If the end of Prairie Ridge’s co-op girls gymnastics team and maybe the IHSA sport itself is imminent, Nora Terhaar plans to go out flying high.

It’s what the reigning state champion on the uneven parallel bars does, after all.

Terhaar and her Prairie Ridge teammate Bryleigh Cooper say the thought has entered their minds that their team – and maybe even their sport at the IHSA level itself – might be in its final month.

“I don’t think we’ve really had that talk as a team yet,” said Terhaar, who like Cooper is a junior. “Co-ops are going away. They’re putting a cap on them, and we’re a little over the cap.”

Monday night in Hoffman Estates, Terhaar, Cooper and their teammates kept their season alive and advanced to state by winning the Conant Sectional with a score of 144.5750. A strong finish on floor exercise, led by Terhaar’s first-place effort, helped Prairie Ridge comfortably hold off runner-up Conant (141.8750).

Starting next season, IHSA co-op teams with a combined enrollment of 3,500 or more students will be ineligible for state series team awards. The rule, passed in December, does not end all co-ops but would restrict the largest ones from postseason title contention.

On another issue, eliminating co-ops means that there might not be enough teams for the sport to continue in the IHSA after this season.

Prairie Ridge coach Lexi Redmond, whose squad can draw from any and all of District 155’s four high schools, wouldn’t say that her team’s demise is all but official.

“We’re working on it,” Redmond said. “We’re talking to some people to see how we can get this turned over.”

If its uncertain future is a distraction for Prairie Ridge, it didn’t show at Conant. Terhaar won bars with a 9.5500 and floor with a 9.6250. She finished third in the all-around with a 37.3750, behind co-champs Julia Shulman (37.6000) of Conant and Palatine’s Jolee Waddington (37.6000).

On floor, Terhaar landed her 1½ twist to a front pike.

“I was pretty proud with how I did,” Terhaar, a Prairie Ridge student, said of her overall performance. “Obviously I wish beam (one fall, 8.6750) would have went a little better than it did, but overall I gave it my all. That’s all I can really ask for.”

Terhaar finished 11th on beam and was runner-up on vault (9.5250). She landed her roundoff on beam crooked, lost her balance and jumped off.

“Just a fluke thing,” Redmond said. “Hips turned, sent her off a little bit. That one was a hard one to save. I’d rather her jump off and stay safe, and not get injured.”

Cooper, who attends Crystal Lake Central, tied for second on beam (9.3500), finished fourth on vault (9.4750) and seventh on floor (9.2000), sticking her 2½ twist.

She was fifth in the all-around (36.8750).

“It was pretty good,” Cooper said of her night. “I liked competing floor. It was one of my cleaner routines this season, so I was proud of it. Same with vault, too.”

Prairie Ridge junior Tess Morton finished sixth in the all-around (35.7250). She tied for fourth on bars (9.3750) and was sixth on vault (9.4000).

Prairie Ridge, which won the Schaumburg Regional with a 143.3500, competes at state Feb. 20-21 at Palatine.

“It was a good night,” Redmond said. “We had a couple of falls on beam, bars and floor, but it was a lot better than our last meet, so I’ll take it. They’re working hard, and they’re doing their skills at the gym. I saw improvement this week.”