Gymnastics: Carmel Catholic’s Cohen-Smith making a career out of collecting crowns
by bill mclean Contributor February 3, 2012 1:58PM
Carmel's Sarah Cohen-Smith moves through her balance beam routine at the Deerfield Regional last week. She took runner-up honors. | Joel Lerner~Sun-Times Media
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Updated: March 10, 2012 8:16AM
Carmel Catholic junior gymnast Sarah Cohen-Smith, in one full day, shadowed a pharmacist, a doctor and a chemist.
Her mother, Carol, had arranged the Career Day.
“She told me,” recalled Sarah, “to pick three professions I’d consider pursuing.”
Sarah Cohen-Smith was ambitious and wide-eyed and forward-thinking at the time.
And an eighth-grader.
“I’m so glad my mom did that for me,” added the aspiring pharmacist. “It was all so fascinating.
“I learned so much.”
Her job, at the Deerfield Regional on Feb. 2: excel as a Corsair.
What Carmel gymnastics coach Sarah Mikrut-Doyle learned about Cohen-Smith at Deerfield: nothing new.
“Her intensity is up this year, and it’s been like that all season; she wants it more … more success,” said Mikrut-Doyle. “She’s a strong and consistent competitor, with a great attitude. A coach’s dream, really.”
Cohen-Smith finished runner-up on the balance beam (9.5) and fourth on vault (9.625) at Deerfield, as Carmel put up another gargantuan total (153.225) to easily win another regional championship.
“Carmel has too much firepower,” Vernon Hills assistant coach Jesse Piland said, shaking his head in awe.
Cohen-Smith, a member of the Corsairs’ state title squads the last two seasons, also qualified to compete at this week’s Niles North Sectional on floor exercise (at-large, 9.325).
“My teammates have been great, the way they push me, motivate me,” Cohen-Smith said.
Another one of her inspirations tried gymnastics. But airborne chalk in gyms triggered spells of asthma, forcing him to look for another outlet. Her brother, 11-year-old Josh, also attempted to play soccer.
The running involved halted that venture.
“He got into karate,” big sis said. “He pushed himself and dedicated himself. I was so proud of him, so impressed. Then he earned a blue belt.”
It didn’t take long for Sarah Cohen-Smith to earn respect from her teammates. Halfway through her freshman season, she injured her right hamstring. Most would have opted for total rest; it was that severe of an injury.
But CCHS came before SC-S.
“Sarah somehow shook it off and kept going for the team,” Mikrut-Doyle said.
Cohen-Smith’s head doesn’t hurt these days. But it probably did, now and again, because of her success in … pageants. A pageant winner, after all, has to wear a tiara.
Cohen-Smith, a Wadsworth resident, has already won six jeweled coronets, including one for emerging as Little Miss Waukegan in 2006.
Her primary concern now is to go big at gymnastics meets.
Crowd-pleasing, judge-pleasing big.
A third straight state championship for Carmel Catholic is a given, right?
Don’t tell that to a Corsair.
If you did, she’d give you a blank look.
“Our girls don’t even talk about that,” Mikrut-Doyle said. “They’re not boastful, and they’re not even thinking about it.
“What they do,” she added, “is come in, practice hard, perform at meets.”
Too good: Carmel amassed 16 automatic and four at-large sectional berths at last week’s Deerfield Regional. Junior Lauren Feely’s 5-for-5 night included an all-around (38.6) gold medal, as well as first-place efforts on vault (9.8) and the balance beam (9.6).
Corsairs senior Kristin Mirski finished runner-up in the all-around (38.425) and threw a meet-best floor routine (9.8); junior teammate Jen Zeller captured the bars (9.625) title; Anna Brandmeier, a senior, took fourth on floor (9.525) and qualified at-large on vault (9.3); and junior Kari Osowski contributed a pair of at-large scores on bars (8.775) and beam (9.3).
Top heavy: How dominant was Carmel at last week’s Deerfield Regional?
This dominant: Corsairs went 1-2-3 in the all-around and in three of the four events. Vernon Hills junior Alli Tran was the lone 1-2-3 interloper, taking third on vault (9.7).
On the schedule: Carmel vies for state berths at the Niles North Sectional on Feb. 9, beginning at 6:30 p.m.
Flashback: Carmel topped last year’s Stevenson Sectional, scoring 151.6 points and getting a 2-3 finish in the all-around from Feely (38.6) and Mirski (38.05). Feely and Mirski shared gold on vault (9.875s); Mirski also tied for first place on beam (9.625) and edged Feely 9.8-9.75 for first place on floor.
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