LF_022720

30 | February 27, 2020 | The lake forest leader SPORTS
LakeForestLeaderDaily.com
Posted to LakeForestLeaderDaily.com 4 days ago
Fisch earns first medal in third state appearance
Bill McLean
Freelance Reporter
A young Kristin Fisch
had zero tolerance for
couch potatoes. They’d get
in the way of her gymnastics
training at home.
“Furniture was my
equipment back then,” the
Lake Forest junior, sporting
a sheepish smile, recalled
at the girls gymnastics
state meet in Palatine
on Saturday, Feb. 22. “I’d
watch moves by Olympians
on TV and then try
doing some of them right
away.
“Back handsprings …
I’d do those on our couch,
all the time,” the Scout
added.
Fisch landed on an entirely
different kind of
cushion — and a significantly
safer one — in the
event finals on the second
day of her third state meet
last weekend. A qualifier in
the all-around and in three
events from the Mundelein
Sectional on Feb. 13, Fisch
tied two other gymnasts
(freshman Gabriella Riley,
of state team champion
Prairie Ridge, and Carmel
Catholic senior Isabella
Kropiwiec) for fifth place
on vault with a 9.6.
It was Fisch’s first career
state medal and the
first by a Scout since multiple
state medalist Kylie
Carlson bronzed on floor
exercise and Katherine
McKeon took fifth on the
uneven bars in 2013.
“Kristin deserved it, 100
percent,” Scouts first-year
coach Brittany Moccia
said of the prize Fisch collected
by executing another
clean Yurchenko layout
vault. “And she did it after
injuring her knee. Kristin
fights, she definitely fights
to the end.”
Fisch had sustained
the left-knee injury while
landing awkwardly on a
vault in the warm-up session
before the event finals.
She adorned her left
knee with a black band
— above a white band stabilizing
her injured right
ankle — before the session
featuring the state’s top 10
vaulters.
“I can handle pressure,”
Fisch said, referring
to what she learned
about herself at the twoday
state meet. “But it
was nice knowing, while
walking in before the start
of prelims that I’d get to
compete with (sophomore
teammates) Lindsay Fontana
and Taylor Cekay this
weekend. Their presence
made the atmosphere more
comfortable for me.”
Fontana, a first-year
state qualifier, tied for 30th
place on vault with a 9.25;
Cekay, a state qualifier in
the all-around like Fisch,
tied for 30th on the balance
beam (8.25) in her
second state appearance.
Fisch finished 22nd in
the all-around (36.125),
tied for 15th place on floor
(9.3) and tied for 26th on
bars (8.875) in the prelim
session. She came through,
big-time, in that afternoon
segment when she received
a 9.7 on vault.
Slotted No. 21 among
the lineup of 67 vaulters,
Fisch sprinted and
launched her frame following
consecutive vaults
by Fontana and Cekay.
“Amazing, that vault,”
Moccia lauded. “Kristin
was very confident, calm
and collected all season.
She was always prepared,
always ready to compete.
As a teammate? Fantastic.”
Lake Forest junior Kristin Fisch competes on the uneven bars at the IHSA state meet on Friday, Feb. 21, at Palatine
High School. Photos by Carlos Alvarez/22nd Century Media
Taylor Cekay performs her balance beam routine.