Simply the best
It's ironic that the Glenbard West girls gymnastics team had its best meet of the season during Saturday's fittingly named Illinois Best Invitational at Wheaton Warrenville South.
The Hilltoppers were 3 points better than Wheaton North, finishing with a 71.150 to capture first place in the unique 10-team invitational.
All 10 teams had a single gymnast compete in the all-around for top honors and one additional gymnast competing in each of the four events for the top score.
Glenbard West claimed top honors in all events except for the beam with senior Courtney Gonzales leading the way by winning the all-around with a 36.6.25.
"We work hard at practice and come here to show what we do at practice and it paid off," she said. "We had an awesome meet today. We went 8 for 8 in routines, no one fell, it was a great meet for us."
It proved to be a special day for Gonzales, a senior gymnast, who is ecstatic that she decided to join the team this winter.
"I really was ready to do this with it being my senior year," she said. "I'm really excited with how we did today and for the rest of the season."
Other winners for the Hilltoppers were Sarah Udelhofen on vault, Shannon Dietz on bars and Megan Brennan on floor.
"I was really pleased. This was out best meet of the year so far," Hilltoppers coach Carlos Fuentes said. "It was a great individual performance by Courtney, our freshmen Shannon Dietz and Megan Brennan did really well and Sarah Udelhofen."
Wheaton North (68.150) finished in second place thanks in large part to Sarah Beste's 35.575 all-around score, third on the afternoon.
"I thought we had some bobbles that we could improve on," Wheaton North coach Chad Downie said. "We struggled on bars and beam but did a real nice job on vault and floor."
Things continue to look good for Waubonsie Valley (67.975), which captured third place. Kendyl Berger was second on floor, Cassy Waldman was third on bars and Danielle Christy was fourth in all-around.
"The girls were much cleaner than they were a week ago and that's something we've been working on in practice the last five days," Warriors coach Lacy Woulfe said. "We really are trying to clean up some the skills we have while working on some new ones."
Andrea Petruniak finished second in the all-around to help Glenbard East to a fourth-place finish. Batavia's Becca Thone (8.7) won the beam and Cindy Douglas (8.6) tied for first on bars, but the Bulldogs found themselves in the middle of the pack overall, ending up in sixth place (66.625).