Nicolet gymnasts edge Bay

Bradley Invitational winner Nicolet certainly has no reason to back down and neither does defending champion Whitefish Bay. And if you talk to coaches with the Homestead team, they certainly think they're in the running.

And that's the competitive attitude that will be carried into this Friday's North Shore/Greater Metro Conference girls gymnastics meet at Menomonee Falls (4 p.m.).

The aforementioned teams all have legitimate hopes of a league title after each breached the 140-point barrier at the powerhouse Bradley meet hosted by Bay on Saturday.

"Our goal wasn't to go out and beat Nicolet," said Blue Dukes coach Mary Liniewski of her team's effort Saturday. "We just wanted to go out and improve, and frankly, we exceeded our expectations despite the fact that we lost."

Liniewski has reason to be optimistic, as the defending league and state Division 2 champs got a winning all-around effort of 37.0 from Maggie Anderson despite some errors in the performance that prevented the effort from being a state championship level 38-plus.

Anderson also took the vault (9.55) and the uneven bars (9.2) while earning third in the floor exercise (9.575), as the Blue Dukes turned in a season-best 142.025 score that was second only to Nicolet's own season best of 142.45.

Kelly Danek also turned in a fourth place effort of 8.8 on bars for Bay.

Knights win with balance

As usual, for Nicolet, it was all about balance. Leah Fischer did get a win in floor exercise (9.675) while taking fourth on balance beam (9.35) and third in the all-around (36.6). Lexi Stevens was eighth in the all-around (35.6), while tying for sixth on floor (9.475) and earning an outright sixth on uneven bars (8.675).

Alicia Berroug also had a good meet, taking sixth on vault (9.25), and 10th in the all-around (35.325). So deep were the Knights, that their fourth all-around, freshman Jessie Kloehn, was 11th with a score of 34.925, a mark that would be good for the top position on many teams.

Berroug's effort on vault was a new school record and both Fischer and Stevens exceeded the old Nicolet mark on floor, said Nicolet coach Chris Dempsey.

"With only four kids performing on each event, there was a lot of pressure to be at your best," Dempsey said. "It's tough to do but our kids pulled it off. It was a fantastic meet. I'm not sure what we did so much better than Bay, but Holy Toledo, was it intense!"

Highlanders on the rise

Meanwhile, Homestead coach Marisa White has reason for encouragement as the Highlanders reached the 140 mark for the first time this season in taking third (140.05).

Katelyn Wright was second in the all-around at 36.65, while Cori Sanduski landed a high-degree of difficulty vault successfully (8.975), which put her in the all-around category for one of the first times this season.

Sanduski finished fifth in the all-around at 35.975 and earned the same spot on the bars (8.725).

Wright was also fourth in floor exercise (9.525) and second on beam (9.5).

"It was an awesome milestone of a meet for us," White said. "There was a lot of pressure involved."

White was pleased that Sanduski entered the ranks of the all-around and noted that the entire vault crew did well.

"We were able to push it up from a 32-, 33-point (event score) up to a 34.9," she said. "We want to be consistently 34 or 35 for all four events. … It's a pivotal time of the season. Everyone is building up adrenaline for conference and (WIAA) sectionals."

"We're getting better and better."

Shorewood, which will try to make a mark at the conference meet, was seventh (115.55) in Division 2 of the Bradley, which was won by Waukesha (134.8). Greyhounds freshman Asia Cruz was sixth on beam with an 8.35, eighth in the all-around (32.15) and tied for 12th in floor exercise (8.05).

Liniewski thought that the meet was a great lead-in into conference.

"There'll be a lot of excitement on Friday," she said. "We have a lot of affection for those teams at Nicolet and Homestead, but I believe we're up to the challenge."