Fremd 2nd, Hinsdale Central 3rd at Krupicka

Lyons Township has won plenty of state titles in boys athletics, including baseball, basketball, cross country, hockey and track and field.

While its girls gymnastics teams won back-to-back titles in 2013-2014, the boys gymnastics squad has never brought home that same state championship trophy.

That may change when May arrives. Lyons has proved to be arguably the best team in the state. The team put on quite a show on Friday night during the 17th annual Neil J. Krupicka Invitational at Hinsdale Central, easily surpassing some excellent teams with 153.253 points.

Lyons collected its scores via Top 10 finishes from three gymnasts in every event except for pommel horse. That consistency paid off big-time.

Fremd finished as runner-up with an impressive 147.2 but still was well behind Lyons. The host Red Devils were third with a 146.45, while Mundelein was fourth with a 144.65.

"It was a good meet for us, especially since we had a rough one a couple days ago. We were able to come back and clean things up," Vikings coach Tim Hamman said. "We still have a lot of improvement we can make going into the second half of the season and we take some positives out of this meet that will hopefully help us overall."

Fremd scored a season high in points and did so at a venue it hopes to return to in May.

"Having gone here to Hinsdale Central myself, I told the guys that this is where they want to be later this spring and how I think this invite is good in a lot of ways," Hamman said. "We saw a lot of teams we normally don't see since we're up north, so that was nice to see, competition-wise, and hopefully we can get back here for the state meet."

Eric Brand and Ryan Roth paced the Vikings, snagging the top two spots in the all-around. Brand won vault and high bar and Roth won still rings and took second on parallel bars.

Nick Altandush's second place finish on high bar and a pair of Top 3 finishes on floor and vault from Nolan Holmes helped the Red Devils secure third place.

Mundelein's Greg Godellas won pommel horse with an impressive 9.2 to help the Mustangs take fourth place, easily in front of the remaining seven teams.

York took fifth place with a 136.55.

"I expected to see some higher scores, but we were out one guy and we'll try to go full strength next Tuesday," Dukes coach Nick Criel said. "We need to keep up with things and up our routines. We're not consistent right now, but if we can start getting better at that we should be a much better team."

Kelvin Stevens paced the Dukes with a second-place finish on still rings and third place efforts on vault and parallel bars. Charlie Cripe led the team in the all-around with a 44.45.

Naperville North took seventh place with a 131.15.

"We picked it up a bit as the meet went on," Huskies coach Chris Stanicek said. "We're still trying to get to the point where we have that full meet and hit all the events. Brian Kay got close to doing that tonight. He had a great meet."

Kay led the Huskies with a 45.7 in the all-around.

"This is probably one of the best meets I've done so far this season," Kay said. "I'm pretty proud. I'm working hard and spending a lot of time in the gym so it's starting to pay off."

Naperville Central finished in eighth place with a 118.65.

"We had too many falls," Redhawks coach Glen Reimers said. "The guys need to clean that up."

Addison Trail took 10th with a 109.00. Alex Kominowski provided the biggest highlight for the Blazers, placing second on floor with a 9.35.