Glenbard West peaking at right time

Glenbard West made sure it was mentally prepared for Friday's Glenbard West boys gymnastics sectional.

The Hilltoppers then went out and scored a season-high 148.05 points to advance to next Friday's IHSA state finals at Hinsdale Central.

"We spent all week mentally and physically preparing," Hilltoppers coach Frank Novakowski said. "We broke their routines down and looked at each skill and showed them how they can get better. Obviously, they responded to that and did a great job."

Eric Samuta was Glenbard West's lone all-arounder, finishing in third place with a 48.65. He also tied Lyons' Alex Janicki for first on vault and was second on high bar with a 7.9. He also finished in the top five on parallel bars and floor.

He was one of seven Hilltoppers to finish in the top five in at least one event, and one of four to finish or tie for first in an event.

Timmy Le tied Janicki for top honors on floor with a 9.35.

"It was my best routine this season," he said. "It was all about focusing on my form. My coach was making me do routines at practice to make it better and we were just more focused tonight."

Paul Bonokollie was the best on pommel horse with an 8.45.

"It was good," he said. "I've been focusing on hitting the same routine in practice and I just tried to do the same thing today."

No one was better than Adam Samuta on still rings, as he posted an 8.9, delighting the crowd with a new skill - a backup rise to cross.

"I've usually been in the low 8s and high 7s this year, but I threw in a new skill, which got me my requirement," he said. "I was missing 10 out of 10 times when doing it in practice, but I had the power and the will and confidence to go out there and make my set."

Also with top finishes for the Hilltoppers were Adam Grimm on parallel bars with an 8.4, Gunnar Maddock with a 7.7 on still rings and Matthew Ideler with a 7.45 on high bar.

"Hitting is kind of a contagious thing and one of the things we talk about is the first guy hitting their set," Novakowski said. "Our guys do a great job of feeding off that and they've done a great job of really forming a solid team unit and have a strong bond at this point of the season."

The Hilltoppers nearly hit each of their sets.

"We usually are hitting 25 and today we went 28-for-30," Bonokollie said. "We just were really focused on our mental preparation during practice this week, which made us ready."

Addison Trail took third place with 139.2 points but didn't score high enough to be in the running for of the at-large team berths.

"We started at a 116 this year so to end at around 140, I have no complaints about the season we've had," Blazers coach Mike Galfi said. "We had a couple major mistakes that cost us, but the kids worked really hard and really finished the season strong."

The Blazers had five gymnasts who qualified individually.

Included was Anthony Gamino, who tied for third place on pommel horse with a 7.7 and advanced to state for the first time.

"All the work I've put in for the three years since I've joined is finally paying off," Gamino said. "It's a great experience for me. I'm so blessing to be going."

Also advancing from Addison Trail was Alfredo Torres on floor with a 9.05, Marcus Rias, who tied for first on vault with an 8.9 and also scored on 8.4 on parallel bars, Daniel Baeza on vault with an 8.85 and R.J. Infusino on still rings with an 8.8.

"We just had a really good day today and we're really pumped," Infusino said. "I think individually we're going to do a lot of good stuff at state this year."

A handful of others earned automatic qualifiers for state.

West Chicago's Jacob Kurian led the way, taking fourth in the all-around with a 48.2. The sophomore also advanced on pommel horse.

Glenbard South's Eric McGovern was fifth in the all-around with a 43.15, Glenbard East's Kobe Mejia tied for fifth on floor with a 9.0 and Glenbard North's Joshua Garrison was fourth on still rings with a 7.7. Several others remain alive for at-large qualifiers but won't know until the final two sectionals are completed by late Saturday night.

In the team standings York was fourth with a 131.8 and followed by Glenbard East's 130.35, Glenbard South's 122.6, Lake Park's 121.4 and Glenbard North's 119.5.