The Washington gymnastics team returned home from Chicago Saturday after claiming the fourth-place title in the IGI Chicago Style Invitational Friday night.

2008 was the first year that the Huskies competed in this meet, which is hosted by IGI, a Chicago area gymnastics club team. The meet was a quad meet, meaning the Huskies had to compete against the No. 9 UCLA Bruins, the No.11 Stanford, and the No. 24 Illinois.

The Bruins took home the gold in the meet with a score of 196.875, followed by the Cardinal (196.700), the fighting Illini (194.775) and then the Huskies with a score of 194.250.

“We’re very familiar with Stanford and UCLA,” coach Joanne Bowers said. “Our team realizes where we are and that we’re a very young team. Everyone realizes that we are getting better and that’s our goal.”

While the Huskies may have suffered a loss, there were still many positives that came out of the meet in Chicago. The Dawys scored their highest team vault score, highest team beam score and tied for their highest team bar score. Their final score of 194.250 was also their second highest score of the season.

Freshman Haley Bogart led the Huskies after she scored a 38.975 in the all-around competition. Bogart’s score was a career best for the Woodside, Calif., native and a great strength for the Huskies among the intense competition.

Fellow freshman Samantha Walior and Kristen Linton also fared well at the meet, with both gymnasts tying for fifth on the bars with a score of 9.825.

Another noteworthy performance came from junior Ashley Houghting, who took home a fifth-place finish on the vault with a score of 9.85. Houghting is usually one of the Huskies top all-around performers, but after being sick all week, she had to sit out the last two events.

This meet marked one of the toughest competitions the Huskies will compete in this season, as all of their competitors were ranked in the top 25.

The Huskies have a particularly difficult schedule this season, with them not only having to face the high-level of competition in the Pac-10 but four other top-25 ranked non-conference teams as well. Two of those non-conference foes were in Chicago.

Bowers was convinced Chicago’s meet was an important learning experience: “If we are competing against some of the best teams in the country, our girls really see what it takes.”

Up next, the Huskies will compete in Seattle again when they take on No. 2 Utah this Saturday in Bank of America Arena. The Utes will be the seventh top-25 team that Washington will face this season.

[Reach reporter Rebecca Rogers at sports@thedaily.washington.edu.]