New Trier senior sticks it for state berth — and a pair of teammates will likely join her

Anna Virgili’s bars routine was so nice, they hugged her twice.

The New Trier senior earned the first round of embraces following her successful dismount, and then a second round when the judges revealed her score: 9.325.

“That was the best routine I’ve done all year, so I was really excited about it,” she said. “It was the best I’ve performed and just sticking my landing and everybody being so happy for me — the energy was so good. It made me super happy.”

Virgili’s performance earned her a fourth-place finish in the event Thursday night in the IHSA Lake Forest Sectional and an automatic bid to the state championships Feb. 20-21 at Palatine High School.

Her accomplishment highlighted the night for the Trevians, who placed third as a team with 139.15 points and just missed qualifying for the state finals for the third straight season. The cutoff for at-large team bids was 139.85.

Despite missing the mark, Trevians coach Jen Pistorius was proud of her team’s final night. New Trier put up a team score of 132.9 in its first meet of the season and continually improved from there, leading to a season-high 139.7 in the regional round on Feb. 3.

“I think we did great,” Pistorius said of the sectional result. “Coming from where we were, we worked really hard. Some of the girls didn’t expect they’d be doing this well, but they put in the work, extra hours, going in on weekends, and they wanted to. … They were asking to go practice. That’s great to see.

“I’m really, really proud of them.”

Virgili was one of the those putting in the extra work. She said she’d spend an hour alone fine tuning her bars routine during practice, and now she’ll get to show it off in the state finals.

And she won’t be alone.

Trevians sophomore Karis Park also nailed a bars routine, placing sixth with a score of 9.125, good enough to qualify at large for the IHSA championships.

Pistorius was also hoping that sophomore Harper Jacobs makes it through in the all-around competition. (All at-large bids were not determined by press time.) The Trevs newcomer tallied 35.075 points on Thursday, good enough for 12th.

The total was Jacobs’ high on the season, Pistorius said, and more than a full point above her regional score. She scored a 9.3 on vault (ninth), 9.15 on beam, 8.35 on floor and 8.275 on bars.

Pistorius said as Jacobs gained confidence this season, her scores kept rising.

“We knew from the beginning she was super talented, but lacked some of that confidence,” Pistorius said. “So that’s what we’ve been spending a lot of time on.

“I think she had her best meet of the year so far. She hit her bars routine; she hadn’t hit a beam routine like that at all this year. I think she’s gotten more relaxed and more confident.”

Park also added a 10th place finish on floor for New Trier, while senior Elena Scarano was 14th on floor.

Carmel Catholic won the meet with a score of 145.0 ahead of runnerup Glenbrook South and its state-qualifying 143.725.

Event winners were GBS’s Allie Mietus on bars (9.5), GBS’s Annika Troncoso on floor (9.6), Mundelein’s Lexie Ede on beam (9.55), Vernon Hill’s Mya Brusso on vault (9.65) and Troncoso in the all-around (37.475).

Other state-qualifying teams include Prairie Ridge (144.575), Downers Grove South (144.2), Lake Park (143.425), Conant (141.875), Lincoln-Way east (141.6), Andrew (140.875) and Wheaton-Warrenville South (139.85).

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