Victory at Naperville Central worth trip to Libertyville

Getting up early on a cold Saturday morning and making an hourlong bus ride to Naperville probably won't be one of the fondest memories of the Libertyville boys gymnastics team this spring, but the Wildcats were happy to compete for the first time in 2017.

Despite a performance that was filled with its share of ups and downs, the Wildcats cruised past host Naperville Central 133.4 to 123.6 in the season opener for both teams.

"It was a very good start for us overall," Libertyville coach Josh Cimo said. "The guys were nervous and shaky with loose legs and careless mistakes at the beginning, but they settled down and pulled along. They started executing their skills like they usually do in practice, so the nerves finally shook off."

Matt Newberger won pommel horse, still rings and high bar for the Tigers but was bested in the all-around by teammate Pat Tanski 43.9 to 42.9. Tanski didn't win any event but was second on floor, pommel horse and vault.

"It went better than I expected and it really came down to what we've been doing in the gym so far," Tanski said. "We've been doing good routines in practice and stuff and working pretty hard, so the meet went pretty well for our first one."

Tyler Kukla took third on floor and A.J. Jacob placed second on high bar and third on still rings for the Tigers.

"Our average last year was around a 126 or something, so to get off to a nice start like this was definitely nice to see," Tanski said. "I'm excited to see what's to come."

Perhaps the best news regarding Libertyville's start was that they made a lot of mistakes but still scored higher than they did all of last spring.

"We need to clean some things up," Cimo said. "The nice thing is we got some clarification from the judges on some things and that's only going to help us for the rest of the season."

Naperville Central began a season in which it won't have any all-arounders, so it'll be counting on a lot from many gymnastics in specialist roles.

Senior Tahj Jacobs did his part, winning floor and vault, his lone two events.

"I felt like it went pretty well for our first meet," he said. "I always feel we could do better and I think we learned some things, stuff that we can fix for next time."

After qualifying for state last year, Jacobs is hungry for similar success.

"Last year is going to be hard to beat because I broke a lot of personal records and achieved a lot of things that I didn't think were possible," he said. "Now with this being my last year I'm just going to give it my all and have fun with it."

Armani Carter added a pair of third-place efforts on vault and bars for the Redhawks, while Kevin Sedlacek was third on pommel horse and Sam Piazza was third on high bar.

"We're just working hard and trying to push ourselves," Jacobs said. "There's a lot of self-motivation in gymnastics and all of us know what we need to do to help the team."

The Redhawks were without a few gymnasts due to injuries, including Cameron Kalish, who is expected back, and Quinn Farrell, who is out for season with a knee injury.

"It was a good first meet for us and there's a lot of room for improvement," Redhawks coach Glen Reimers said. "Tahj and Armani's scores should go up on vault and floor and we're going to need to clean up pommel horse and high bar, but overall I thought it was a nice start."