St. Charles caps season 8th in state
The St. Charles co-op girls gymnastics team put the final touches on its best season in eight years during Friday's state finals at Palatine, finishing in eighth place with a total of 142.775.
The score was a bit surprising since St. Charles had scored 144.275 or better in its previous four meets.
"Our goal was to get here," coach Amy Lill said. "I'm so proud of all of them. They've worked so hard to get there and to end the season here, that's a nice way to end."
The season won't end for Stephanie de la Torriente and Katie Shanel. The two tied in the floor exercise with scores of 9.4 and will compete later Saturday night.
"I'm glad it ended on a good note, Shanel said. "We weren't ourselves today, but this is an overwhelming day. We didn't do totally what we wanted to do, but we were here and tomorrow will be just great."
The team got off to an unremarkable start, scoring a 34.175 on the uneven parallel bars. De la Torriente had the lineup's best score with a 8.625. Liz Fairweather posted an 8.55 and Meredith and Alyssa Beird both earned an 8.4.
"We had a positive attitude but just fell apart early and weren't at our best," Fairweather said. "But we kept at it and finished strong."
Vault was next for St. Charles and the team answered with a 36.9. Once again de la Torriente (9.4) had the team-high while Fairweather (9.225), Danielle Goebbert (9.2) and Katie Shanel (9.175) were not too far behind.
Unfortunately St. Charles would encounter major problems on beam, counting falls from all of its gymnasts before de la Torriente stopped the bleeding with a 9.325.
But, this resilient group wouldn't go down whimpering. Turning its focus to the floor exercise, St. Charles finished with a 37.425 floor exercise, which was easily better than the 37.075 it scored in the sectional.
"To close on floor, one of our strongest events was a plus," de la Torriente said. "It's been such a long day, but we've had a lot of fun this week and tonight's been so exciting."
When Batavia Danae Fuqua vaulted, one could have expected the butterflies to have gotten into this sophomore's stomach, and while they might have, she certainly put them to rest when she scored a 9.2 and became the first Bulldogs gymnast to compete at state since 1997.
"I wasn't too nervous but waiting was tough," she said. "I went in confident and did the best I could do."
Fuqua also scored a 9.1 in the floor exercise.
"I was really happy with that," she said. "It was just a solid, clean routine."
Batavia junior Alessandra Bronzino was the second gymnast to compete on the beam in the evening session and she hit with a 9.15.
"This was such a thrill," Bronzino said. "I had some jitters, but once I was on (beam) I felt like I was at home."
Steve Lundy/slundy@dailyherald.com
St. Charles East's Danielle Goebbert competes on the beam during prelims of the state gymnastics meet at Palatine High School Friday.