Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Finally, one of my autistic daughter’s fixations has morphed into something constructive.
High on the list of autistic traits are “narrow interests,” which can range from the fairly benign, like a nerdlinger obsession with American presidents and dinosaurs, to the mildly annoying, like Thomas the Tank Engine, to the more, shall we say, impactful, like dismantling toilets. There is virtually no obsession too esoteric that it cannot be indulged today via the Internet, specifically sites like YouTube. We have many little friends that are into elevators, and you would be amazed at how many videos can be found of random people riding elevators … and helpfully telling you details about them. Suffice to say that if I ever find myself at the Tanglewood Mall in Roanoke, VA, I will never have to wonder if their JC Penney has a Dover …
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Sarah Ganster finishes sophomore season with 33.075 in Tuesday's Lake Park sectional. Brittany Wahlen and Meggan Hagemann compete on vault for Bulldogs to close out the campaign.
One look at Sarah Ganster's hands and you know she spends plenty of time practicing on the uneven parallel bars. Ganster and her blistered hands were in Roselle on Tuesday night for the Lake Park sectional. The Batavia sophomore was the lone Bulldogs gymnast to advance out of the Glenbard North regional as an all-arounder. Ganster posted an all-around score of 33.075 on Tuesday, establishing a career high. "I had my highest all-around score, so it was a very good meet," Ganster said. "I basically hit every event, which is what I was looking for." One thing she didn't look for was sore hands. Happily showing her hands to teammates Brittany Wahlen and Meggan Hagemann—and whoever else was curious to see them—Ganster was excited that her …
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Batavia High School
1201 Main St, Batavia, IL
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Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Sarah Ganster and Brittany Wahlen advance to the Lake Park sectional on vault.
The Batavia girls gymnastics team finished its season on Monday night, taking third place in the Glenbard North regional. The host Panthers won their fifth consecutive regional title with a 143.525. Lake Park took a distant second with a 132.925, followed by Batavia's 123.675. Fenton was fourth with a 104.375. Batavia sophomore Sarah Ganster and freshman Brittany Wahlen advanced to next Tuesday's Lake Park sectional on vault. The top five finishers in each event of the regional advance to the sectional as ranked qualifiers. Ganster took fourth on vault with a 9.0 and Wahlen was fifth with an 8.6. "It was really exciting," Wahlen said. "I didn't really think I was going to go, but it went well." Junior Meggan Hagemann could advance to the …
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Batavia Creamery
4 N Island Ave, Batavia, IL
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Sunday, January 30, 2011
Bulldogs score a 123.3 in their first-ever Upstate Eight Conference Meet.
The Batavia girls gymnastics team took seventh place in Saturday's Upstate Eight Conference Meet at Lake Park. The Bulldogs finished with a 123.3 score. Rival Geneva scored a school-record 142.125 to win the meet. Waubonsie Valley/Metea Valley co-op was runner-up with a 138.650, followed by Lake Park (135.025), Neuqua Valley (134.7), Bartlett/South Elgin/Streamwood co-op (133.175) and St. Charles co-op (133.075). Brittany Wahlen paced the Bulldogs with a 32.850 in the all-around. "I did pretty good on bars and had never gone over my giants," Wahlen said. "I got a 7.65 (on bars) and also an 8.85 on vault, so both of those were new highs for me. I also had a full and a half on floor and usually only do a full." Sarah Ganster scored a 31.4 in…
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Batavia High School
1201 Main St, Batavia, IL
/articles/batavia-gymnasts-place-7th-in-uec-meet
318469
/locations/3210150
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Bulldogs score a 122.55 but drop triangular to Lake Park and DeKalb.
The Batavia girls gymnastics team wanted to make some strides during Wednesday's triangular against Upstate Eight Conference foe Lake Park and non-conference opponent DeKalb. Meanwhile, DeKalb senior Alyssa Lopez showed why she should battle for the all-around title in the state finals in February. Lopez won all four events, finishing with an all-around total of 38.4. Still, it wasn't enough to lead the Barbs past Lake Park. The Lancers won the meet with a 134.4, followed by DeKalb's 132.4 and Batavia's 122.55. St. Edward had three individuals compete with St. Charles-resident Abby Madden leading the Lady Wave with a 37.05. While the Bulldogs were left looking up at their opponents, they had plenty to be pleased with as their team's score …
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Batavia High School
1201 Main St, Batavia, IL
/articles/season-high-score-not-enough-for-batavia-gymnasts
318469
/locations/3043566
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Bulldogs continue to show growth, but not within standings, against a talented tournament field.
