Batavia dominates Fenton

The Batavia girls gymnastics team has an entirely new look this winter.

With the infusion of four club performers on the squad, the Bulldogs have, in the words of coach Taryn Boyce, "come a long way in the past few years."

With the top-three scores in all four events in their dual meet against Fenton Wednesday night in Batavia, the Bulldogs cruised to a 134.7-121.15 victory.

Batavia is 3-1 on the season; Fenton is still looking for its first win after 8 meets.

Rachel Besic literally jump-started the Bulldogs' dominant evening when the junior captured the vault with a 9.3 score, the highest mark in any event on the night.

"I like vault -- it's my favorite (event)," said Besic.

The Bulldogs were only getting warmed up; Danae Fuqua, who would best Besic by a point to capture all-around honors, had a 9.1 mark on vault, and Batavia earned a 3.45-point plurality in the event to take a lead never to be relinquished.

Sophomore Kathryn Warner was third in the vault for Batavia.

Cindy Douglas scored an 8.1 on her specialty event --the uneven parallel bars -- to edge Fuqua by a tenth of a point for top honors. Besic was third in the event, only to see her evening nearly come to a disastrous end on the balance beam.

After watching Alessandra Bronzino execute a flawless back flip on the four-inch-wide beam, Besic tried likewise in her attempt to better her junior classmate.

Besic came crashing down hard after missing her mark, but she rebounded with her second win of the night with her match-closing performance in floor exercise.

"Getting over the fear the first time is the hardest part (of doing a back flip on the beam)," Besic said.

"I'm happy with what I did (overall) and what I got."

Bronzino and Besic had matching 8.4 results on the beam, and Fuqua, who had a 34.8 all-around score, captured her lone individual event with a 8.9 effort in the beam.

Of even greater significance, the Bulldogs had an impregnable cushion after three team events.

"I feel my strongest events (are) vault and floor," Fuqua said. "That was probably the best I've competed in all-around this year."

The Bulldogs' depth was showcased on the floor, where Warner bettered the finest Fenton showing by two-tenths, only to settle for fourth overall.

Fuqua and Bronzino tied for second with 8.8 marks, which Besic beat by a tenth.

Rebecca Thone, the fourth club member along with Fuqua, Besic and Bronzino, was third in all-around for Batavia.

The Fenton cause was not helped by the absence of top gymnast Lauren Kopp, out with an ankle injury.

But there was still signs of encouragement for the Bison.

The club had its highest point total of the year behind freshman Becky Aichele, whose 8.3 score on floor was the finest individual score of the night.

Senior Brittney Hansen was the only other team member to break the 8-point barrier with her performance on vault.

"I was happy with floor (7.8)," Hansen said. "I wish I had stuck my moves on the beam better."

Rocky Garcia and twins Rebbekah and Rachael Castellio were the other stalwarts for Fenton.

"Tonight was our best performance on floor," Fenton coach Paula Parat said. "We've got to get (Kopp) healthy and get her into the mix."