It was a breath of fresh air when it comes to athletics.
An event so rare that you wanted to capture it and say, this is how it should be but, at the same time, realize just how difficult it was because both are competitors.
Two best friends, battling it out for a title, yet both rooting the other on to beat each other.
Both with a dream.
Killingly senior Kasey Fillmore had wanted to win an individual Eastern Connecticut Conference, state championship, State Open championship and New England championship all in the same season. Fellow Killingly senior Justine Basley had just wanted to win a title, any title and this was her next to last chance to do so.
Basley saw the opportunity on Saturday and jumped on it, with the eye of the tiger in her mind but with the eye on her best friend in her heart.
Basley winced when Fillmore fell from the beam doing a trick she has performed flawlessly hundreds of times, she also saw Fillmore's 9.2 and her 9.7 as the opportunity she needed to finally surpass Fillmore.
She seized the moment and hit a 9.65 in her final routine on the floor, less than Fillmore's 9.7, but a number that gave her a final total two-one hundreths better than her best friend.
The best thing about Saturday's State Open was that both Justine Basley and Kasey Fillmore walked away as best friends to compete against one another this Saturday.
Sports, folks, at it's best.