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Sports

VIDEO: Young Spartans Fall to Experienced Warriors

Inexperienced GBN girls gymnastics team falls to senior-heavy Deerfield squad.

On senior night in , it was clear that the Glenbrook North girls gymnastics team was lacking what Deerfield had--seniors.  The Spartans graduated four gymnasts from last year's conference championship team and now have a varsity roster that includes two sophomores and two freshman.  The Warriors lineup included four seniors, all of whom contributed to a 132.9-120.1 win over Glenbrook North.

" and that's a big part of it," GBN head coach Julie Holmbeck said.  "They do struggle with the fact that we only have one varsity member that's a senior.  And there's not a lot of leadership roles in the gym besides her."

The Spartans have lost two consecutive and were also disappointed with their performance at Saturday's Evanston Invite.  Despite their recent struggles, the future still to look bright.  Sophomore Miriam Mikhelson finished fourth in the all-around (31.1) Tuesday night, while freshman Sari Grad and sophomore Valarie Bobart continue to improve on their scores, posting all-around totals of 29.7 and 30, respectively.

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"We just need to get more confidence in ourselves," Grad said.  "We just need to do what we're capable of and not let our mind get in the way."

"We're a work in progress," Holmbeck added.  "I've said that all along and I'm hoping that they'll peak at the end of the year and end the season on a really good note."

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Abby Grad, the Spartans lone senior, also posted a solid all-around score (29.9) with her top performance coming on the vault (8.4).

As for the Deerfield seniors, Brittney Klein finished third in the all-around (31.7), posting her highest scores on vault (8.3) and floor (8.5).  Carson Ram finished second in the all-around (32.4) after posting an 8.6 on both vault and beam.

"Beam is my favorite event to compete and I've been working hard to get a solid routine," Ram said.  "And on vault, I've been doing the same vault since I was a freshman and it's nice to see that the practice is finally paying off and I'm getting the higher scores."

While the seniors played a major role in the win, so did sophomore Christine Stitcher, who was the top all-around finisher (35.2), posting a score of 9.1 or higher in every event except bars (7.6), where she fell on the landing.  Stitcher has been the top scoring individual for the Warriors all season and helped them improve to 3-1 in the CSL North, staying in contention with Niles North to claim the conference championship.

"Yesterday, (head coach Carol) Myers gave us a speech about how she's been coaching for such a long time and through that time she's had 21 conference titles," Stitcher said.  "She thinks it would be really special for her to win one more conference title this year.  So it was obviously important to beat GBN today."

With the loss, the Spartans fall to 2-2 in CSL North duel meets.

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