Delgrosso leads Naperville Central past Glenbard East

The Glenbard East and Naperville Central boys gymnastics teams aren’t expected to be among the top scoring teams this spring. Instead, both squads are focusing on making gradual improvements throughout the season to gauge their success as gymnasts.

The teams met in Naperville on Wednesday night for a DuPage Valley Conference meet as the Redhawks outscored the Rams, 112.5-102.3.

Dom Delgrosso led the way for Naperville Central, recording the top score on still rings and high bar while also taking top honors on vault with an 8.7 and floor with a 9. He finished with an all-around total of 40.1.

“I didn’t do as good as I thought I would,” Delgrosso said. “I messed up on high bar and didn’t really hit the events like I wanted to.”

The Redhawks utilized 10 specialists with Delgrosso as the team’s lone all-arounder.

“I’m hoping some of the guys step up a bit,” Naperville Central coach Glen Reimers said. “Some of these guys are seniors that have been here for four years, so that would be nice to see.”

For the Redhawks, Mitch O’Flynn added a 7.9 on floor and 4.8 on high bar, Blake Beehler offered a 6.2 on parallel bars and 4.6 on pommel horse, Charlie Abeling scored a 5.7 on still rings, Thomas Kawalek had a 4.9 on still rings and Robbie Dietz won parallel bars with a 6.6.

“As a team I thought we did excellent except for a few events,” said Kawalek, who also had a 7.7 on floor and 7 on vault. “We know there are some things we can still improve on and we hope to hit the 120s by the DVCs, at least.”

Melik Prum and Joey Brauer led the way for the Rams. The two all-arounders scored a 29.7 and 33.7, respectively. Prum was the lone winner for the Rams, totaling the night’s best score on pommel horse with a 5.7.

“I just tried to perform to the best of my ability and I think it went well,” Prum said. “I’ve been struggling on some things at the beginning of the year, but they’ve gotten better.”

Brauer’s best scores came on floor with an 8.5 and vault with an 8.2. His 5.2 on high bar was second only to Delgrosso’s 5.7.

“I’m going to keep working on high bar some more. It’s my favorite event,” Brauer said. “We’ll shape up some more as the season goes on. I think we can get a good score later on in the year.”

Glenbard East’s Max Ursy placed second on vault with an 8.6, and Tony Caruso tied for third on still rings with a 4.9.