Batavia wins Oswego regional

Batavia's Alessandra Bronzino stood with her back to the crowd, both hands covering the back of her head, while staring into the darkness of a large navy door in the corner of the Oswego gymnasium.

The senior had just struggled with her floor routine, and like any fierce competitor, she was upset and needed a little alone time.

Since she's a Bulldog, she didn't have to sulk for long, as Emma Gear and Danae Fuqua sandwiched her subpar floor exercise with a pair of excellent routines that netted a 9.425 and 9.3 respectively.

Thanks to those two scores, along with particularly excellent efforts on vault and bars, Batavia once again broke its school record for points in a meet. Batavia finished with a total of 143.875 which was tops in Thursday's Oswego girls gymnastics regional.

The Bulldogs advance to Monday's Glenbard West sectional.

"We just tried to go out and compete as best as we could," Gear said. "I was happy with how I finished (on beam) and it carried over to floor which was a good way for us to finish."

Fuqua and Gear tied for the all-around championship with 36.150s. The way the two rallied around Bronzino to post the two highest floor exercise totals was typical Bulldogs gymnastics this season, especially with four all-arounders in the lineup to provide consistent scoring.

"We counted a few falls on beam and had one on floor but we still scored higher than ever," Batavia coach Taryn Boyce said. "I'm a bit floored by it, but it's that time of the year and they really rocked from the start on vault and bars."

In addition to Gear's win in the floor exercise, Batavia received wins from Fuqua on bars and Rachel Besic on vault.

While Batavia was the third regional-winning team in the Glenbard West sectional to set a new school-best total this week, Neuqua Valley was more than pleased, and a bit surprised, to learn it also qualified to the sectional as one of two at-large teams.

"Are you sure there isn't one more regional on Saturday?" Wildcats junior Catherine Miller asked? "If not and we got in that's pretty awesome. We've come together as a team this season and that's great news to know we've advanced."

Neuqua Valley finished in second place with a 139.125 and Miller was the one who led the way, winning beam and placing third in the all-around. The Wildcats also showcased their own depth as Ashley Nelson took third on vault, Amanda Keegan placed fourth on beam and freshman Maddie Strick tied for fourth in the floor exercise.

"It's the time of the year where this is what you want to see," Neuqua Valley coach Mike Kaplan said. "We haven't had many opportunities where the whole team has been together healthy and everything, today we saw some of what they're capable of doing."

Glenbard East finished its season strong. Although the Rams placed fourth, they did score a season-high 131.05 as sophomore Jordyn Hargreaves put on a nice display.

Hargreaves scored an 8.525 on bars, a 9.050 on vault and a 34.275 on the all-around to earn a trip to sectional play for the second consecutive year. "I just tried to go out and do my best and have fun," Hargreaves said. "Overall, tonight went pretty well."

As for the local scoreboard watchers, South Elgin/Bartlett/Streamwood Co-op coach Amy August and her team will wake up today knowing that the team's season will continue. South Elgin grasped the last at large team qualifier with its 138.85 on Wednesday night at Glenbard West. As for Wheaton North Co-op, it will have to settle for competing with a few individuals, led by up-and-coming sophomore Angie Cronk.