BATAVIA -- In front of a packed gymnasium, the Bulldogs' gymnasts whirled, flipped and vaulted to a school record Monday during the annual Tri-Cities Meet at the Batavia Park District gym.
Led by senior Rachel Besic -- who won the all-around along with clinching the vault and floor titles with scores of 9.4 -- Batavia scored an all-time high of 142.2 to best rivals St. Charles 137.1 and Geneva 130.15. The previous record, just a year old, was 141.50.
"We wanted to continue the tradition," said junior Danae Fuqua of the team's second-straight Tri-Cities title.
"I think we are really solid," Besic said of her squad. "We started out kind of shaky, but we are picking it up."
With the return of Fuqua, who had been sidelined with pneumonia, and bolstered with their amazing 16-team Larkin Invitational victory Saturday, the Bulldogs owned the floor.
"This was one of our biggest meets and we were really excited to stick everything," Besic added.
Even routines that weren't Mary Lou Retton perfect garnered scores in the low nines and high eights, which gave head coach Taryn Boyce reason to smile midway through the season.
"I couldn't be happier," Boyce said. "They have come a long way since the beginning of the season...we are coming together as a team, they have done an amazing job."
"We are improving," Fuqua said, "and I think by the end of the season, we can really pull it together and make it (to state as a team)."
And the home meet was a chance to showcase their talent in a friendly atmosphere.
Many of the Tri-City Meet competitors are teammates during the high school offseason competing on club sports together. Their tight camaraderie was evident with multi-colored bear hugs, words of encouragement and the overall jovial mood.
"It is really fun to see old faces from the gym," said St. Charles East senior Liz Fairweather. "We are all cheering for each other and we are still good friends."
While Batavia racked up points, Geneva concentrated on putting the finishing touches on routines before heading into regional competition next month.
"We took a lot of time over break to work on new skills," said Vikings' coach Kim Hostman. "We were trying to throw a lot of them in and so this was king of a coming out party for us today."
Cami Pfetzer, Sonya Leonard and Kaitlyn Kanaroski led Geneva with their performances.
"It's a fun meet," Hostman.
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