Warriors’ Determination Earns Gym Trophy

was determined to make sure her gymnastic team came away from the Central Suburban League North Division meet Saturday at Deerfield as champion.

The Warriors went into the competition with the best dual meet record in the conference and needed a first place finish to be sure they would not be sharing the crown with Glenbrook North.

“She was determined the win it even if she had to put the team on her back to make it happen,” Coach Carol Myers said. “She did not have to. Everyone did a fabulous job.”

Though Stitcher won the all around and floor exercise competitions, it turned out she had plenty of help from her teammates. While no Warrior other than Stitcher finished higher than third in any event, Colleen Hogan took third and Aly Perbohner fifth in the all around competition.

“This was an overall team effort,” Myers said of the Warriors first team crown since 2006. “Everyone pulled together and gave their best effort.” It was Deerfield’s second highest overall score of the season.

As the Warriors were competing in their final event, floor, with every other athlete done and the entire crowd’s eyes on Deerfield, Stitcher was leaving nothing to chance. Hogan had just finished her performance and was awaiting her score.

Everyone was watching Hogan and the judges except Stitcher. She was standing away from everyone by the balance beam getting ready to make the final effort of the day.

“I was pumping myself up,” Stitcher said of her solitary effort. “I knew I had to do well on floor. I saw that everyone else getting the job done and I wanted to pump myself up.”

As soon as Hogan got her score—an 8.825 for fourth place—Stitcher took to the mat and turned in a 9.425, the best tally of any gymnast of the day in any event. “She’s a dynamo,” Myers said. “She puts her heart and soul into it.”

Stitcher was not the only Warrior who went into the meet determined to clutch the championship trophy. Perbohner and Hogan were highly motivated to win the meet and be sure they did not have to share the crown with the Spartans.

“It was our opportunity to do it,” Hogan, a senior, said. “We knew this was it. We wanted to go out on top. We really wanted to come through. We all helped each other out. We knew we were going to get it done. This feels so good to us.”

With the Warriors heading into Regional competition Thursday and Stitcher hoping to return to the State Meet, the Deerfield star was ebullient with the performance of her teammates. “Having us finish one, three and five was huge,” she said referring to Hogan, Perbohner and herself.

Stitcher threaded her all around title with a gold medal on floor and second place honors in the vault, uneven parallel bars and balance beam.

Hogan managed a third place medal on the bars, fourth on floor and the beam and seventh in vault but was strong enough in all four to take third all around.

Perbohner assembled her fifth place all around finish with two medals—fifth on bars and eighth on the beam—but solid scores everywhere else.