Oswego Co-op’s Ava Sullivan vaults to school’s first state gymnastics championship

PALATINE – Ava Sullivan told herself she would never let gymnastics drive her to tears again.

The Oswego Co-op senior gladly will make an exception for happy ones.

Sullivan wrapped up the most successful state performance by an individual Oswego co-op gymnast on Saturday at Palatine, winning the vault (9.7) to become the school’s first state champion.

She also took second on floor (9.525) and third on beam (9.425).

“When I came back from club gymnastics, I always told myself, ‘Hey it’s not that serious, we’re here for fun, if you’re going to get upset and worked up and cry about it that’s not why we’re here,’” she said. “So I just wanted to have so much fun and I did, and if I’m going to cry it’s going to be happy tears.”

Sullivan usually vaults right before senior teammate Sam Phillip, but Phillip was the second of the 11 vault qualifiers to take her turn, scoring a 9.5 to match her score on Friday, which earned her a fifth place medal.

“We both help each other get to our best place, and I didn’t really say much to Ava because she knows what she can do good every single time,” Phillip said. “I’ve seen Ava grow so much. She totally deserves this. She literally put everything out there and got what she deserved so I’m very proud of her. Her stick - I wish I could stick like her. Her finishes are amazing. I knew she got it. An amazing vault. The best one I’ve ever seen her do. Glad it was here.”

Oswego co-op coach Michael Borge had never seen Sullivan execute her Yurkchenko layout so well.

“I knew that was the best vault she had ever done,” he said. “I wasn’t sure if it was going to be the top vault of the day, but it was the best vault ever in a meet she’s ever done. And we loved that the score reflected that, and to walk off with that being the case was just wild.”

Sullivan scored a 9.45 on vault in Friday’s preliminaries and arrived in the finals against seven girls who had outscored her 24 hours earlier. As she stuck her first attempt, with her feet sticking to the landing mat, she seemed to dance in place, rocking her legs momentarily but with her feet seemingly cemented in place.

“My dad, he always tells me when I do any dismount or whatever to ‘stick it like a lawn dart’ are his words,’” she said. “So that was me - a lawn dart - so that’s what I thought of. Sean Sullivan. The GOAT. I love that guy.”

After winning vault and participating in the award ceremony, Sullivan had a 15-minute break before the beam and floor final. She was the first to go on the beam, matching her Friday score of 9.425. She finished on the floor, tears arriving just as she finished her routine as she improved her score by 0.225.

“It feels like my entire life has been gymnastics and it’s so amazing to go out this way,” she said. “I’m proud of how far I’ve come. I had a gap in between my eighth grade and freshman and sophomore year and feeling burnt out, and to finish it like this, I’m just so excited. It’s just extraordinary. An incredible opportunity that I’m so grateful to have had.”

Phillip followed Sullivan on floor, putting the final touch on a record-breaking weekend and season for Oswego co-op that almost didn’t happen. The Wanthers were stuck waiting from late on Mon., Feb. 10 until Friday, Feb. 14 to learn their fate as a potential at-large team qualifier.

They should’ve known if they were in or out after Thursday’s Mundelein sectional, but Wednesday’s Glenbard West sectional got postponed due to weather until Valentine’s Day on Friday night. Fortunately, cupid’s arrow found Oswego.

“It was a very long week, first of all, and I think most people had spent a couple days making peace conceptually and that it may not go our way, but you never know,” Borge said. “We knew it would come down to the last sectional meet, and on Valentine’s Day. I already gave the girls the day off and debated going to watch (the Glenbard West rescheduled sectional) but I thought it would not be good for my own mental health, and as a husband, this might not be well received.”

So Borge stayed at home and watched “The Princess and the Frog” with his wife and three daughters.

“So we’re watching and my wife is asleep and I’m stroking her hair and quietly refreshing the meet score and I can feel my heart beating in my face,” he said. “When those last team scores popped in, I quietly slid out and replaced myself like Indiana Jones-style with a pillow.”

Borge didn’t even have to contact Sullivan to let her and the rest of the team know.

“Ava was on it and already knew where we were,” he said. “Most everybody had kind of stayed away from it, which is wise and what a healthy person would’ve done, but I made a different choice and kept hitting refresh. It was this wildly cathartic experience and everyone knew it was going to be very tight and it was.”

Sullivan turned her group chat into a FaceTime celebration.

“That was the longest wait of our lives,” Phillip said. “Oh my gosh, we were texting and Ava FaceTimed the group chat and we were all in there and got the news. Such a great time.”

In addition to Sullivan and Phillip contributing four team scores a piece on Friday, Oswego co-op received contributions from seven gymnastics to complete its scoring.

Senior newcomer Veda Haake contributed an 8.725 on bars and 8.55 on beam to the tem score. Juniors Alyson Zieba (9.025) and Frani Valenti (8.775) delivered counting performances on vault, sophomore Alenna Holden (8.45) contributed on bars, junior Emily Kroll (8.675) did so on beam and junior Gabby Schulte (8.625) and sophomore Frani Schulte (8.4) helped boost the team’s floor score.

“It takes every girl contributing,” Borge. “No one questions Ava (Sullivan) and Sam (Phillip) are are the anchors and Veda (Haake) has been an absolute blessing, a workhorse and good kid. The Schulte kids are easy kids to cheer for. Frani Valenti keeps saying yes to the right thing. Aly (Zieba), who is only on vault since she’s recovering from a concussion and could probably be a two-event athlete, but just had a personal best at the state meet, which is not a bad place to PR.

“It’s not necessarily important to everyone that’s there, but Emily Knoll was the first up on beam for the whole meet and set the tempo for everybody and it was a killer rotation. When I saw the lineup I screenshot it and sent it to her and said, ‘Just so you know, you are setting the whole thing up and she said ‘Ok, good,” and I love that attitude from her. We have so much to celebrate with this group of kids.”

Oswego co-op took fifth place as a team, increasing its score over two days to 143.325 just behind St. Charles co-op’s 143.8.

Downers Grove co-op outscored runner-up Prairie Ridge co-op, 148.725 to 145.65. It was the first time a champ won by three or more points since Fremd in 1999. Coincidentally, Oswego took third place that year. This was their best finish since and the Wanthers first state appearance in 23 years, five years before Oswego East had opened.

Sullivan also took fifth in the all-around (37.05) while Phillip was 14th (36.5).

Sullivan has the all-around and bars scoring records at Oswego co-op while Phillip finishes her career as its record-holder on floor and vault.

What a finish.

“It’’s crazy we got all these records our senior year,” Phillip said. “It was the year to do it, especially the team, too. Fifth place is a really big finish for us. I’m really happy with all we’ve accomplished this season.’