Sports
Cuevas and Niles North Take Regional Crowns
With senior Citlali Cuevas leading the way, the Vikings won the first regional title in school history.
The Niles North Regional was the Citlali Cuevas show.
The Niles North Vikings’ senior won the all-around and three events, finishing second on the uneven bars, and led the host school to win the team competition. Behind Cuevas, the Vikings scored a school-record 137.2 to get the first regional championship in Niles North history.
The Vikings beat Conant’s 130.8 to take the title. Elk Grove (122.325) edged Glenbrook North (122.225) for third.
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Niles North continues to beat its own school record this year, but this time they did it at home in the playoffs.
“We scored 137 and we didn’t even have a full lineup,” Cuevas said. “I’m trying not to look too far ahead. Long-term goals I want to go to state. I want other girls to go to state. I think this is our year. We’ll be able to send some girls down there.”
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Clearly though, Cuevas stole the show. Her 37.525 all around is among the state’s elite. She scored 9.65 on vault and had 9.5 on both beam and floor. She is also excited for her team.
Of course, she focused on her weaker event, bars (8.875), afterwards.
“Bars is definitely a work in progress right now,” Cuevas said. “I feel like my difficulty on the other three events it’s all at the level it should be at, but when you look at bars I think it needs some improvement. It’s never been my strongest event. We’ll see if I can add some stuff here and there.”
The top five individuals at each event booked themselves a spot in sectionals. Among the Vikings' other qualifiers, senior Deborah Steinberg finished fifth in the all-around with a score of 33.725. Steinberg also placed third on beam (8.65) and fourth on vault (8.95). Junior Maddy Neuhaus earned fifth on floor (8.4) and beam (8.5) while sophomore Jessie Neuhaus snatched third on floor (8.75).
Elana Rusnak appears to have made the at-large cut to advance on vault as well thanks to an 8.525.
Vikings’ coach Charlie Friedman has been with the program since 1999 and the turnaround is staggering. The team successfully completed the goals Friedman set out at the beginning of the year: win conference and regionals.
The scary part is that Friedman said the team still can do better. However, they will need to improve by more than a couple points to push Schaumburg at the sectional meet Thursday. The Saxons posted a 144.65 at their regional, but Niles North gets to host the sectional.
