Boys gymnastics: Hersey wins title at Addison Trail
Conant's Sam Minarik didn't expect to win the all-around during Saturday's Fred Dennis Invite.
The sophomore hadn't won an all-around title at a boys gymnastics invite before, was coming off an injury and fell on high bar and pommel horse.
He also didn't win any of the six events - and was just in the Top 5 in half of them - but when all the scores were tallied he was the one left at the top of the leaderboard, edging Hersey's Will Nicholson, 46.75 to 46.725 for the title.
"It wasn't the biggest tournament and there are a lot of other good schools out there that weren't here, but I'm still glad I won it," Minarik said. "I mean, I've been doing gymnastics since I was 4 (years old), so I've been doing it a long time, but I don't think I've won an all-around in anything like this in at least five years, so it was a nice thing to do."
Hersey, behind outstanding efforts from four all-arounders, won the invite easily with 141.775 points, easily besting the 131.15 earned by Conant.
"Having three seniors like we do and a freshman all-arounder like Matt Bednar helps a lot," Hersey coach Dustin Berman said. "It was an OK meet. We know what we have to make up for and what we need to work on hard for our next meet. What I was happy with most was our fight. They really showed some grit bouncing back from some rough events."
Matt Phelps, Matt Bednar, Jon Phelps followed Nicholson in posting the third, fourth and fifth best all-around scores.
Matt Phelps led the Huskies, winning still rings, parallel bars and high bar, while Jon Phelps took top honors on floor and vault and Nicholson won pommel horse.
Glenbard East was third with a 123.06
Matt Le was third on still rings and Marc Le was third on parallel bars to lead the Rams.
The host Blazers were fourth with a 122.075.
"We had a couple kids who didn't compete on Friday, including Alex Kominowski (third on vault), so we had a nice 7-point jump today," Blazers coach Mike Galfi said. "We continue to be inconsistent, though. We've been as high as the 130s and that's where I'd like to see us finish once everyone is healthy and back."
Marcus Rias paced the Blazers with a 42.75 in the all-around. He was second on floor and vault.
"The meet could've gone better, but floor was one of my best routines of the year," Rias said. "I need to polish my skills and perfect everything because I want to end the year with a bang. Knowing it's the end for me, I'm getting giddy, but I really do want to get to state and try to get up on the podium."
Lake Park took fifth with a 116.5. Luke Badger's 41.4 was tops for the Lancers.
Glenbard North's Joshua Garrison was second on still rings and Luke Meister was third on the pommel horse for the Panthers, who took sixth with a 110.7. Meister also was seventh in the all-around with a 44.05.
Fenton was seventh with a 100.65 and led by all-arounders Ricardo Torres and Danny Alcaraz.