Palatine perseveres for win at Conant
Palatine's boys gymnastics team showed Thursday that injuries alone won't be enough to hold it back.
The Pirates knew before the meet that they would be competing without top gymnast and defending MSL all-around champion Prakash Nigam, who was sidelined with a finger he dislocated earlier this week. Palatine then lost Matt Wang halfway through the meet when he fell badly while competing on the floor exercise.
Still, it didn't matter for the Pirates as they rolled to a 135.40 to win a triangular meet at Conant in Hoffman Estates. Conant finished with a season-best 126.20 and Prospect scored a 117.40.
"We were able to fight through some injuries and other little things, Palatine coach Scott Hagel said. "Some of our guys got some experience that they weren't expecting to get. They did a nice job of stepping up for us."
Wang won 2 events for the Pirates before giving way to an injury. Wang won the pommel horse (7.50) and the rings (7.70) before landing badly during one of his passes on the floor exercise. He was helped up but did not compete the rest of the way.
Enter Chris Lunsford, who won three events along with the all-around. The sophomore came up huge for the Pirates when they needed it most, winning the floor (8.50), the vault (9.00) and the high bar (7.30).
"I knew we had some guys out and to be honest, I did feel some pressure," said Lunsford, who scored 48.00 in the all-around. "But I knew I had to get past that. Because this is a team sport and I knew I had to help my team.
Also helping out in a big way for the Pirates were Brian Gaytan, Joseph Zhao, Brian Padzioch, Ethan Sciuckas and Harrison Mathias.
"We were really happy that we could pick up some experience for lots of guys tonight," Hagel said. "We will clean some things up and get our guys back."
Sam Minarik, who was competing in his first meet after being injured earlier this year, and Michael Yim came up big for Conant, which nearly caught Palatine during the final three events.
Minarik won the the parallel bars with an 8.70 and was second on the high bar with a 6.60. Yim also was solid, finishing second on the floor (8.20) and the vault (8.80) as well as second in the all-around with a 42.80.
"We are making some nice progress," Conant coach Mike Opsal said. "This is the time when you have to make that improvement. We are hoping that we can get to where we want to by the end of the year."
Prospect was led by Jack D'Onfrio, who was third on the vault (8.60) and second in the all-around (43.50).
"We were a bit tired from our meet on Tuesday," Prospect coach Julian Bassler said. "But we still had some our highest scores tonight, so that is encouraging."
Palatine got an extra bonus when the state series sectional hosts were announced Thursday by the Illinois High school Association. Palatine and Fremd, which each had the top five seed scores, were selected to host sectionals, which begin Wednesday, May 4. Fremd will host on Saturday, May 7 at 2 p.m. Along with the Vikings, area teams participating will include Elk Grove, Leyden, Conant, Hoffman Estates, Rolling Meadows and Schaumburg.
Palatine will host the final sectional at 7 p.m. Saturday. Joining the Pirates from the area will be Hersey, Barrington and Prospect.
Buffalo Grove will be at the Mundelein sectional on Thursday, May 5 at 7 p.m.