Geneva wins Illinois Best for fourth straight year

May the fourth be with Geneva.

While millions were flocking to theaters to see the latest Star Wars film on Saturday, Geneva's girls gymnasts were in Wheaton winning the 30th annual Illinois Best Invitational for the fourth straight year.

The Vikings had never won it prior to 2012 but have dominated the meet's unique format in recent years. The meet tests a team's depth and provides no room for error.

Unlike traditional meets where a team is allowed five participants in each of the four events and counts its four best scores, the Illinois Best affords a team only one all-around score and one additional score, provided by a different gymnast, in each of the four events.

The Vikings won with a 72.55, the second highest total in the invite's history to Oswego's 72.675 in 1998.

They easily surpassed runner-up Wheaton Warrenville co-op's 69.475.

"It was very exciting to go 8 for 8," Geneva coach Kim Hostman said. "I told them if they come in here and do their job that we'd do well. It's good to see a young team come in and deal with the pressure and stick it. It's exciting to now win it four times. It's kind of fun to keep repeating."

Lily Chapman won vault early in the afternoon with a 9.025, while Kelly Frank was one of the final competitors of the day, but she remained patient in winning beam with an 8.825.

"It was kind of nerve-wracking having to wait around most of the day," Frank said. "I just wanted to hit my routine and get my job done and I did."

Chapman also admitted to being nervous since she had to focus on just one event.

"It's a whole lot different of a mindset when you're doing one event. It's almost easier, sort of," she said. "I was pretty nervous too especially since warm-ups were a little rough, but I did what I needed to do and that's all that matters."

Claire Ginsberg won the all-around, posting the top score in all four events to score a 37.9.

"We've gotten a lot more consistent since we started the season," she said. "We're adding more things and the goal (on Saturday) was to hit 8 for 8 and we did that. It's a good start for us and I think we'll peak at the right time."

Finally, Molly Lambillotte was second on floor for the Vikings with an 8.85 and Paige Beitzel was third on bars with a 7.95.

Senior Julie Galo took second in the all-around with a 35.9 to lead the hosts to second place.

"They did really well," Wheaton Warrenville co-op coach Maureen Kermend said. "I was happy to get the girls in some pressure situations."

Petrina Chino won bars with an 8.95. The senior specialist is limiting herself at times because of past injuries. She appeared healthy.

"I'm more aware of my body now and know what I need to do to keep my body and especially my knees strong," she said. "I definitely need to still make some improvement and get higher difficulty skills and implement more bonuses into my routine, and that's something I'll work on as well as being cleaner."

Waubonsie/Metea Valley co-op placed fifth with a 64.85, narrowly edging Glenbard East's 64.8.

Claire Samojedny was fourth in the all-around with a 33.25 while Jessica Houghton took third on beam with an 8.075.

"We were far improved on beam," co-op coach Phillip Gilmer said. "Claire fell four times in our last meet and didn't fall at all and Jess only fell once and had an awesome routine, so that was some huge improvement."

Veronika Srey paced the Rams taking fifth in the all-around with a 32.95 while Krasimira Ganeva tied for third on vault with an 8.825.

Batavia took seventh place with a 63.525 and senior Megan McGee won floor with a 9.05.

"That was a lot better than the past two meets," McGee said. "Right now I'm gradually increasing my score. It's different spending most of your time practicing one event, but I think it helped me be cleaner and I stuck all my landings."

Also for the Bulldogs, Lauren Stangl placed second on bars with a 7.975.