Palatine's Nigam wins all-around at Conant

Palatine's Prakash Nigam is making his move to the top.

Only a sophomore, Nigam won the all-around title Friday at the 12th annual Ed Raymond Conant boys gymnastics meet Friday in Hoffman Estates.

It was only the second all-around title in his short career. But it came at at meet where nearly one-third of all the state's teams were competing.

"I was really happy with my all-around score," said Nigam, who finished with a 51.35, nearly 4 points ahead of any other gymnast. "I didn't fall once. It is always nice to win a meet, but there are still improvements to be made."

Nigam, who won the Foerch Invitational at Niles West last year, had never won an all-around title at meet with as many teams (14) as there were at Conant.

"It is really cool to see what all the other guys are doing," Nigam said. "We haven't competed in a meet this big."

Palatine coach Scott Hagel says that Nigam is ready for the big stage.

"He had a solid meet tonight," Hagel said. "He is really working on his consistency in practice and it is beginning to show in meets. He is not making the big mistakes like he was earlier in the season."

Nigam won three events, taking the title on pommel horse with an 8.50, the high bar with a 7.80 and tying Glenbard West's Eric Samuta for honors on the parallel bars with a 9.00.

Nigam's performance, along with Matt Wang (fifth in the all-around with a 46.27), Bobby Schulte, Matt Buffo and Jack Haller helped the Pirates to a fourth-place finish with a 138.50.

"Our goal was 140," Hagel said. "We had some guys trying some new vaults. Unfortunately they didn't go that well. But we should be ready for conference in two weeks."

Fremd came away with the team title. The Vikings, who have been on a roll the last few weeks, scored a season-best 143.415.

"We left some things on the floor," Fremd coach Tim Hamman said. "But the guys fought through it. They didn't let it affect them and they persevered through it."

The Vikings, who will be one of the five sectional hosts when the state series begins in three weeks, got a nice performance from Daniel Classon, who was fourth in the all-around with a 46.27. Fremd also got strong performance from Cole Patton, Eric Barnd, Nick Oyasu, Sam Yim and Ryan Roth.

"It was good to face some competition, not only in conference, but other teams in the state," Hamman said. "And it was great to come out on top."

Fremd was able to hold off Glenbard West, which beat the Vikings at the Rolling Meadows Invite a few weeks ago. The Hilltoppers struggled at Conant but were able to rally to finish with a 142.575.

"We had a pretty rough meet," Glenbard West coach Frank Novakowski said. "We had no hits on pommel horse, a couple of falls on rings and the floor. It was not a great meet, but we will keep them loose and pull it back together."

Samuta came up big for the Hilltoppers. He was second in the all-around with a 47.45, tied Nigam on the parallel bars and won the vault with a 9.05.

"I was actually surprised on how well my vault was," Samura said. "I have been struggling on it. But I realized that I could come back and I hit my Tsuk with a pike and that was good."

Adam Grimm, Matt Ideler, Timmy Le, Viktor Kovalishin,,Gunnar Maddock and Paul Bonokollie were all key contributors for the Hilltoppers.

Schaumburg finished third at 139.82. The Saxons counted on A.J. Hardin, Tony Orlando, Dylan Mitchell, Alex Hernandez, Jim Conley, Anthony Gershman, Vince Salinas and Hazen Rice for the bulk of their scoring.

"Overall it was pretty good meet," Schaumburg coach Erik Bostrom said. "We had a couple of falls on vault that hurt as a bit. I am looking to tweak a few things this week."

Libertyville finished fifth with a 133.60 and was led by Adam Metcalf, who was third in the all-around with a 46.45.

Naperville North's Yudai Okabe won the rings with an 8.90.

"It went really well for me today," Okabe said. "My backup rise handstand was really solid and I was able to stick my dismount."