St. Charles co-op bests Glenbard East, Batavia

Batavia and St. Charles co-op finally had a chance to see if their hard work during practice is paying off as the two met along with Glenbard East in a triangular on Friday at Excel Gymnastics in Geneva.

St. Charles edged the Rams, 135.05 to 133.25 while the Bulldogs finished a distant third with a 124.3.

"I think everybody had a really good meet, especially for our first one," said St. Charles junior Mychaela Guy, who won floor with a 9.25. "We were confident, stayed positive and kept the energy. We've got a lot of new girls so we were all psyched for this first meet and had fun with it."

Emma Grace Redmond-Mattuci led the winners, finishing with the top score on vault, bars and beam to finish with an all-around score of 36.55.

Fellow junior Grace Levita was second on bars and third on vault and floor and finished with a 34.7 in the all-around.

"I think this year we have a lot more positive energy going around which is nice," Levita said. "This was a good start. I know we did a lot better than we've done in our past first meets so that's a positive start for us."

Almost overlooked in the win for St. Charles was the debut of freshman Ashley Olea, who had the team's fourth best score on all four events so they all counted toward the team score.

While on the subject of freshmen, that's who led the Rams as Kelsey Donovan posted a 34.0 in the all-around. Sophomore Sierra Olson (33.45), junior Krasimira Ganeva (32.95) and sophomore Sydney Nasternak (31.55) followed her, while standout senior Veronica Srey was limited to competing only on floor (9.1).

It was the Rams' second meet of the season while it was the opener for Batavia and St. Charles.

"They're looking really good for this early," Rams coach Jessica Bugajsky said. "They're hitting more routines and adding new skills already. It helps that we have everyone back from last year and we've got a couple of freshmen who have fit in nicely."

Freshman Olivia Bartolotta's debut was a solid one for Batavia. She posted a 30.65 as the lone all-arounder for the Bulldogs.

"I think it went pretty well," she said. "I fell on vault and had a little struggle on beam, but for a first meet I did good. It was a bit nerve-wracking with it being a whole new team and process but now I know what to expect."

Senior Hannah Katz led the Bulldogs on floor with a 9.1.

"It's a rebuilding year for the team so we're going to just try to keep getting stronger," she said. "We need to improve on our form and the basics before we work on new skills and I think we'll get there. I think we work well at helping each other along."

Lillian Baty-Barr was the only Bulldog to finish among the top three in any of the events as the 8.5 on beam earned her second place.