Prospect gymnasts take title at Rolling Meadows

After a tough week which saw Prospect lose its state qualifier from last year to a torn ACL and partially torn MCL, the Knights got what coach Randy Smith said was a needed confidence boost in a win at the Al Galatte Invite in Rolling Meadows on Saturday.

With senior Gianna Scala sidelined by the season-ending knee injury, Prospect posted particularly strong results on the floor exercise. Junior Maddie Larock placed fourth (9.1) and freshman Olivia Gonzalez finished fifth (9.05). The Knights’ overall top finisher was sophomore Megan Donner, who placed second on the uneven bars (9.2).

Prospect finished first as a team with 69.2 points, in a tight race among the top four teams. Schaumburg (69.15) and Lake Park (68.1) rounded out the top three, while Barrington (68.05) just missed the podium in fourth place.

“I told them all before (the meet) that you are all studs in your event,” Smith said. “This is your day. … We needed this meet to reassure ourselves, we’re ok. No one freak out.”

Barrington coach Jason Loeffler hoped the day would serve as motivation for his gymnasts. The Fillies struggled on the beam and floor, while sophomore Abby Hasanov was first on the uneven bars (9.25) and senior Brooke Morgan (9.6) and sophomore Molly Blanke (9.4) took the top two spots on vault.

“(Saturday) kind of brought them down a little,” Loeffler said. “It’ll give them something to work on. … I think if the girls on floor hit or the girls on the beam, they would have been on the podium.”

Rolling Meadows sophomore Kelly Johnston took first in beam (9.65) while Glenbrook North junior Carli Betman earned top honors in the floor (9.45)