Girls Gymnastics: Geneva’s school record wins Upstate Eight

Waubonsie Valley/Metea Valley co-op and Lake Park picked a good time to have their highest scoring meets of the season.

Geneva figured the time was right to set a school scoring record.

The Vikings totaled a 144.75 to beat runner-up Waubonsie/Metea’s 140.75, third-place Lake Park’s 139.250 and the rest of the seven-team field to win Saturday’s Upstate Eight Conference meet in Roselle.

“I’ve told them all season if we can all hit together we’ll get well over 140,” Geneva coach Kim Hostman said. “I’ve been preaching that all year.”

Geneva’s previous season high was a 139.35. The Vikings broke the old school record of 142.125 which was set coincidentally in last year’s UEC meet at Lake Park.

Ashley Puff had a simply unforgettable effort to lead the Vikings. The junior won beam with a 9.1, vault with a 9.4 and floor with a 9.6 on her way to scoring a career-best 37.05 to win the all-around title. Geneva also received a significant contribution in the all-around from Haley Carroll, who placed fourth with a 35.5.

“We knew if we hit we could get a good score, but this meet was fantastic,” Puff said. “We were adding our scores up and thought we could be a 142. Once we found out it was 144.750 we were blown away, we were shocked.”

It certainly was a shock to the rest of the field, including Waubonsie/Metea which finished as co-champion of the conference along with Geneva based on the regular season plus Saturday’s meet.

“They should be happy that this was our highest score,” Waubonsie/Metea coach Nicole Daly said. “They were watching other teams’ scores and I told them there’s nothing they can do about other girls and that they just had their best team score on floor and bars.”

Elizabeth Brandenburg finished second in the all-around for Waubonsie/Metea with a 36.7. She also placed second on floor and vault, while teammate Jess Malon won bars with a 9.45.

Lake Park produced the best team score on floor with a 37.05. Jessica Lewis tied for second with a 9.55 and Kayla Goodwin was fourth with a 9.4, while Linnae Capuder placed second on beam with a 9 to help the Lancers.

“Our focus has been on dance on floor and to stick beam routines and floor was great today,” Lake Park coach Jake Luketin said. “We’ve been focusing so much on floor and apparently it worked. We only counted one fall the entire meet and we didn’t have to count it so score-wise it was a perfect meet.”

St. Charles co-op took fourth place with a 136.05, followed by Neuqua Valley’s 134.675, Batavia’s 126.25 and Bartlett/South Elgin/Streamwood co-op’s 124.8. Alyssa Konkel led the latter, taking fifth in the all-around with a 35.2, while St. Charles co-op’s Kaylee Arnold tied for second on bars with a 9.2.

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