Geneva tunes up for postseason
The highest-scoring girls gymnastics team in the state and a state champion all-arounder were unfortunately missing from Geneva on Wednesday night.
Prairie Ridge co-op, the defending state champ, was scheduled to compete in a triangular along with Waubonsie Valley/Metea Valley co-op but canceled.
Meanwhile, Geneva junior Claire Ginsberg, the IHSA all-around champion in 2014, made an appearance late into the meet, but was coming from a National Honor Society function and did not compete.
In a meet that served as not much more than preparation for this weekend's respective conference meets and next week's regionals, the Vikings prevailed, 138.9 to 131.4.
"It's unfortunate we're still not in the Upstate Eight so my focus isn't really on conference this year," said Geneva coach Kim Hostman, whose team will compete at the Independent Conference meet this weekend at Oswego. "I'm pleased with how we did. The younger kids are stepping up and we have a lot of depth, and we've been adding more to their routines."
Depth has been crucial since Geneva's been bugged with injuries. Julia Grootens has been sidelined the entire season with a hand injury, while Lily Chapman and Gracie DeVita also were out of the lineup on Wednesday. To be without four gymnasts, including your best one, and still score close to 140 is quite impressive.
"We've been plagued by injuries this year so it's been a lot of different people and playing with the lineup and they've all stepped up and given 100 percent," Hostman said. "As for regionals, it's still up in the air (on who will be in the lineup)."
Senior Samantha Delguidice is one of the gymnastics who has stepped up. She won vault and took second on beam. Freshman Linsday King, who was second on bars, is another.
Junior Paige Beitzel was Geneva's lone all-arounder with a 34.15. She won bars with an 8.45.
"Paige is doing well and improving every day," Hostman said. "She's added a few things. She's been working on tsuks but didn't have her tsuk tonight."
Kelly Frank tied for third on bars and fellow sophomore Molly Lambillote won floor for the Vikings with a 9.3.
Waubonsie Valley/Metea Valley co-op junior Claire Samojedny won the all-around with a 35 while enjoying her best beam routine of the year.
"It wasn't my best meet, but I did have a season high on beam so I was excited for that," she said. "It'll help me prepare for the future. Vault has been solid the last couple meets, bars have been consistent, but I still want to get my floor up and my coaches have been working with me on that."
It proved to be a nice night for the co-op's sophomores.
Jess Houghton took second on vault and was third in the all-around with a 32.35, while Melissa Martin was third on vault and Kayla Bach took third on beam.
"They've come a long way," Waubonsie Valley/Metea Valley co-op coach Phil Gilmer said. "Their high is 133.7 and low is 125 so that's a huge difference. They're still capable of much higher. They could hit in the 135-137 range. We hope to see that on Friday at conference."