You can't help but notice all the newness after Christmas. With children, you can see it with their gifts: sparkling white sneakers, the latest trendy hoodies and a new MP3 player or cell phone. Batavia's gymnastics team on Tuesday had something new to show as well—the return of Meggan Hagemann from an injury to make her season debut for the Bulldogs during the Oswego Gymnastics Invitational. Hagemann led the Bulldogs on the vault, placing 15th out of 50 gymnasts with an 8.775 and Batavia took ninth place with a 119.275. The Invitational featured nine full teams and three schools which were represented by individual gymnasts only. While the Bulldogs may have finished low on Tuesday, it doesn't represent the progress the young team …
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Batavia High School
1201 Main St, Batavia, IL
/articles/with-video-batavia-gymnasts-reach-119275-at-oswego-invite
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Saturday, December 18, 2010
St. Charles resident Abby Madden, who competes for St. Edward's, won the all-around with a 37.3.
Batavia gymnast Brittany Whalen focused solely on her bars routine during practice earlier this week in preparation for the Illinois Best Invitational in Wheaton. When teammate Sarah Ganster phoned in sick on Saturday, Whalen received word from coach Taryn Boyce that she would not only still be competing on bars, but would represent the Bulldogs as their all-arounder. The Illinois Best Invitational, held at Wheaton-Warrenville South High School, differs from typical gymnastics meets in that teams only have two gymnasts compete in each event. Four different individuals competed in all four events overall, as well as a single all-arounder. "Yeah, I found out about it at the high school, so it definitely changed things," Whalen said about the…
41.83411
-88.14857
1993 Tiger Trl, Wheaton, IL
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Batavia High School
1201 Main St, Batavia, IL
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Thursday, December 9, 2010
Geneva steals the spotlight but Bulldogs show plenty of young talent in second meet of the season.
Batavia girls gymnastics coach Taryn Boyce has been here before. Prior to the 2009 team, which became the first gymnastics squad in school history to advance to the state finals, Boyce often found herself teaching gymnastics more than coaching the sport. While she's going to have to do some teaching again this season, she's seen good things from her young gymnasts already that keeps her excited for the season as well as future years. Batavia was in Naperville on Wednesday competing in an Upstate Eight Conference triangular against Geneva and the Waubonsie Valley/Metea Valley co-op. The Vikings received a school record-setting performance from Emily Ott in the floor exercise (9.6) and strong all-around efforts by Haley Carroll (33.675) and…
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Batavia High School
1201 Main St, Batavia, IL
/articles/ott-a-bad-night-for-young-batavia-gymnasts
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Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Bulldogs lose to South Elgin/Bartlett/Streamwood co-op, 128.8 to 119.5.
Batavia doesn't have many gymnasts on its roster, and Batavia doesn't have much experience. But what Batavia does have is optimism. When the team opened it season on Wednesday at home against South Elgin/Bartlett/Streamwood co-op, it really didn't know what to expect. South Elgin/Bartlett/Streamwood proved to be too strong for the Bulldogs, winning the meet with a score of 128.8. Batavia finished with a 119.5 while three individual gymnasts from St. Edward also participated in the meet. "I was pleasantly surprised because I wasn't sure how it was going to turn out," Batavia coach Taryn Boyce said. "It's definitely a rebuilding year with no seniors but we saw some nice things tonight." All of the team's elder gymnasts graduated in June. …
41.846862
-88.328038
Batavia High School
1201 Main St, Batavia, IL
/articles/young-bulldogs-open-girls-gymnastics-season
318469
/locations/2601054
Lynn Hudoba
8:41 am on Monday, March 12, 2012
Awww....thanks Clare. That makes MY day :) more ›