STC hits season best

There really is no place like home for the St. Charles co-op girls gymnastics team.

Making their home debut and the final home appearance might sound like an oxymoron, but St. Charles co-op made the most of it in Tuesday night's victory over Waubonsie Valley, scoring a team-best 145.6 and becoming the eighth highest scoring team in the state.

"I don't know if it was the home court advantage as we're usually traveling so far away," St. Charles coach Amy Lill said. "It was definitely very exciting. I wasn't expecting that (score) and it was a nice surprise especially for our seniors being our only meet."

Seniors didn't prove to be the biggest difference makers for St. Charles co-op. In fact, junior Danielle Goebbert led the team with an all-around total of 37.10 followed by junior Liz Fairweather (36.75) and sophomore Stephanie de la Torriente (36.45). Goebbert won beam (9.3) and de la Torriente took top honors on the floor (9.35).

"It was my highest all-around score of the season so it was exciting," Fairweather said. "Hopefully we can keep this up for the postseason. We were so close (to state) last year so if we could make it that would be great."

Another positive for the team is that they'll be back in the comfort of their own gym on Feb. 1 for the St. Charles North regional.

"We're very excited that we're going to host a regional," Lill said. "Most of my girls grew up in this gym and have always worked out and been comfortable here."

That comfort paid dividends in Tuesday's standout performance.

"We're confident with the equipment here and I've been coming here since fourth grade," Fairweather said. "The postseason should be exciting."

As for St. Charles co-op's two seniors, Allyssa Beird scored an 8.8 on bars in her lone event. Fellow senior Katie Shanel had to cope with her back injury, competing in three events, highlighted by a fourth place tie on vault (9.2).

"I'm trying not to think about my scores tonight but the team score was huge," Shanel said. "I cried tears of joy. I'm so happy for the team."

Somewhat overshadowed was the outstanding performance by Waubonsie Valley senior Cassy Waldman who won the vault (9.65) and bars (9.3).

Waldman worked on a Yurchenko vault during warm-ups. She was pleased with it and executed it in the meet.

"That was the best vault I've ever done in high school," she said. "It really helped my score today."

She also nailed her double back on bars to win that event to help the Warriors get closer to where they've been scoring most of the season.

"We've been a little sloppy lately but we had a hard beam practice and it paid off today," Warriors coach Lacy Woulfe said. "Overall it was a much better meet for us than the last couple of ones."

Waubonsie Valley competed without Danielle Christy who is nursing an injury. Her status will be determined after a visit to the chiropractor today.