Geneva breaks new ground with 138.8, Tri-Cities title

While most Americans have a bunch of new items on their to-do list for 2010, the Geneva gymnastics team has already crossed a couple things off.

Monday proved to be an historic evening for the Vikings as they won the annual Tri-Cities Meet for the first time while also establishing a school record for points in a competition.

Geneva edged host St. Charles Co-op 138.8 to 138.5. Batavia, which had won the previous two seasons, finished with a 136.55

"We saw some (St. Charles) scores and didn't think we could reach them, but we always try to beat our previous score," Geneva coach Kim Hostman said. "Hitting a 138 and breaking the school record (136.9) was outstanding for the girls, a great accomplishment, and I'm really proud of them."

Emily Ott led the way for the Vikings, winning beam (9.55) and floor (9.45). She became the first Geneva gymnast to win an event in this meet since Ashley Felicelli won floor and beam in 2006.

"Floor and beam have always been my strongest, but vault was also key for me tonight," Ott said. "I used to do gymnastics here so it was like coming back to where I started. It was awesome. Everyone did very good."

While Ott's effort was pivotal to Geneva's greatest meet, the Vikings needed strong contributions from nearly everyone on their roster as Kaitlyn Kanarowski was the team's lone all-arounder with a 33.8.

"We have a lot of depth and a lot of specialists," Hostman said. "Emily, of course, on every event is our strongest and is a great competitor and leader. Cami (Pfetzer) has been stepping up to the plate and doing very well as a co-captain. Everyone is contributing so it's nice to have some depth where you can mix things up."

Delaney Wood scored an 8.8 on bars to lead the Vikings, while Pfetzer and Sadie Dainko proved huge on floor and vault respectively. Alexis Graham, Taylor Lundgren and Alycia Hostman also contributed.

St. Charles Co-op had to battle through some lineup changes due to injuries, but still nearly pulled out the victory.

"We had some girls step up from JV and some others competing in events they normally don't compete in," St. Charles Co-op coach Amy Lill said. "So we had a bit of a transition. It's still early, though. We have the rest of the month and hopefully they can become more consistent."

St. Charles Co-op's Stephanie de la Torriente was quite steady in winning the all-around title with a 36.65. It was the senior's fourth appearance in the meet. She made an immediate impact by winning bars as a freshman in 2007 and took top honors in beam last year. On Monday she finished in the top three in all four events.

"It was a lot of fun but also sad at the same time," she said. "You're going to have meets where you're not as good as you can be, but the future is still good for us."

Kaylee Arnold tied for third on vault with de la Torriente for St. Charles Co-op.

Batavia also took advantage of the friendly atmosphere to set a season-high of 136.55.

"A lot of these girls trained together over the summer or in club and have known each other a long time," Batavia coach Taryn Boyce said. "We had a season high today which was nice, probably becausr they were excited to to be here."

Danae Fuqua, the bars, beam and all-around champion in 2008, was in top form again on bars and on vault, winning both events. She took second in the all-around with a 35.75. Fellow Bulldog Emma Gear followed in Fuqua's footsteps, placing third in bars, floor and the all-around.