This past Sat., Jan. 20, the Niles West girls gymnastics team took on their rivals, Niles North, with much success. With the season nearing its end, the most important meet was saved for last, and the girls lived up to their goals by defeating North for the third year in a row.

“We achieved the goal that we had set for ourselves at the beginning of the season. It feels like such a relief to have won and have that pressure and anxiety off our shoulders, but it was all worth it to keep the trophy at Niles West,” sophomore Katie Trail said.

Being that this is one of the most important and competitive meets of their regular competition season, all of the girls worked hard leading up to the meet and made sure to perform their best in each of their events, knowing how high the stakes were.

“It feels like an accomplishment to defeat North once again. It just shows that our hard work really pays off. It was also an accomplishment because our coaches put a lot of pressure on us all season, especially the week before, so it feels great winning and having our hard work paid off,” sophomore Claire Adler said.

Beating North and bringing home the traveling trophy is one of the biggest achievements for any team at Niles West.

“This meet was the best for two reasons. One, because we defeated North and kept the trophy where it belongs. Two, because I did my personal best on my bars routine, and it was the best feeling, especially because it was our last meet before conference,” Adler said.

Junior Jasmine Dirks does believe they competed well but also thinks there is always room for improvement.

“The team overall did well at each event, but there are some skills that we need to continue to work on and make more consistent. Since this was our last meet before conference, I think that it brought us more confidence as a team to have won and individually, this win definitely makes me more excited and ready to compete at conference,” Dirks said.

As the girls season is nearing its end, make sure to go out and support them for their conference competition on Sat., Jan. 27 at 11:00 a.m. at Maine South.

Diana Panoutsos contributed to this story.