Girls Gymnastics: Trevians earn time refine skills for postseason

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Northbrook- Kerry Scafidi New Trier on the beam.Girls Gymnastics the Glenbrook North Spartan Classic. | Joe Cyganowski~For Sun-Times Media

Updated: February 27, 2012 8:36AM

Final exams were last week at New Trier. But the biggest tests for the girls gymnastics team are yet to come.

The Trevians begin the championship phase of their season this week, when they participate CSL South Meet at Evanston on Friday. New Trier went undefeated during the conference regular season and will be the clear favorite to capture the overall CSL crown.

Head coach Jennifer Pistorius said her gymnasts will be looking to connect on certain skills ahead of the IHSA tournament, which begins a week later.

“(At conference) the girls are going to try to do their new tricks, to get them in a big meet and see how they perform them when it counts,” Pistorius said.

The schedule couldn’t be kinder. The Trevians have a full week between the conference meet and the Feb. 2 regional, which they will host. If New Trier advances, which it almost certainly will, the Trevs will compete at Niles North, the final of the state’s four sectionals, on Feb. 9.

“Having the last regional and last sectional will help us because we’ll have time to prepare and hopefully get new tricks,” Pistorius said. “Also, we have the luxury of knowing what scores we’ll need ahead of time before going to the meet.”

New Trier will enter the postseason as the No. 4 seed in the sectional behind Carmel, Stevenson and Lake Forest. Carmel, which has scored a 153.725, is the favorite to win sectional and state titles.

The Trevians almost certainly will be looking to earn one of four at-large spots to the IHSA state meet. With a season-high of 141.525, they are a longshot to beat out Stevenson (147.80), Lake Forest (147.25) and Libertyville (143.75), but Pistorius feels confident.

“You know, if we can hit on beam and not have falls on beam and bars ... . There are some other teams scoring higher than us, so we have to stay with them. We know we have to score in the mid-140s if we want a chance to go to state. That comes from us not having as many falls as we’re having.”

New Trier closed out the conference season on Friday by edging Glenbrook South 139.900 to 134.000.

Trevians junior Kerry Scafidi won the all-around (36.100), topped vault (9.6) and beam (9.2), took third on bars (8.5) and finished fourth on floor (8.8).

“Kerry tried a double-back on floor. She was not successful. She had first-time jitters because it was her first time trying it. Hopefully, she’ll be better (this week against Warren),” Pistorius said.

New Trier freshman Sam Stoddart came in first on bars (8.9) and floor (9.6). Senior Jeannie Round was second on vault (8.8) and sophomore Elana Benishay placed second on beam (9.0).

Benishay did not compete on vault in order to rest her sore hamstring. Sophomore Stephanie Steen also missed the meet because of illness.

New Trier was to host Warren Tuesday in the regular-season finale. It also was Senior Night and the Trevians planned to honor Round and fellow co-captain Charlotte Mitchell. North Shore Country Day senior Cassi Formolo also was to be recognized. She is the only gymnast from North Shore and often competes in invites with the Trevians.