LT Sports Roundup: Connors at Three Point Showdown, Gymnasts and Track Launched [VIDEO]

Lyons Township senior Colleen Connors had a strong showing at the Class 4A girls basketball Country Financial Three-Point Showdown preliminaries March 1 at Illinois State University’s Redbird Arena in Normal.

It nearly was even more successful.

Connors made 9 of 15 attempts to tie for 10th place among the 32 entries that had qualified with top-four finishes in four previous rounds prior to regional and sectional games.

Four players advanced to the championship round March 2. If Connors had made 10, she would have been in a three-player shootout with six other players for the final advancing qualifying spot.

“Nine of out 15 shots made is phenomenal—that’s more than 50 percent. And she knows how tough it was to advance to the next round,” LT coach Katie Meyers said. “We were all proud of Colleen and it was fun to watch her compete at Illinois State.”

Connors needed a tiebreaker just to get downstate, making 5 of 10 shots from the far corners of the three-point arc to get the last qualifying spot out of the LT Sectional Feb. 23. LT freshman Victoria Swift reached the sectional semifinals after making an impressive 12 of 15 shots before the Proviso West Regional final Feb. 16.

Connors had a team-high 24 three-pointers (.343 shooting percentage) for the Lions this season and was their leading scorer (10.7 points per game). Nearly one-third of Connors’ baskets were three-pointers while she also shot a team-best 80 percent from the free-throw line (115 of 143). LT (16-11) enjoyed its first winning season since 2005.

Last year, then-LT seniors Lindsay Esposito and Kamey Murphy qualified for the Three-Point Showdown, the Lions’ first downstate qualifiers since Ann Rogers in 2007.

This year’s path was extremely difficult, considering the Lions were in the state’s toughest sectional, including eventual 4A state champion Whitney Young and other regional champions Trinity, Fenwick and Proviso East.

“I’d even argue as hard as the sectional game competition was, it was equally as hard for the three-point shooters,” Meyers said. “Colleen is as consistent a three-point shooter as there is. I hope she realizes that. She did phenomenal.”

LT boys gymnastics

The Lyons Township boys gymnastics team opened its season March 2 by finishing fourth at Hinsdale Central’s seven-team Red Devil Invitational with 118.20 points.

Three 2011 state-qualifying teams took the top three spots – Mundelein (131.80), Downers Grove North (131.40) and Glenbrook South (128.90).

The Lions’ Chris Rediehs was second on vault (9.0) to Mundelein’s Colin McCarthy (9.2) and also was third on parallel bars (7.8), fourth on horizontal bar (8.2) and pommel horse (7.7), fifth on floor exercise (8.4), sixth on still rings (6.7)

Jon Brandt was fourth on vault (8.5) and 11th on parallel bars (5.8) and 12th on horse (6.0), Dan Gallagher was 11th on horse (6.2) and tied for 12th on horizontal bar (4.9) and Tim Findley tied for 12th on vault (7.9).

Brandt (vault) and Gallagher (horse) were the Lions' two 2011 individual state meet qualifiers.

On the sophomore level Friday, the Lions took first place (104.40) by 10 points over second-place Hinsdale Central.

All-arounder Noah Mennemier (6.3 on horse), Dave Bielski (8.5 on floor) and Will Gallucci (6.0 on rings) were event champions, all-arounder Dave Bielski was second on horizontal bar (5.9), and Jackson McCoy John Janus and Xavier Barry also had top-five finishes.

The LT varsity defeated Andrew/District 230 co-op 126.10 to 79.30 Tuesday in Western Springs.

LT girls and boys indoor track

The Lyons Township girls and boys indoor track teams enjoyed success at Downers Grove South’s annual Mustang Relays Monday at North Central College.

All three LT girls entries posted the second-fastest indoor event times in school history.

The 3,200-meter relay team of Claire Johnson, Lisa Gordon, Randie Speir and Amy Bazzoni (9 minutes, 33.54 seconds fully-automatic time) was second to Lake Park (9:30.17), and the 1,600 relay of Melissa Hoo, Sarah Kreikemeier, Julie Dambra and Bazzoni (4:01.06) was second to Lincoln-Way West (4:00.59). The 800 relay of Gabriella Pavletic, Kreikemeier, Hoo and Dambra (1:46.79) was fourth.

For the LT boys, the 1,600 relay of Mike Thomas, Quentin Sanchez, Dan Miklosz and Lino Mogorovic  (3:30.10) and the 800 relay of Matthew Harris, Mogorovic, Giovanni Young and Thomas (1:33.31) both were seventh, and the 3,200 relay of Ed McCarter, Michael Matusiak, Alejandro Lima and Mike Dost was 16th (8:23.23)

All three girls relays and the boys 1,600 and 800 relays posted qualifying times for the Class 3A Illinois Prep Top Times Classic March 24 at Illinois Wesleyan University in Normal.

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