Girls Gymnastics: Lincoln-Way tested, takes fifth
By Jeff Vorva For Sun-Times Media January 5, 2013 8:36PM
Shelby Wiktor, Lincoln-Way Co-op, competes in the uneven parallel bars during the twenty-second annual Lincoln-Way High School girls gymnastic invitational at Lincoln-Way East High School in Frankfort, IL on saturday January 5, 2013. | Matt Marton~Sun-Times Media
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Updated: February 7, 2013 6:35AM
Lincoln-Way’s co-op team hosted a 12-team meet Saturday in Frankfort but there wasn’t a home-gym advantage.
Veteran coach Skip Adamson could pick and choose weaker teams for the meet to guarantee success for his squad, but he instead opts to bring in strong teams to challenge Lincoln-Way, which finished fifth with 135.250 points. Fremd was the champion with 146.425.
“We were nervous,” Adamson said. “The point is to face great programs. Even if they are not heavyweights this year, they’ve been heavyweights last year. The kids get a little nervous against that kind of competition. And even though we are at home, friends and family come out and see you. It’s a good test.”
Sophomore Kaila Pohrte finished sixth all-around with a 35.250, sophomore Shelby Wiktor took 13th with a 34.100, senior Sam Duggan was 15th with a 33.450, freshman Jalyn Hobbs was 24th with a 31.700 and freshman Mallory Winter was 28th with a 30.400.
“We’re coming together but we still have the bumps in the road,” Pohrte said. “We’re still trying to learn all of our new skills and perfecting them. Once we get those perfected, we’ll be better.”
Lincoln-Way had a nice stretch from 2005 to 2008 in which it had four straight runner-up finishes in its meet. That was followed by fourth-place finishes in 2009 and 2010 and a third-place showing in 2011. The team fell out of the top five for the first time since 2004 with last year’s sixth-place finish.
Fremd won its 19th title in 22 years of the meet. Fremd had an 11-meet winning streak from 2001 to 2011 snapped last season when Glenbard North nipped the Vikings 145.275-144.775.
