With no team championship meet, the Northeast Gymnastics Conference has settled for the next-best finale – a meet dedicated to deciding individual championships.

Bringing together the top five teams in the NEGC – one of which was Wooster after it shared the team championship with an 11-1 record – at Diva’s Gymnasium in Canton, the Generals fared very well. With scoring broken down to the top 15 performers in each of the four categories, Wooster fared exceptionally well

Wooster was led by Emily McIlvaine, who placed second on the bars with a score of 8.8. McIlvaine added a sixth on the vault and placed seventh in the all-around with a score of 34.15. That was one of her top scores of the year, noted Generals’ coach Debbie Knapic.

“That compares with what she’s done all year,” noted Knapic. “That’s right up there. She’s gone as low as 31.3 and she’s had a 34.5, so her scores have stayed pretty consistent. That was her top bar score this year, though. She came in with an 8.6 being her best.”

The Generals posted a pair of thirds in individual events as Madison Shank (bars) and Emalee Higgs (8.5, beam) notched bronze-medal finishes.

“Madison had an 8.7 on the bars,” said Knapic. “She’s stepped up to where she finished last year. She started the season with an injury and flu bug, so the first few weeks she was down and out. She came back and built her strength up and her scores have gotten higher.

“Emalee is a really strong beam competitor. She’s had a few 8.5s and she consistently has had scores in the high 7s or low 8s.”

Becky Jolliff was eighth in the vault and just missed her best score in the competition.

“Becky had an 8.25; her best score was against Wadsworth (8.35) at the end of January,” said Knapic. “That can be as little as a tiny step or the difference in subjective judging.”

Wooster’s other top-10 finish came from Jenna Wengerd with her ninth-place showing on the beam.

“Jenna was out with the flu bug and didn’t practice for three days, so she only competed on the beam,” said Knapic. “Otherwise she would have been up there, I’m sure. That’s the problem with winter sports. You worry about injuries and you try to tell the girls to get the right amount of rest and eat right so you can keep yourself healthy. She placed ninth overall on the beam … which was pretty good for coming back from being sick and not practicing.”

Knapic was happy with how her team performed.

“Looking over the score sheet, on the bars all six girls placed through the top-15 places, every single girl,” she said. “All but one placed on the beam and all but two in the floor and vault. One girl was 14th and then the rest were 12th and up.

“Our depth was incredible. They’ve worked hard for it. They’ve trained all year and it shows. When they put in the effort, they get rewarded.

“We won as a team,” she added. “Technically they don’t have team scores, but everyone goes home and adds up the scores. We had a 133.95 and the next closest was 130.6, and that was without one of our top competitors. I think we’re all feeling good going into sectionals and our hope is we come out with one of the top four spots.

“If we go out and do what we’ve done all year, we have a good shot to get out to districts again … for the sixth straight year.”