Girls Gymnastics: Senior Landri launches assault on another berth at state meet
BY DAN SHALIN Contributor February 7, 2012 5:22PM
1/31/12 Lake Forest Glenbrook South's Amanda Browder competes on the uneven parallel bars during regional gymnastics at Lake Forest High School on Tuesday, Jan. 31st. | Dan Luedert~Sun-Times Media
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Updated: March 11, 2012 8:14AM
Glenbrook South head coach Steve Gale’s advice to gymnast Nora Landri in the week leading up to the sectional has been simple: Go with what got you there.
Landri is the team’s lone representative at tonight’s (Thursday’s) event at Niles North. The senior qualified on bars, floor, vault and all-around based on her performance at the Jan. 31 Lake Forest Regional.
While some gymnasts have prepared for the sectional by learning new tricks, Landri, at the urging of Gale, has been focusing on what she does well.
“We are fine-tuning at this stage of the game,” Gale said. “We’re not likely to add anything to her routines. It’s too late to do that. It’s Coaching 101: in the state series, you go with what got you there. We don’t want to do anything fancy. You get in trouble if you start throwing harder skills you have not competed before. It can throw off your concentration.”
Landri, who competed at last year’s IHSA state meet, looked like a savvy veteran at the regional. She qualified automatically (top five) on bars (2nd, 9.375) and floor (3rd, 9.3). She had to wait a few days to learn she had earned an at-large bid on vault (9.175) and in all-around (36.1500)
“She didn’t hit her beam routine, or she would have qualified on beam and been a medalist (top-five) in the all-around,” Gale said. “But she has had a very good season and I’m very happy with her. She’s been working hard in practice. (Sectional) is a high-stakes meet, but she has performed well for us and looks for good things there.”
At the sectional, gymnasts will be looking to reach state, Feb. 17-18 at Palatine. Gale said he was hoping to see Landri advance in multiple events.
“I would look for her to qualify in at least bars and floor. She’s very strong on those, and we’re optimistic,” he said. “We’ll see about the all-around, and vault is going to be a little tough. But, who knows? If she really nails her vault, she can get through on vault as well.”
The Titans scored 133.2 and finished third at the four-team regional.
Gale pointed out that some of his gymnasts who narrowly missed advancing to the loaded Niles North Sectional had scores that would have qualified them for other sectionals.
However, the coach said he was hardly disappointed with his team’s performance.
“It was the second-highest score and the toughest judging this season. It was a very good meet,” he said. “There is no glass-empty about this meet. I’m pleased with what went on. I knew it would be tough for the girls to get out. But they put up very respectable numbers. It’s not like they collapsed. They put in solid performances.”
Other notable GBS performances included senior Pauline Zielinski tying for eighth on beam (8.450), freshman Kaci Castino coming in 11th on floor (8.450), sophomore Alison Tye finishing 11th on beam (7.950), sophomore Samantha Kopley tying for 11th on vault (8.00) and sophomore Amanda Browder taking 12th in the all-around (32.075).
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