Boys gymnastics: Mundelein an easy winner at Lake Park
It's got to be tough when you finish in fourth place and your score doesn't help the team's total.
That's how dominant Mundelein was on the pommel horse during Friday's Lake Park Invite, posting the top four scores in the event, including Jordan Ader's 6.7 that wasn't included as part of the team total despite getting Ader called up to the award podium.
Mundelein put on quite the show as the Mustangs were the superior squad among the five-team field, scoring 146.8 points while Addison Trail was the distant runner-up with a 134.
Brandon Swanson led the Mustangs, picking up individual titles on still rings, parallel bars and high bar, which helped him capture the all-around championship with a 51.3.
Teammate Greg Godellas won pommel horse with an 8.6.
Addison Trail may not have been victorious, but it was another positive effort for a Blazers team that's putting things together at the right time.
The Blazers particularly enjoyed showing off on the floor exercise, with Alex Kominowski edging teammate Marcus Rias, 9.4 to 9.3, to win the event. Their third score was an 8 from Carlos Alvarez.
"We went 137 the other night and had a pretty good meet and although our score went down (on Friday), I felt it was a much more complete meet," Blazers coach Mike Galfi said. "Those guys had some solid routines and this is where we are hoping to be now as we get closer to the end of the season."
The Blazers finished extremely strong a season ago and appear ready to duplicate that effort.
"I'm pleased with the direction that we are heading," Galfi said. "We're coming together and the energy level was up, which was nice to see."
Glenbard East brothers Marc Le and Matt Le had strong performances to help the Rams score a 132.3.
Marc Le was third on floor, vault and high bar while Matt Le was second on still rings and vault. Just to show how close these two brothers are in the gym, Matt Le edged Marc Le, 46.35 to 46.3 to finish third and fourth, respectively, in the all-around.
Lake Park's Luke Badger placed second on high bar with a 7.1 to pace the Lancers, which finished with a 125.35.
Badger totaled a 43.2 in the all-around while teammate Louie Ranieri had a 39.9.
"It's nice to finally see some of the hard work begin to pay off," Lancers coach Tim Whelan said. "The kids are coming around and it's always difficult when a new coach comes in and you're trying to get everyone on board. We thought we could be around 125, that was our goal this year, to reach out sectional seeding score and now we've gotten there."
Fenton was led by Ricardo Torres' 36.2 in the all-around, helping the Bison score 98.5 points.