Glenbard West High School’s girls gymnastics season has come to an end, as the team dominated with first-place finishes in conference and regionals; a strong third-place finish in sectionals; and the achievement of two state qualifiers.

In an interview with Seniors Annika Bhagwakar and Lilly McCarthy, the two highlighted their team’s transformational and hardworking season. Addressing their modest beginnings, they emphasized the team’s adaptation to high school competition with several new members, acknowledging the significant growth and the resilience that showed through this season. 

Annika Bhagwakar, a four-year veteran, admits that at the beginning of the season, scores were pretty inconsistent and often fluctuating. However, looking back, she says she thinks it “helped us in practice to have more solidified goals and to work really hard on consistency above everything.” There was a new wave of motivation that took over, benefiting both team scores and chemistry.

With many freshmen joining, the team was quite young. After losing some amazing seniors from last year, the team knew they had to step up their game, with Bhagwaker stating that “Qualifying [for sectionals] wasn’t a given this year.” Lilly McCarthy has done gymnastics most of her life but only joined the Glenbard West team this past October. Competing in club gymnastics was quite different from school, she highlighted. With many new gymnasts on the team, there wasn’t much of a bond holding everyone together. Over time, however, McCarthy states, “We became more comfortable as a team and like I think that helped improve the dynamic at practices a lot too.” As they improved as a team, their scores followed suit.

“There was a 10-point increase from our first match,” McCarthy informed. “Our team wasn’t supposed to get as far as it did.” Unexpectedly winning regionals, the team took it all the way to third place in sectionals and even some to state. Juniors Leah Chapski and Grace Flint were state qualifiers this year. Flint performed on bars, while Chapski performed on vault. With a week to prepare, they knew to keep practices light and focus on simply fine-tuning their skills so they could show off their best at state.

In an interview with Chapski, she shared, “I’m really proud of our team this year. After losing a lot of seniors, the team felt completely different, but we were still able to be successful. I’m really proud of the new people on our team this year for stepping it up right away as freshmen because I know that can be really tough.”

The Glenbard West Girls Gymnastics Team has a lot to be proud of. The progress from this season shows in the results and will continue to impact the team next year.