NL_121318

newlenoxpatriot.com sports
the New Lenox Patriot | December 13, 2018 | 45
Girls Gymnastics
LW in transition year still continues domination of area competition
Kmak, Jarosz, Reis
to pick up slack after
eight state gymnasts
graduated in 2018
Chris Walker
Freelance Reporter
Lincoln-Way co-op took a
big hit after placing seventh
in the state last February.
The team, which is comprised
of gymnasts from
the three Lincoln-Way high
schools, lost eight key contributors
this season, including
all-arounder Una Farrell,
as they all graduated.
That doesn’t mean the
team is starting completely
from scratch as sophomore
Grace Kmak and junior Korina
Jarosz both return after
representing the team as allarounders
at state in Palatine
last year.
“We lost eight seniors so
this is definitely a rebuilding
year and getting some new
faces on the team,” Lincoln-
Way coach Kim Lago said.
“Grace, Korina and Allie
Reis all return so we’re not
all new but we’re a very
young team with most of
the girls who are freshmen
and sophomores, and it’s all
their first year of doing high
school gymnastics.”
The transition to actually
doing the events isn’t necessarily
the biggest adjustment,
although from going
from warming up all events
and then right into competing
is quite a change, as is
the focus on team success
over individual achievement
and competing more often,
including on weekdays after
school and tournaments on
Saturdays.
“It’s going to take them
awhile to get used to competing
in this new arena,”
Lago said. “Even the warmup
isn’t different than club.
They’re in the process of
learning and growing now
and by the end of the season
they’re going to be a lot
better but it’s going to take
some time to develop.”
The team looked like it’s
already making positive
strides during a 133.44 to
117.35 victory at Andrew
on Dec. 4. Going without
any all-arounders, but with
10 gymnasts in the lineup
in at least one event each,
Lincoln-Way received first
place finishes from Jarosz
with an 8.9 on vault and
Kmak on beam with a 9.3.
“I think we have 14 new
girls out of the 27 (in the
entire program),” Lago said.
“So it’s a new team, a new
atmosphere, and there’s a lot
to learn so it’s going to take
us some time.”
And patience.
“I think it’s going to be a
little more unique this year,”
Lago said. “Especially with
multiple girls doing a couple
events and everyone contributing.
It should be a cool
experience, but it’ll take a
while to figure it out and
they have to learn to keep
each other accountable for
hitting and figure out that
whole team vibe.”
Jarosz will now take on a
bigger leadership role along
with Reis while Harbeck,
a senior, also will need to
step in and provide in that
capacity and she’s going to
be new to the lineup too.
While Kmak will be one of
the team’s top scorers, she’s
still just a sophomore.
Jarosz is coming off a
back injury as she coped
with bulging discs over the
summer. Acknowledging
that she’s feeling better but
that she still has a way to go
to meet her high expectations,
she also was second
on bars with an 8.3 as well as
Lincoln-Way gymnast Grace Kmak gets in position to land during her bars routine Dec. 4 against Andrew in Tinley Park.
Photos by Jeff Vorva/22nd Century Media
on beam with a 9.2 against
Andrew.
“I’m feeling a lot better,”
she said. “I worked in club
in the summer and right now
I’m trying to get to where I
was at. I had a really good
beam, but bars was a little
rough.”
Reis tied teammate Olivia
Gonda for second place on
vault with an 8.2 and also
had the second-highest score
on floor with an 8.75.
Jackie Furlong and Alyssa
Harbeck also had the thirdhighest
scores in the meet on
bars and beam respectively,
while Jenna Krystyniak, Juliana
Arciszewski, Emerson
Collins, Sarah Rosinski and
Lucy Haas contributed in the
win.
Lincoln-Way won its season/home
opener on Nov.
27, cruising past Sandburg/Stagg
co-op, 131.25
to 116.35. Kmak was the
team’s only all-arounder
with a 34.95. She also shared
top honors on vault with
Emerson Colins (left) gets a few words of wisdom from coach Kim Lago before hitting the
uneven bars.
Gonda with a 9.05. Reis led
the team on floor with an 8.8.
The team finished in fifth
place with a 134.3 in the
inaugural Glenbard West
Invite on Dec. 1. It had the
third best vault and beam
score among the eight-team
field but struggled on bars
where Glenbard West’s JV
squad was the only team to
score lower.
New Trier edged the defending
state champion Hilltoppers,
142.85 to 141.95.
Kmak competed as an
all-arounder for Lincoln-
Way, scoring a 33.9 to place
eighth. She also led the team
on bars, beam and the floor
exercise.