MSL Gymnastics: Nemcek Raises the Bar for Hersey Girls Program
Sophomore Wins School's First Individual State Title in 31 Years
Sabrina Nemcek didn’t carry the weight of a decades-long wait for Hersey to find its next girls gymnastics state champion and medalist.
That’s why it may have been a blessing that Nemcek didn’t know she was ending a 31-year drought when she finished first on the uneven bars at the state meet two weeks ago at Palatine High School. Four-time state champion and eight-time medalist Kathy Kautz was the last Hersey gymnast to reach the state awards stand when she won the bars, floor exercise and all-around in 1992.
“I had no clue,” Nemcek said of the historic implications for the Hersey program. “I thought I was just another medalist (at the school). Before the meet, I said, ‘OK, I want this and I know I can do it.’ I wasn’t focusing on how long it had been. I hit my routine and became a state champion.”
Nemcek’s efforts also helped Hersey gymnastics end another lengthy drought as it made the state meet as a team for the first time since 1990. Their success was part of a tremendous winter for athletics at the school that included the girls basketball team finishing fourth in the state in Class 4A, the wrestling team winning the Mid-Suburban League title and going to the state meet for the first time since 1997 and the boys basketball team winning 19 games.
And 10th-year Hersey gymnastics coach Shannon Barrett had an inkling in early January that Nemcek could be center stage after her performance at the Naperville North Invitational.
“The judges told me at the meet, ‘You have a state champion,’ so I had an idea,” Barrett said. “I knew she would be a medalist when the season started, but when Naperville North came around the judges had seen all the other talent. From then on out I started telling everyone, ‘We have a state champion coming, we have a state champion coming.’”
Nemcek delivered with a 9.525 in the finals to finish a full point ahead of senior Betsy Alcorn of Glenbrook North. That also made her the first individual champion from the MSL since 2015 when Barrington’s Abby Hasanov won the floor exercise and Rolling Meadows’ Kelly Johnston won the balance beam.
And Nemcek was prepared for the big crowds and state atmosphere after just missing a medal on bars as a freshman when she tied for sixth place.
“Last year was a very big motivator,” Nemcek said. “I wanted my title and I knew I could do it. I wanted redemption on bars and I knew my routine so much better and it was harder.”
That work began last offseason when she spent four hours a day last summer practicing the Gienger release move that she hit in mid-July. From there it was continuing to work to consistently hit the move in practices and meets.
Barrett said they contemplated taking it out for regionals because a fall would keep her from qualifying for sectionals. But Nemcek hadn’t missed a routine all season so there was no reason to change.
“She has one of the hardest bar routines in the state of Illinois and no one compares to her,” Barrett said, “It was like going from a 5 (last year) to a 10. Her routine last year was beautiful but it wasn’t difficult. Her routine last year is one everybody does.
“No one else did the release this year in the finals. She had a routine no one was capable of but her. She was so much higher on bars so all she had to do was hit it.”
Nemcek said she started in gymnastics around age 3 or 4 when her mom enrolled her in a beginners’ class. It wasn’t long before she was ascending to the highest levels on the club circuit before she arrived at Hersey.
Barrett said she wasn’t familiar with Nemcek before her freshman year. She doesn’t like to get too excited about high-level kids since they may opt not to compete at the high school level.
“I didn’t know Sabrina coming in, but once I got to know her, I knew she would continue to go far here,” Barrett said.
That was backed up immediately as Nemcek won the MSL all-around as a freshman and led Hersey to its first league team title since 1984. This year the team took second in the MSL to Barrington and won a regional for the first time in seven years.
But the regional wasn’t their finest performance so Barrett reminded them to have fun at the Conant sectional. To say that approach was successful was an understatement as the Huskies scored 142.85 to beat Barrington for their first sectional title since 1984 as Nemcek won the all-around, bars and vault. Senior Lauren Bayer (beam) and junior Grace Johnson (bars) also finished in the top five and sophomore Gianna Mazzola was an at-large qualifier on vault and beam.
“We knew from the beginning we could make it and as time went on we knew we could do this,” Nemcek said of making state as a team. “When we won the sectional we all hit and we said, ‘This may be our meet.’ Once we were in the hallway and Barrett added up the stats, we were so emotional and so excited.”
As was Barrett as she saw her dream of taking a team to state come true.
“They work hard and push each other so I knew we were capable,” she said. “In the sectional they all did well. I knew it was close and I started bawling because I was so excited for them. I’m so proud of them.”
Hersey finished eighth as a team at state but with Nemcek, Johnson and Mazzola leading a talented crew of returnees there is a lot of excitement for the future. The 1984 team coached by Linda Feiza and led by third-place all-arounder Georgette Podlin won a state title and the program took second in 1977 and 1982.
“I think next year we definitely have a big chance of bringing home some hardware,” Nemcek said. “To bring that home would be amazing.”
Nemcek will also be looking for multiple trips to the awards stand after taking sixth in the all-around and eighth on vault this year. She was second in the vault prelims with a 9.675. Barrett envisions Nemcek joining Kautz and Wendy Specht (1982) as all-around champions from Hersey.
“I don’t think she gives herself enough credit and I could see her winning state,” Barrett said in reference to some of the modest goals Nemcek mentioned for her next two years at Hersey.
“This is my first time hearing this before today,” Nemcek said with a laugh. “My reaction is now I hope to make it happen next year.”
And Barrett isn’t afraid to raise the bar even higher for what Nemcek could be capable of in her gymnastics future.
“I know now that I won I have a higher chance to do bars in college,” Nemcek said. “I already have a college bars routine and hopefully I’ll be able to do it in college.”
“Or the Olympics in Paris,” Barrett said of the 2024 Summer Games.
