.
We’ve got guys that wrestled
JV last year that are starting
to make that adjustment.
They’re figuring it out.”
A forfeit at 132 to start the
night put Glenbrook North up
6-0, and the Spartans went up
12-0 on a first-period pin at
138 from Benji Kubin.
Glenbrook North’s Jinoo
Kim and Glenbrook South’s
Forrest Eriksson battled to a
4-4 tie at the end of the first
period at 145 and it was 5-5
in the third when Eriksson
earned a takedown and rode
Kim out for the final minute
for a 7-5 win.
“He was one guy where the
effort was definitely there,”
Glenbrook South coach Pat
Castillo said of Eriksson. “He
was down and he came back,
and it’s always good when
guys are winning in the third
period, especially after they
were losing in the first.”
Glenbrook North’s Kyle
Williams put his side up 18-3
with a reversal to start the
second period and a pin at
2:42.
“Kyle wrestled real well,”
Erwinski said. “He was exhausted
but we had a tough
week of practice. He gritted it
out and found a way to end up
on top.”
After getting taken down to
start the match at 160, Glenbrook
South’s George Papagiannopoulos
used a reverse,
a cradle and a pin in the first
period to cut the Spartans
lead to 18-9, but that was as
close as the Titans would get
the rest of the night.
Nico Jung posted a pin at
170 for Glenbrook North to
set up Casey’s tech fall win
at 182, giving the Spartans a
29-9 lead.
Glenbrook South’s Cam
Mercer made quick work of
the match at 195 with a firstperiod
pin and Trent Williams
won an 8-0 major decision at
220 for Glenbrook North.
Glenbrook North forfeited
at 285 but won three of the final
four matches for the final
margin, including a pin at 106
from Raphael Galvez and a
4-0 decision win at 120 from
Max Sherman. Glenbrook
South’s Nate Sullivan won by
fall at 113 pounds.
“We wrestled a little bit
better as a team today,” Castillo
said. “But while some individuals
are taking that next
jump, for some of them we
have to get a little bit more on
them and fix a few things up.
“For the most part, the effort
was there, but you always
wish you got more effort
when you lose. It’s really
more about the technical part,
but a little more effort in certain
situations might have
made the difference in a few
matches today.”