Wheaton co-op tops Downers Grove North, Mundelein

As one of just two seniors at Wheaton co-op, Lucas Cooperman has been asked to be a leader and step up as the team's top all-arounder.

So far, so good.

Cooperman posted a personal-best 52.3 to win the all-around and lead Wheaton-op to the championship in Thursday's Ralph Krupke Invitational at Lake Park in Roselle.

Wheaton co-op scored a 147, finishing comfortably ahead of runner-up Downers Grove North's 143.55 and Mundelein's 142.85.

"I'm really glad that I keep showing improvement and that just continues to come with practice," Cooperman said. "It's great because there was more intense competition here. I was really pleased, but I still have improvements to make."

He picked up three individual victories, winning floor, vault and parallel bars.

"Coming off diving, he's now been in the gym three-and-a-half weeks so he's starting to get in shape now," co-op coach Greg Gebhardt said. "He's picked up on the routines he did last year and once you learned it once, it's easier to relearn those sets."

Having been a part of two state title teams and a runner-up, Cooperman has had a few former teammates teach him how to lead. It's apparent that he listened to what they had to say as well as how they interacted with their teammates.

"He's bought into that role and really enjoys it," Gebhardt said. "And we have a young team with a lot of sophomores who turn to him for guidance. Guys like Aiden Moran and Joey DiRienzo, they really look up to him. He's a good role model and he's classy. He's got a lot of things going for him."

Austin Tate's 46.8 and Moran's 46.7 in the all-around also helped boost the co-op's winning score, while DiRienzo's 7.4 on still rings and 8.15 on parallel bars and Chase McClearn's 8 on vault and 6.8 on high bar also were tabulated into the team total.

"We have our all-arounders, but then we also have a bunch of other guys, like Chase, Joey and Andy (Mathieu) who help us construct a whole other all-around score."

The second-place Trojans were led by Lukas Elisha and Mike Kudelka, who finished fourth and fifth, respectively, in the all-around with a 50.0 and 47.56. Elisha won high bar with an 8.2, while teammate Kevin Vansaten had top honors on still rings with an 8.3.

Mundelein was strong early on but struggled during their final two events.

"It was a good meet for the first four events, but we just couldn't finish," Mustangs coach Jesse Piland said. "Our last two events were abnormally bad so we need to work a little more in the gym and work on our endurance a bit. Guys got tired at the end of the meet and need to finish stronger."

Brandon Swanson led Mundelein, taking second in the all-around with a 50.65 while

Greg Godellas was fifth with a 47.25. Godellas also won pommel horse with a 9.4.

"Pommels is usually my strongest event," he said. "I had a rough start, but I powered through it and had a good set at the end."

Naperville North took fourth with a 127.920. The Huskies were paced by all-arounder Brian Kay's 42.5.

"I did fairly well, considering we've had quite a few meets the past few weeks," Kay said. "I'm a little tired so I didn't perform at my best but as a team we did well."

Aryc Trotz was third on still rings with a 7.8 and Alex Trannon was fourth on vault with an 8.7 for the Huskies.

"We're scoring much higher than we thought we would," Kay said. "When the season started we didn't know if we'd break 100 and now we're scoring more than 120."

Glenbard South was fifth with a 122.1. Neil Livingston contributed a 41.4 in the all-around. He placed third on vault with an 8.85 while Stephen Bean was sixth on vault.

"We were a little lower than the other day, but the spring break bug is there too," Raiders coach Lee Wood said. "Now we can work on some new tricks. We had a good showing from Neil today and Josh Keating on pommel horse so all in all we had a good meet."

Conant was sixth with a 120.45 behind Michael Yim's 42.4 in the all-around.

The host Lancers were seventh with a 117.57. Their lone all-arounder, Luke Badger, scored a 40.65.

Ricardo Torres scored a 36.1 in the all-around to lead Fenton to a 96.35 and ninth place.