Lake Forest’s Brittany Moccia, New Trier capture sectional titles

SKOKIE — Lake Forest senior gymnast Brittany Moccia captured the all-around championship and three other titles Thursday at the Niles North girls gymnastics sectional.

“I’m speechless,” Moccia said as tears trickled down her face. “I’ve been trying for this year after year, and I finally did it.”

Moccia isn’t new to the state meet, but this is the first time she has advanced as an individual.

She finished first in the all-around with 37.850 points at the sectional and also won the vault (9.525), parallel bars (9.225) and floor exercise (9.500). The top five individuals in each event advance to the state meet, which takes place at Palatine on Feb. 21 and 22.

New Trier won its second consecutive sectional championship with 142.875 points to move on to the state meet. Carmel took second with 141.050, but it wasn’t good enough to qualify for state as an at-large team. Stevenson (137.650), Glenbrook South (136.7500), Mundelein (134.875) and Glenbrook North (130.100) rounded out the field.

After two shaky rotations on the floor and vault, the Trevians turned it around on the bars as they scored a meet-best 34.975. New Trier junior Samantha Stoddart, the team’s final competitor on the event, starred with a 9.175, which earned her third place.

“That was huge,” New Trier coach Jen Pistorius said. “She needed to hit that, and she did.”

The Trevians closed out the night with a 35.400 on the beam, another meet-best mark.

Stevenson junior Alyssa Weisberg was the meet’s other individual champion, winning the balance beam with a 9.625.

This article has been changed to reflect the following correction:

New Trier has won two straight sectional titles, not three.