Short-handed Libertyville tops Mundelein
Despite being short-handed, it was a great night for both host Libertyville and Mundelein in their Independent Conference boys gymnastics opener Thursday night.
The Wildcats (1-1, 1-0) won the meet with a season-high 137.1 points, while the Mustangs (2-1, 0-1) hit a season-best 129.4 in this early-season showdown between the two longtime rivals.
Libertyville was without the services of key junior all-arounder Adrian Metcalf, who is nursing mildly sprained ankles. Mundelein had to compete without key sophomore all-arounder Greg Godellas, freshman all-arounder Carson Bernett and junior Jordan Ader due to spring break commitments.
Mundelein junior Brandon Swanson shined in the dual meet by winning the all-around competition with exactly 50 points (8.33 average). Swanson posted winning scores of 8.8 on floor exercise, 8.6 on still rings, 8.4 on parallel bars and 7.1 on high bar. Swanson and Libertyville's Andrew Jacobs tied for first place on vault with 8.5s.
After counting a lot of misses with some rough routines in the early stages of the season, the Wildcats looked sharp behind the leadership of senior Mark Pickar (46.1 points), who placed second in the all-around with a 7.68 average.
Libertyville senior Ryan Flores was the pommel horse champion with an 8.8, as he edged Swanson's second-place mark of 8.6. Flores was a state qualifier on pommel horse last spring and has shown much improvement in the early stages of the new campaign.
"Ryan and Mark both hit their pommel horse routines, and Ryan hit an 8.8, which was just huge for us tonight," said Libertyville coach Josh Cimo, whose team scored 23.3 points on pommel horse. "We've been counting about 10 falls a meet, which is five points, but tonight we counted only about two."
The Mustangs got some good scoring support from Ismael Antanez, who placed third in the all-around with 39.9 points. Antanez took second place on parallel bars with an 8.0 to nip Pickar's third-place score of 7.8.
"Tonight was all about individual performances and everybody did pretty well," said Mundelein coach Jesse Piland, whose team scored 23.8 points on vault. "This was Swanson's best meet of the season by far, and his 8.6 on still rings is about as well as he's done all year. Having a guy that goes 50 is great for us. If we can fill in the gaps, we can score in the upper 130s."
Like Cimo, Flores and the Wildcats were happy with their overall performance. Metcalf will be a huge addition to the squad when he returns, as he was a state qualifier on still rings and parallel bars as a sophomore.
"We're doing really well, we're hitting our sets well and our work is really paying off," said Flores, who competes on four events. "I did some off-season work on pommel horse (at Libertyville Gymnastics Academy) and that extra practice has really helped this season."
Pickar was the runner-up on floor exercise with an 8.3, as he outdistanced Jacobs (8.1) in third place. Libertyville's Alex Smith took second place on still rings with an 8.0 followed by teammate Alec Ovassapian (7.6) in third place.
Pickar added a third-place scores of 8.2 on vault and 6.8 on high bar. Flores was the runner-up on high bar with a 7.0.
"Our scoring has gone up every meet and, if we had Adrian, we would have scored in the 140s today," said Cimo, whose team placed sixth in the state last year. "Mark had a solid meet. If we can get him consistent in every event, he can easily improve his score by four points."
Mundelein will be competing in the Lake Park Invitational on Friday night before the Mustangs gear up for their own huge Bob Bohl Invitational on April 10 which will include Libertyville and an abundance of top teams from across the state.