MM_013119

46 | January 31, 2019 | The Mokena Messenger sports
mokenamessenger.com
LW co-op leaps and bounds ahead of competition
Girls gymnastics
starts postseason
with SWSC
conference title
Chris Walker
Freelance Reporter
None of Lincoln-Way
co-op’s gymnasts earned
a perfect 10 during the rescheduled
SouthWest Suburban
Conference Meet in
Tinley Park on Jan. 23, but
Lincoln-Way won the conference
championship for
the 10th straight season.
The meet was pushed
back a day because of poor
weather on Jan. 22.
Lincoln-Way finished
well in front of its competition
with 138.7 points.
Sandburg/Stagg was the
runner-up with a 127.525.
Homewood-Flossmoor was
third with a 120 and Andrew
rounded up the competition
with a 110.275.
Before anyone from
Sandburg/Stagg co-op flips
out, such as how social
media did recently after
UCLA’s Katelyn Ohashi
scored a perfect 10 during
a quad meet earlier this
month, it should be noted
that Sandburg/Stagg coop
shared top honors with
Lincoln-Way in conference
a season ago.
Sandburg/Stagg was the
last team to win conference
outright other than Lincoln-
Way, having last done so in
2008-2009 when it also was
the state runner-up.
“We performed pretty
well,” Lincoln-Way coach
Kim Lago said. “We hit
beam, we hit floor, we hit
vault, and then we went to
bars and had two little mistakes.
We performed really
well overall, but the scores
were not in our favor.”
Sandburg/Stagg’s Taylor
Talley won the all-around
with a 35.6, narrowly edging
the 35.575 by Lincoln-
Way’s Korina Jarosz, who
also placed second in the
all-around after winning it
in 2017. Grace Kmak followed
Jarosz with a 34.7.
Last year, Jarosz also was
second in the all-around,
playing runner-up to former
teammate Una Farrell,
while Kmak also was third a
season ago. Last year’s tremendous
trio of all-arounders
is now a dynamite duo
who are complemented
by spectacular specialists.
How so? Lincoln-Way had
eight gymnasts who placed
fifth or higher in at least one
event.
Opening up with a strong
start on beam, in which
Kmak won with a 9.25,
Karosz was second with a
9.15, and Alyssa Harbeck
and Allie Reis added an
8.65 and 8.6 respectively,
Lincoln-Way was in control
all night.
“Beam is probably the
strongest event, and we
prepared for it the previous
meet because we knew we
were going to do it [first],”
Lago said. “Korina put in a
new skill and hit it so that
was good, and Grace tried
a new vault and hit so that
was great.
“And Alyssa Harbeck,
who doesn’t get much credit,
always starts us off on
beam and is super steady.
She sets the standard, and
when we start the pressure
is on her and she had one
little mishap, but that was it.
Flawless.”
Jarosz won floor with the
only 9 on the event during
the meet. She was also
second on vault a 9.225 and
second on bars with an 8.2.
“My floor was actually
better than it’s been today,”
she said. “It was better form
than I had before.”
Scoring was tough but
expected for one of the first
conference meets in the
state that precludes regional
play, Jarosz explained.
“We were happy tonight
with how we did, and scoring
was tougher for conference,”
Jarosz said. “I just go
into the meet trying to do the
best that I can, and now it’s
really getting down to our
form and stuff.”
Kmak also tied Jarosz
on vault and took fourth on
floor with an 8.775. Reis
was third on floor with an
8.8 and fourth on vault with
a 9.05.
Olivia Gonda took third
on bars with a 7.95 and tied
for fifth on vault with an 8.7,
while Jenna Krystyniak was
fourth on bars with a 7.825,
Jackie Furlong was fifth on
bars with a 7.75 and Lucy
Haas was fifth on floor with
an 8.525.
While Lincoln-Way cannot
control what its opponents
will do during the
Lincoln-Way East regional
on Jan. 31 and the Hinsdale
South sectional on Feb. 5, it
appears as if its biggest opponent
in getting to Palatine
for the third straight season
is itself. None of the teams
in its own regional have
come close to scoring like
Lincoln-Way has, while the
Hinsdale South sectional is
far from the strongest in the
state. A handful of sectional
teams have posted scores
on occasion that could challenge
the co-op at the sectional
in Darien, and one
never knows what can happen
on any given day, but if
Lincoln-Way hits the majority
of its routines, it should
be at state again.
“When it comes to [sectional],
hopefully the best
team wins and outperforms
those teams like they have
all year,” Lago said. “They
need to keep everything under
control and relax.”
Lincoln-Way co-op hasn’t
gone to state three straight
Lincoln-Way co-op member Grace Kmak attempts a vault Jan. 23 during the SWSC meet
at Andrew. She finished third in all-around, and the team finished in first. Photos by Bob
Klein/22nd Century Media
Allie Reis gets into a tumbling pass during her floor routine for the Lincoln-Way co-op.
seasons since it went four
straight times during the
1993-94 through 1996-1997
seasons.
Its gymnasts know by
now what it needs to keep
doing.
“We need to keep it going,”
Jarosz said. “We feel
like if we can do the same
thing we did today, we can
win again.”