Gymnastics: Carmel on track for three straight

Updated: February 17, 2012 11:26PM

Technically, Carmel hasn’t won its third consecutive state girls gymnastics title yet, but the probability of it becoming official on Saturday is extremely high.

The Corsairs scored 150.925 points during Friday’s preliminaries in Palatine and have a significant cushion of two full points between themselves and Stevenson, 150.925 to 148.925.

Senior Kristin Mirski led the way for the Corsairs, finishing second in the all-around competition with a 38.4.

“I’m actually really happy with the results,” Mirski said. “Of course there were little mistakes here and there, but we came out here confident with what we could do and I think we accomplished our goals.”

The Corsairs will have several chances to increase their team score during Saturday’s championship finals in individual events. Mirski advanced in all four events, Lauren Feely qualified in everything save for bars while Sarah Cohen-Smith (vault), Anna Brandmeier (bars) and Jen Zeller (floor) also moved on to the finals.

“We have so many of us in the finals tomorrow so that’s what I’m excited about now,” Mirski said. “We can raise up that score and I think we will.”

Meanwhile, Stevenson will have to rely on Ali Castriano to raise its score. The senior was fourth in the all-around with a 38.05 and qualified in all four events.

DeKalb/Sycamore co-op senior Alyssa Lopez edged Mirski for the all-around crown with a score of 38.45.

Lopez fell on beam during her final routine during the Glenbard North sectional and used the mistake as extra motivation on Friday.

“I got ahead of myself there and was not focusing so well,” Lopez said. “Here I was working a little in the gym on concentrating and not getting ahead of myself.”

Lopez advanced in all four events, scoring a 9.7 on bars, 9.675 on vault, 9.6 on floor and 9.475 on beam.

“This is icing on the cake to win this meet,” she said.

Prairie Ridge co-op was in third place with a 148.05 and followed by Fremd (146.475), Lake Forest (144.5), Lyons (144.475), Glenbard North (143.45) and New Trier (141.725).

© 2013 Sun-Times Media, LLC. All rights reserved. This material may not be copied or distributed without permission. For more information about reprints and permissions, visit www.suntimesreprints.com. To order a reprint of this article, click here.