Stevenson aces Bohl Invitational test
The 18-team Bob Bohl Invitational proved to be a good test for many boys gymnastics teams Friday night at Mundelein.
Stevenson proved to be the class of the large field with a winning score of 147.05 points as the Patriots' team looks poised to make yet another push for the Elite Eight meet in mid-May.
Glenbrook South edged Wheaton-Warrenville co-op 141.33 to 139.87 for third place as Wheaton was without the services of top all-arounder Ben Szot, who was competing at the USA regionals in Indianapolis.
Hoffman Estates nipped Mid-Suburban West rival Schaumburg 137.68 to 136.43 for fifth place as those teams prepare for some big head-to-head showdowns as the remainder of the season unfolds.
Libertyville wound up placing eighth with 134.85 points while Buffalo Grove slipped past the host Mustangs 131.25 to 130.85 for 10th place.
Mundelein's Brandon Swanson took runner-up honors in the all-around competition with 50.8 points (8.466 average) while Stevenson was led by four-year varsity gymnast Arie Feltman-Frank (50.0 points) in third place.
"This was definitely a good meet for me and I hit all six events," said Feltman-Frank, whose team hit a season-high 151 earlier this spring. "The key for us right now is Elijah (Klaber) resting his knee so it can heal and fixing the small things. We'll be fine because we have big aspirations for this season."
Stevenson coach Eric Liva has very little depth to fall back on this season, but the Patriots are really looking good so far with sectionals not too far down the road.
"We got off to a great start on our first three events then we had two major misses on vault," said Liva, whose team scored 24.75 points on vault. "We missed three and a half routines tonight, but we can get back two of those when we start working Elijah (Klaber) on floor exercise and vault."
Three-time defending state champ Wheaton co-op is also hoping for big things when it gets its full lineup working despite losing two-time state all-around champ David MacDonald to graduation.
Junior Lucas Cooperman led Wheaton-Warrenville with a fourth-place 8.32 average in the all-around (49.9 points).
"We had some missed routines, but Lucas Cooperman had a season-high score on parallel bars with a 9.2," said Wheaton coach Greg Gebhardt, whose team led all squads on floor exercise with 25.85 points. "Ben (Szot) is a very consistent leader on our team and not only is he a good competitor, but he is a good person."
Hoffman Estates used a strong trio of gymnasts to reach fifth place with ninth-place Anthony Halbisch, 15th-place Bartosz Widelak, and 16th-place Brendan Gorvett carrying the majority of the Hawks' team scoring.
"I'm definitely happy with our performance, but our top guy on three events didn't hit their top scores so we can move up by 4 or 5 points," said Hoffman Estates coach Ryan Brown, whose team will host a sectional. "We have to clean things up, and putting in the skills that we've been working on in practice will really help."
With no all-arounders competing, Schaumburg used more of a team effort to get the job done Friday.
"We bobbled a lot after starting off strong on pommel horse," said Schaumburg coach Erik Bostrom. "We moved up four points from Wednesday by adding Hazen Rice on vault, parallel bars, and high bar."
Stevenson sophomore Matt Krames (48.85 points) tied for sixth overall while Libertyville junior Adrian Metcalf (46.85) placed 10th in the all-around.
"It's our second highest score of the season, but we had a lot of ups and downs tonight," said Libertyville coach Josh Cimo. "Adrian had a really nice meet, and he was five for six other than a fall on high bar."
Cooperman took home first place on floor (9.45) and parallel bars (9.2) while Feltman-Frank was the high bar champion with an 8.6. Cooperman tied for second on high bar with a 7.6 while Feltman-Frank (9.0) placed second on still rings.
Stevenson's Jarrod Blutarski took second on vault with a 9.25 while Buffalo Grove's Justin Zyck (8.95) edged Swanson (8.9) for second on pommel horse.
Fenton's Oscar Garza (8.9) placed fourth on floor while Klaber (8.7) placed fourth on still rings. Gorvett added a third-place 9.225 on vault followed by Swanson (9.2) in fourth. Krames (8.7) nipped Halbisch (8.6) for second on parallel bars.
Buffalo Grove has really missed the presence of key senior all-arounder Tyler Cho, who has missed basically the whole season with an elbow injury.
"We had a really good meet and the guys did about as well as we could do," said Buffalo Grove coach Zack Crandall. "We've had a lot of sophomores and juniors step up out of necessity."
Mundelein is holding back some underclassmen until the late stages of the season arrive.
"Breaking 130 has been our goal without a full lineup," said Mundelein coach Jesse Piland. "And we're just competing with juniors and seniors at this meet."
The 86-year-old Bohl was not in attendance. But he is one of the founding fathers of IHSA boys gymnastics, a former boys gymnastics coach at Mundelein, and one of the greatest promoters of the sport ever, according to Piland.