Gymnastics: Lake Forest shares conference title with Stevenson

• Reprints

Lake Forest's Kylie Carlson, seen here in earlier action this season, took runner-up honors in the all-around in Friday's NSC Meet at Ultimate. | Brian O'Mahoney~for Sun-Times Media

Updated: March 3, 2012 8:12AM

Lake Forest’s girls gymnastics team dined at a Rainforest Café after Friday night’s NSC Meet in Gurnee.

It’s billed as a wild place to shop and eat.

As the Scouts and their coach, Robin Straus, looked at menus, colorful fish — some beautiful, some odd-looking — flitted in a nearby gigantic aquarium.

A bright blue-and-gold fish, it appeared, looked horrified while looking over the shoulder of a Scout.

The Scout, it appeared, was checking out the menu’s seafood items.

The tape-recorded sound of a roaring elephant briefly interrupted the soothing sound of a waterfall.

Faux lightning appeared, followed by a clap of faux thunder.

Right then, and there, was a good time to flash back an hour or so. LF’s Scouts, after performing well under the pressure of bright lights at Ultimate, had heard plenty of applause as NSC co-champions.

Reigning champion Stevenson scored 144.6 points to win the meet, ahead of runner-up LF (143.95). But LF had edged Stevenson in a dual in December.

Both programs earned a piece of the overall championship.

It was LF’s first conference title since 1985.

“Bring home the conference championship,” a proud Straus said, smiling. “That was the goal.”

The team’s vaults went a long way — high ways, too — toward achieving the goal. Straus’ fast and powerful vaulters combined to amass a program-record 38.4 points.

The record-setters:

Junior Kylie Carlson: 9.875 (third place), now the No. 1 all-time mark at LFHS.

Junior Kat McKeon: 9.575 (fifth).

Sophomore Brittany Moccia: 9.55 (sixth).

And junior Carly Schmidt: 9.4 (13th).

Scouts junior Christine Andersen (8.8.), the school’s top diver, also launched herself in the event.

But things didn’t start so swimmingly for LF’s crew Friday night. It struggled, a bit, on beam.

As did the rest of the field.

Only one gymnast, Libertyville junior Jenna Dunsing, scored a 9 on the event; her winning mark was a 9.0.

“There was very little time to reflect after beam,” McKeon recalled.

They regrouped, like all state-meet caliber teams do, and recovered nicely.

LF emerged as the only team to boast three top-10 all-arounders: Carlson (second place, 37.175), Moccia (fifth, 36.65) and McKeon (seventh, 36.325).

Other notable LF efforts: Moccia (second place, beam, 8.95; sixth, bars, 9.25); Carlson (fourth, beam, 8.7; fourth, bars, 9.4; seventh, floor, 9.2); and McKeon (fifth, bars, 9.3; sixth, beam, 8.5).

Freshman Laura Blake also competed for the Scouts on Friday night.

’Ship mate: LF senior Katie Meier was the Scouts’ pick for an NSC Sportsmanship Award. She and the other five honorees were recognized after Friday night’s conference meet in Gurnee.

Team juggler: Andersen, with Straus’ blessing, has trained as a diver this winter. She works out as a Glenbrook Aquatics member five days a week.

“She’s been great, so nice, allowing me to dive during gymnastics season,” Andersen, a JV gymnastics captain, said of Straus.

Flips: Blake, in the middle of the Scouts’ post-NSC Meet dinner Friday night, uttered, “Hello, grandpa, I love you.” … in Chinese. Later, in English, she said, “I like our team, a lot, and the chances I’ve had to meet new people during the season.” … At some meets, LF gymnasts and coaches play “Taboo,” the board game, to kill time. Players, to be successful, have to be good at describing things. LF’s best describers, based on a quick poll after Friday’s conference meet: Schmidt and JV coach Z White. … LF vaulters have tallied 38 or more points four times in 2011-12.

On the schedule: LF was assigned to host a regional and vie for sectional berths on Jan. 31. Other schools in the field: Mundelein, Glenbrook South and CSL North Meet runner-up Glenbrook North.