Geneva has accomplished so much during the past three seasons.
Winning large invitationals, regionals and sectionals, establishing school scoring records, and advancing to the state finals for the first time — and now doing so for three consecutive years — have all been considerable, but they pale in comparison to what the Vikings accomplished in Palatine on Friday and Saturday.
The Vikings took home a second-place trophy with 147.3 points. Prairie Ridge co-op distanced itself from the rest of the competition with 150 points, winning its first state title after finishing as runner-up the past two years.
Geneva had finished in fifth place the past two years.
“I remember my first year coming here and you see the lights turned down and they give out the trophy,” Geneva senior co-captain Megan Beitzel said. “Now in my senior year I got to be a part of it. It was real exciting to finish my last meet with a great team effort. We did so well.”
Geneva sophomore Claire Ginsberg saw her hopes of defending her all-around title vanish after she had to count a pair of falls on beam, her final event, on Friday.
“It was a disappointing way to finish (on Friday),” she said. “But we did a lot of good things before that.”
Despite those falls pushing her down to 10th place in the all-around with a 36.925, she earned a chance to compete again on the three other events on Saturday and she seized the opportunity.
She placed second on vault with a 9.75, tied for third on floor with a 9.55 and tied for sixth on bars with a 9.5.
“I was happy with how I finished,” she said. “Our goal was to hit a 147 as a team so to help us get to that as a team (on Saturday) was real exciting.”
Teammate and older sister Grace Ginsberg finished her stellar career in fine fashion, taking fourth place on beam with a 9.425, improving upon the 9.1 she earned on Friday.
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“I was not expecting that at all,” she said. “The team award is the most exciting thing, but that was just the icing on the cake. Just so awesome.”
A handful of area gymnastics did not advance to Saturday’s individual event finals but did compete in Friday’s preliminaries.
All four gymnasts had advanced to the state finals for the first time in their respective careers.
Oswego co-op senior Alayna Dieter was one of the final competitors on beam on Friday, and finished with an 8.05.
Batavia’s Megan McGee fought off illness throughout the week to score an 8.775 on floor.
St. Charles co-op freshman Emma Grace Redmond-Mattucci scored a 4.475 on bars and a 9.175 on floor, while Waubonsie Valley/Metea Valley co-op sophomore Claire Samojedny had an 8.875 on bars.
Chris R. Walker is a freelance writer.