When Sandburg’s Regann Chausse and some of her teammates headed to Andrew to practice as part of the District 230 co-op girls gymnastics team a few years ago, they were strangers in a strange land.
“When we first went to the athletic training office, they were like, ‘Who are you?’’’ Chausse said.
People know who Chausse and her friends are now.
The District 230 team, which has athletes from Sandburg, Stagg and host Andrew, took a giant leap forward this year with its sixth-place finish in the IHSA State Meet on Feb. 21-22 at Palatine.
The team finished with a 141.820. But the biggest takeaway is that it qualified for the first time since the three teams merged. It was the first time the district was represented by a team since Sandburg qualified in 2009.
Mike White was the coach of that 2009 team and even though he is retired, he still has a keen interest in the program.
D-230 coach Allison Hack said the team found out on Feb. 14 that it was going to state as an at-large team.
“I got a text from coach White within one minute after we found out,” Hack said. “We all were very anxious for those scores.”
Individually, Chausse was the lone D-230 athlete to place as she finished eighth on balance beam with a 9.0750. Last year, she took third. She also finished ninth in the all-around at 36.825.
Individually, D-230’s Faith Casey and Kylie Wagner finished tied for 21st on vault, each with scores of 9.3250.
Casey finished 12th on beam with a 9.1500. Chausse had a 12th-place finish on floor exercise with a 9.2250.
The team’s third-place score of 142.475 at the Hinsdale Central Sectional was its best score.
“The hope for any team and any season is to go to state,” she said. “But it’s always a matter of putting the pieces together and staying healthy throughout the year. And we didn’t put our full lineup out there until postseason because of injuries and sicknesses throughout the season.
“We knew we were capable of putting up a big score, but you always need those pieces to fall into place. This year they fell into place at the right time.”
The post Regann Chausse, District 230 gymnasts make mark at state appeared first on Southwest Regional Publishing.