GENEVA – It would seem out of the ordinary looking and seeing the Batavia girls gymnastics team with five team captains, although maybe a little less so seeing all five being seniors.

But Batavia coach Taryn Boyce had a fairly simple explanation to having that number of girls lead the group.

“They are all deserving leaders,” Boyce said. “When talking with my assistant, I don’t think of the best gymnast or anything like that to be the captain. All of these girls have experience, have good leadership abilities and are all deserving to lead this group.”

While some decisions need to be made, having five girls all be on the same page is something that they have found doesn’t come easily, but have always worked hard to find a common ground.

But there are certainly positives for the likes of seven newcomers to the varsity this year, having the option to go to more than one or two captains.

“I think it definitely helps the younger girls,” senior Amanda Dian said. “You don’t just have the captain you have to go to. We have formed great relationships with all of the younger girls and that really helps once things get started.”

Dian joins Megan McGee, McKenna Sloan, Karen Li and Lauren Stangl as the five captains for the Bulldogs this year.

With five captains and usually five practices during the week, Boyce said each one takes a practice leading the warmups, helping to build the camaraderie not only among the seniors, but the entire team top to bottom.

McGee, who broke her femur in May at Excel Gymnastics, where the Bulldogs practice, returns to the group as the one state qualifier from last season.

The senior has gone through extensive physical therapy to get back out into competition, saying that she wasn’t really sure if she would get the opportunity to do so after the injury.

“It’s kind of hard to explain, but I’ve never broken a bone before so I didn’t know what was happening,” said McGee, who has a metal rod in her right thigh that she said acts like a brace. “I’m grateful to be back out here and I’m at the point now where I have my confidence back and I’m not worried about getting hurt again.”

Boyce joked that during Batavia’s season-opening meet, which also turned out to be its senior night, she was more nervous with McGee’s landing than McGee was.

When Boyce told McGee that it was no problem if she didn’t land her dismount right away if she was nervous about it, her response was, “that’s funny.”

While going back to a sport that she suffered a pretty severe injury in was a risk, the thought of giving up the sport she loved wasn’t something that McGee could come to terms with.

“It was just hard to think about not doing this anymore,” McGee said. “I’ve been doing this for so long and I know what I need to do to execute certain things, so I just couldn’t give it up. I didn’t want to and I’m really happy that I didn’t and with where I am at this point.”

McGee said she does not have any limitations from the injury so she expects her senior season to be a strong one and hopefully end on a high note with a trip to Palatine for the ISHA State Final Meet in late February.

But for this to be a successful season for other seniors, as well as the entire Batavia gymnastics team, McGee would have some company this year at state.

“Especially as seniors, we all want to get the most out of our senior years,” Sloan said. “I think if we work hard and continue to improve as the season goes on, we’ll be happy with the results and where we are at the end. As long as we do those things, we can live with how it ends up.”

GENEVA – It would seem out of the ordinary looking and seeing the Batavia girls gymnastics team with five team captains, although maybe a little less so seeing all five being seniors.

But Batavia coach Taryn Boyce had a fairly simple explanation to having that number of girls lead the group.

“They are all deserving leaders,” Boyce said. “When talking with my assistant, I don’t think of the best gymnast or anything like that to be the captain. All of these girls have experience, have good leadership abilities and are all deserving to lead this group.”

While some decisions need to be made, having five girls all be on the same page is something that they have found doesn’t come easily, but have always worked hard to find a common ground.

But there are certainly positives for the likes of seven newcomers to the varsity this year, having the option to go to more than one or two captains.

“I think it definitely helps the younger girls,” senior Amanda Dian said. “You don’t just have the captain you have to go to. We have formed great relationships with all of the younger girls and that really helps once things get started.”

Dian joins Megan McGee, McKenna Sloan, Karen Li and Lauren Stangl as the five captains for the Bulldogs this year.

With five captains and usually five practices during the week, Boyce said each one takes a practice leading the warmups, helping to build the camaraderie not only among the seniors, but the entire team top to bottom.

McGee, who broke her femur in May at Excel Gymnastics, where the Bulldogs practice, returns to the group as the one state qualifier from last season.

The senior has gone through extensive physical therapy to get back out into competition, saying that she wasn’t really sure if she would get the opportunity to do so after the injury.

“It’s kind of hard to explain, but I’ve never broken a bone before so I didn’t know what was happening,” said McGee, who has a metal rod in her right thigh that she said acts like a brace. “I’m grateful to be back out here and I’m at the point now where I have my confidence back and I’m not worried about getting hurt again.”

Boyce joked that during Batavia’s season-opening meet, which also turned out to be its senior night, she was more nervous with McGee’s landing than McGee was.

When Boyce told McGee that it was no problem if she didn’t land her dismount right away if she was nervous about it, her response was, “that’s funny.”

While going back to a sport that she suffered a pretty severe injury in was a risk, the thought of giving up the sport she loved wasn’t something that McGee could come to terms with.

“It was just hard to think about not doing this anymore,” McGee said. “I’ve been doing this for so long and I know what I need to do to execute certain things, so I just couldn’t give it up. I didn’t want to and I’m really happy that I didn’t and with where I am at this point.”

McGee said she does not have any limitations from the injury so she expects her senior season to be a strong one and hopefully end on a high note with a trip to Palatine for the ISHA State Final Meet in late February.

But for this to be a successful season for other seniors, as well as the entire Batavia gymnastics team, McGee would have some company this year at state.

“Especially as seniors, we all want to get the most out of our senior years,” Sloan said. “I think if we work hard and continue to improve as the season goes on, we’ll be happy with the results and where we are at the end. As long as we do those things, we can live with how it ends up.”