Lake Park wins DuKane Meet, but St. Charles wins DuKane Conference season crown

ROSELLE – Exactly one week ago, St. Charles co-op went to Roselle and defeated Lake Park in a girls gymnastics dual.

Back at the same place Wednesday in the DuKane Conference Meet, the Lancers outscored St. Charles 141.925 to 139.225, though it wasn’t enough to wrest the overall conference championship from St. Charles.

Wheaton co-op was third with 135.2, followed by Geneva 133.775, Glenbard North 126.75 and Batavia 122.

“Coming into the meet, we knew it was a very unlikely scenario we could win and be conference champions because of scoring,” Lancers coach Jake Luketin said. “St. Charles did a great job and absolutely deserved it.”

Senior Rachel Nicastro tied for first on vault (9.225) and won floor (9.4), beam (9.4), and the all-around (36.725). Sophomore Jordyn McBride (36) was second in the all-around to lead St. Charles.

“It was a great ending. Especially being a senior, this is icing on the cake,” Nicastro said. “Since freshman year we’ve been getting better every year, and now we’re struggling with some injuries so we’ll keep our heads up and see what we can do in the state series.”

St. Charles junior Arianna Halick tore her ACL on Jan. 15 during a dual at Geneva. Senior Emily Johnson is out with a foot injury.

“This team is special, everyone supporting us throughout the whole thing,” McBride said. “Arianna is an amazing example of that. She was the hardest cheerer on the team today. Today I only heard her. She deserved to be up there competing with us.”

Elena Heath’s 35.3 in the all-around put her in fifth place to lead the Lancers. She took third on vault and tied teammate Carmen Tekien for third on beam. Mikayla Gnutek took second on beam, while Bree Lukes and Maddie Springer tied for fourth on bars.

“At the start of the meet, they all wanted to do as well as they could,” Luketin said. “The girls that needed to hit, hit. I think we only had one missed routine. It was good to see the girls come together.

“The strength of this team is the team itself being greater than the sum of its parts.”

Wheaton co-op freshman Kara Wilkinson won bars with 9.2.

“Bars has been strong throughout most of the year,” she said. “I love bars. It’s my favorite event. It’s just been really, really fun. I love the team aspect. It’s a lot less pressure and more fun than club.”

Glenbard North sophomore Jaida Aguayo tied Nicastro for top honors on vault.

“I came in prepared and with a strong mind and told myself, ‘I got this, don’t be afraid,‘ ” she said. “Today I think I did pretty well.”

Like she does regularly, Aguayo prayed before she vaulted.

“I pray before I go, so I like to figure out what I’m going to say when I pray and think about throughout my vault,” she said. “I do one step at a time, and I just think because I’m a powerful runner, I got this.

“You just have to be confident in yourself.”

https://www.dailyherald.com/20250129/girls-gymnastics/girls-gymnastics-lake-park-wins-dukane-invite-st-charles-scores-most-overall-points-to-take-confe/