St. Charles hands Geneva 1st dual loss
The St. Charles co-op girls gymnastics was inadvertently referred to as the St. Charles East Saints prior to Wednesday's Upstate Eight Conference dual meet against Geneva.
The St. Charles co-op team didn't prove to be very saint-like as it had a devilishly good time putting a damper on Senior Night at Geneva, beating the Vikings, 135.35 to 134.4. It was also the first dual meet loss and conference loss for the Vikings this season.
“It feels good to win,” St. Charles co-op coach Amy Lill said. “We saw what we still need to keep working on but it was also nice to get a conference win.”
Kaylee Arnold led the way for the winners, tying Geneva sophomore Ashley Puff for the all-around title with a 35.0. Arnold won the vault with a 9.25 and bars with a 9.1.
“We've been preparing for this meet like crazy over break because we wanted to get the points for conference,” Arnold said. “We had a couple of weeks over break to work on some skills to get better and we did some of that.”
Freshman Sidney Copeland also competed in the all-around for St. Charles co-op. Her top score was a 9.15 on the vault as she finished with an all-around total of 34.3.
Meredith Beird led the winners on beam with an 8.45 and Kristin Sheehan added an 8.75 on vault. Sophomore Jesi Ortiz added a 9.1 on floor and Kathryn Doody had an 8.25 on vault.
Geneva bid farewell to seniors Blythe Boyle, Sadie Dainko, Therese Dalheim, Alycia Hostman, Erin Kluck and Emily Ott. Dainko also sang the National Anthem before the meet.
Puff posted a 9.25 on floor and a 9.05 on vault to help her tie Arnold for top all-around honors. Although still battling shin splints, Ott won the two events she competed in, taking beam with a 9.05 before closing the meet with a 9.5 on floor.
“It's bittersweet because I've known these (senior) girls since they were 3 and 4 years old,” Geneva coach Kim Hostman said. “I've seen them grow up and know they'll do well in college.”
Kluck posted an 8.7 and Dainko an 8.6 on floor, Dalheim contributed a 7.45 on bars, Brittany Johnson had an 8.05 on beam and sophomore Haley Carroll returned after a two-week hiatus and scored a 32.3 in the all-around for the Vikings.
Last year, Geneva edged St. Charles co-op 138.8 to 138.5 so St. Charles was able to get a little revenge from last year. The Vikings will have a chance to get back at St. Charles co-op as the teams will face each other on Jan. 29 in the UEC Meet.