St. Charles, Batavia take aim at state berth tonight in Naperville
The St. Charles Co-op girls gymnastics team has been on an incredible roll the past couple weeks.
The team hopes it continues when it competes in Thursday's Neuqua Valley sectional.
In its last three competitions, St. Charles posted a 145.60 in its final home dual meet, a 144.275 in the Upstate Eight Conference meet and a season-best 145.775 in last Saturday's St. Charles North regional, which was also the top score among the six teams which qualified to compete in Thursday's sectional.
"I think the main thing with us is we're consistent," coach Amy Lill said. "Every meet we've done at the back end of the season we keep getting better and better."
The three gymnasts at the top of the lineup for St. Charles are all-arounders Liz Fairweather, Danielle Goebbert and Stephanie de la Torriente, who qualified for state as an individual in the all-around last winter. The three scored between a 36.5 and 37 during Saturday's regional.
"We're really hoping to make it to state," Fairweather said. "Things have been going well for us and we'll be practicing hard all week and go and see what we can do."
While the three all-around scores will be imperative if the team wishes to earn a trip to Palatine, so are the efforts of Katie Shanel. The senior, who qualified for state in the floor exercise a year ago, has been battling through injuries this season, and is coming off a regional championship in the floor exercise.
The team also relies on contributions from Courtney Harloff (floor), Justine Meyers (vault), Alyssa Beird (bars) and Meredith Beird (bars and beam).
Last year St. Charles came within 0.125 of a point of earning its first trip to the state finals since 2000.
St. Charles won't be the only Tri-Cities team making noise at Neuqua Valley as Batavia's magical season continues.
During a year where the Bulldogs won the annual Tri-City triangular meet, scored a new school-record score and won the Independents Conference and 24-team Niles West Invitational, suddenly Batavia will be competing for a chance to be on high school gymnastics' biggest stage.
Batavia coach Taryn Boyce said the Bulldogs will have to add more to advance past the sectional but she remains impressed with how much the team has already accomplished.
"We'd have to add some more to get further," she said. "They just need to stay confident, keep hitting and just remember that it's been great anyway you look at it."
Danae Fuqua, Rachel Besic and Allesandra Bronzino compete in the all-around for the Bulldogs. If Batavia wants to be among the leaders, those three will have to be at their season best.
The Bulldogs will also need strong performances from seniors Allison Moran (vault, floor) and Cindy Douglas (bars), as well as from Becca Thone and Kathryn Warner who both compete in multiple events.
For the second consecutive year, Geneva's lone representative at sectional will be Katherine Grubaugh. The senior fell short of qualifying in the all-around, as she did a year ago, but will have an opportunity to compete on beam and vault.