By Scott Taylor
@Taylor_Sports
The Downers Grove South Mustangs made a big improvement this year and it paid off.
After qualifying for the Hinsdale Central Sectional last year and finishing in the back pack, this year they finished in front of everyone, taking the title last Wednesday with a score of 143.875. Lincoln-Way East finished in second place with a 140.425.
“It feels amazing,” South senior Emily Tom said. “We were kind of expecting this, but not really. It is great to have all of the hard work and struggles to pay off. We want to go out and do our best and enjoy the atmosphere at state.”
With the team advancement to state, there were also multiple individual advancers to state.
Freshman Abby Carlson overcame a fall in the beam to win the floor exercise with a score of 9.475. She also finished third in the vault (9.4) and second in the uneven bars (9.425) to qualify for state in both of those events (top 5) and also qualified in the all-around with a 36.6.
Abby Carlson of Downers South advanced to state in three events plus the all-around, including the vault.
“It is so exciting,” Carlson said. “I didn’t have the greatest season, but we came here today as a team to show everyone how hard we’ve been working. I had my doubts, but with my team here, it could take some of the focus off me and on the team being here and I think that helped me.
“The injury was more of a scare and I kind of had to use my adrenaline on the floor to get through it and finish off a good all-around day. Competing at state is going to be so much fun.”
Close behind her was her sister Kayla, a junior, who was fifth in the all-around (46.475) and also qualified for state in the vault by placing second (9.475), fourth in the floor (9.3) and fifth in the bars (9.0).
“It is really exciting,” Kayla said. “I’m glad I could perform as well as I did. We just wanted to have fun and make it as a team, so doing it myself was a bonus. Our team dynamic is always exciting. It feels great.”
Tom advances to state for the second time after placing third in the bars with a 9.075.
“I was just hoping to come out and do my best,” Tom said. “It wasn’t as good as I wanted to do, but I’m happy with my results. It feels good to go back because last year I didn’t have my best meet at sectionals. I’m happy to go with my team as well. They have all worked so hard. We have a great atmosphere at practice.”
The Mustangs will look for Kayla Carlson and Tom to provide experience at state this weekend at Palatine.
“We have a lot of freshmen on the team, so having some experience will help them,” Kayla said. “But having the team there will help me as well. It is hard when you are there by yourself and you don’t have your teammates there to support you. So we will have everyone there helping each other out.”
Also adding excitement is the fact that two sets of sisters are on the team together in the Carlsons and Toms with Linsday Tom being a sophomore.
“We have done gymnastics together forever, so it has always been something we have done as sisters,” Kayla said. “It is cool to be able to be on the high school team together. We’ve been waiting for this and knew we would have a good team with the Tom sisters as well.”
Downers Grove North’s Alyssa Alberti is also headed to state after placing fourth in the balance beam with a 8.95.
“I was really nervous because I haven’t stuck a beam routine with my new skills all year,” Alberti said. “I was excited to do the routine and happy I made it. I’m really excited. I wasn’t sure I was going to place. I had to settle myself down and focus skill by skill. I want to be confident and even stronger at state.”
WRESTLING
In Class 3A, Downers North had a pair of state qualifiers out of the Batavia Sectional in Nate Cummings (106-pounds) and Austin Maher (152)
Both finished in fourth place to grab the final qualifying spots at their weight class.
Downers South also had a pair of state qualifiers as Tyree Johnson (145) and Zach Muller (285) both placed second.
In Class 1A, Lisle had a pair of third-place finishers who are state bound in Drew Sonnefeldt (132) and Mark Pivek (152).