Girls Gymnastics: Oswego seeks first state trip since 2001

Oswego’s girls gymnastics team has reached sectionals for the first time since 2003, but it’s not exactly uncharted territory for the program.

From 1998 through 2001, the Panthers qualified for the state meet as a team every year, picking up a pair of third-place finishes along the way.

Monday at the Hinsdale Central Sectional, they will try to get back to state once again.

“Sectionals are tough, but I’m excited and I think that we can really pull it off this year and get some high scores,” Oswego senior Kyla Price said.

The Panthers are one of three Aurora area teams — Geneva and Waubonsie Valley being the others — who have advanced to sectionals this week. Both Geneva and Waubonsie won a regional title for the second consecutive year, and both are looking for their first trip to the state meet. Waubonsie joins Oswego at Hinsdale Central, while Geneva heads to Glenbard North Wednesday.

To advance to state as a team, the winners of the four sectionals and the four other teams with the highest scores advance. In individual events, the top five in each event — including the all-around — advance. In addition, the 12 best scorers in each event from all the sectionals will move on as at-large entries.

For Oswego, freshman Emily Flammersfeld made a huge impact in her first regional meet and will be looking to add a state trip to her growing résumé. She is seeded third in both the uneven bars and the balance beam. She is the seventh seed in the all-around, giving her a good shot of reaching state as an at-large participant if she can’t crack the top five.

“I definitely exceeded my expectations,” Flammersfeld said. “I did club gymnastics and then took some time off, so it took a while to get back into everything. This is my first year, so I’m excited and I know everybody else is too.”

Price is seeded third in the vault and seventh in floor exercise as she hopes to reach state as a senior. Junior Kathryn Maher is seeded seventh on the uneven bars.

Waubonsie is the second seed at Hinsdale Central, paced by junior Elizabeth Brandenburg. As the fourth seed in the all-around, Brandenburg is in position to make a splash at sectionals. She is seeded second on the floor, third on uneven bars, fifth on the vault and seventh on the beam.

Senior Maddie Strick is also hoping to reach state for Waubonsie, seeded sixth on the uneven bars and junior Jessica Malon is the sixth seed on the floor.

At Glenbard North, Geneva is the fourth seed in the six-team field, with junior Ashley Puff leading the way. Puff is the No. 2 seed on the vault in the sectional field, fourth on the balance beam and eighth in the all-around.

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