On Thursday, Dec. 4, Naperville North’s girls gymnastics team hosted the first meet of the season against the Glenbard North (GBN) Panthers. GBN claimed victory with a team score of 132.350 to Naperville North’s 119.700.

Despite the defeat, head coach Chris Stanicek was pleased with his team’s stability and unity as a group.

“I thought that the team went through the sets well,” Stanicek said. “I was pleased with how they kind of gelled together; they began to focus in as a team. That’s important for me, because I’m always trying to promote the team concept. We did well for the first meet.”

NNHS started their night on vault, showcasing their young talents with sophomore Bella Mandarino and freshman Grace Ryan. Following these gymnasts was senior Shelby Porter, whose routine earned a commendable 8.400. But the most impressive routine on vault, and perhaps of the entire night, came from senior captain Michaela Robert.

By successfully executing a Yurchenko Pike, one of the most advanced vault routines, Robert was able to garner a score of 9.300 from the judges. The move consisted of a round-off onto the spring-board, a handspring onto the table and a pike flip-off, valued at 10.000.

Despite their phenomenal performance on vault, the girls faced heavy deductions from the uneven parallel bars. With a team total of 25.7 in the event, Stanicek realized the need for stronger skill sets.

“We’ve got to work on our bars. Uneven parallel bars is our weakest event. We definitely have to go there first and foremost,” Stanicek said. “We need to focus on getting that elevated.”

The team gained scores of 29.650 and 30.750 for beam and floor routines, respectively. Despite an injury during Porter’s floor routine, which left her unable to finish the set, the Huskies performed relatively well. Grabbing onto her ankle at the corner of the floor, Porter was aided to the stands, where trainers helped manage the injury. She is expected to make a quick recovery, but will most likely have to take it lightly in upcoming practices, according to Stanicek.

The pressure was then on Robert to close out the night for the Huskies. Although her vault routine had gone exceptionally well, it had been a long night for Robert on the other events. Ultimately, she was able to execute a routine near perfection and gained a 9.200 to finish the event.

Along with an excellent floor routine, Robert also ended the night with an all-around victory, placing first in compiled routine scores. Moving forward, Robert hopes her team can continue building upon their skills, now having completed their first meet.

“I think everyone has a lot of potential, with obviously a lot more room for improvement,” Robert said.”I think it was nice for the girls to get out and get the feel of a high school meet. For some of them, it was their first meet ever. Now that they have this under their belt, they will be more confident going in, will know what to work on [in practice]. The next meets will hopefully end even better than this one.”