St. Charles earns area bragging rights
It didn't take long for St. Charles to snag the bragging rights for Tri-Cities gymnastics in 2012.
Competing in its only home meet of the season on Monday night, St. Charles co-op beat runner-up Geneva, 139.9 to 137.55, while also defeating fellow Upstate Eight Conference foe South Elgin/Bartlett/Streamwood co-op (134.8) and local rival Geneva (132.15).
“I was really impressed with the girls,” St. Charles coach Amy Lill said. “It's the first meet we've had everyone in the lineup.”
While St. Charles would've liked to have cracked 140, especially after coming so close, they'll have several opportunities to do it later in January.
“We're hoping with the month of January that it'll be a big month the next couple of weeks,” Lill said. “This was our only home meet so it's a nice win for the three seniors.”
That includes senior Kaylee Arnold who placed third in the all-around with a 34.35. She also took second place on vault with a 9.25.
Sophomore Sidney Copeland led the winners, taking second place in the all-around with a 35.2. She also tied teammate Jesi Ortiz for top honors on the floor exercise with a 9.3 while competing for the first time since the Illinois Best on Dec. 17.
“She had a really good meet,” Lill said. “She fell on beam but came back on floor and has been working hard to even upgrade her routines.”
St. Charles also received a first-place effort from Kelly Gorniak who scored a 9.05 on beam while Jesi Ortiz also added a 9.1 on vault and Kathryn Doody had an 8.75 on beam.
Bars is one area St. Charles will look to improve collectively as a team as they finished with just a 32.25.
Geneva wasn't at full strength as the Vikings were without the services of injured senior Kaitlyn Kanarowski. The Vikings weren't able to avenge last year's 135.35 to 134.4 loss to St. Charles.
Junior Ashley Puff won vault with a 9.3 and added a 9.2 on floor to lead the Vikings. Freshman Megan Beitzel placed second on bars with an 8.55 in her debut Tri-Cities meet while teammate Jenna Ginsberg scored a 9 on her vault and Haley Carroll had an 8.8 on floor en route to a 34.1 in the all-around.
“We had a few mistakes here and there but overall we did pretty well,” Puff said. “My floor was good and I closed with vault. The team did well. We're starting to get there.”
Batavia may not have kept close with its Tri-Cities rivals, but the Bulldogs had quite the meet on Monday as their 132.15 was several points higher than their previous season-high of 127.3.
“We jumped like four points as a team which was huge,” said Batavia assistant coach Doug Bucholz. “Sarah (Ganster) finally put together a decent all-around on score with a 9.1 on vault and by breaking into the 9s on floor.”
Ganster finished with an all-around score of 34.05 and placed third on vault and floor. Freshman Kaylin Clavenger added a third place finish on bars with an 8.45 and senior Meggan Hagemann finished with a 9 on vault.
“She did the full-on, half-off and that's just a different vault,” Bucholz said. “It was her first 9 this season so that was nice to see.”
South Elgin/Bartlett/Streamwood's Alyssa Konkel took second place in the all-around with a 35.45. She was also second on beam with a 9.0 and won bars, receiving an 8.75 for her routine. Teammate Megan Barnes tied for third on floor with a 9.1.