Boys gymnastics: Glenbard West leaves no doubt at sectional

Glenbard West inched one step closer to winning its first state title since 1996.

The Hilltoppers, who placed second in the state last spring, won Thursday's Glenbard West sectional in convincing fashion with a 162.05.

The more interesting race was for runner-up, where Buffalo Grove edged Wheaton co-op 152.55 to 151.25 to put itself in excellent position to land one of the three at-large state qualifying spots.

"Our goal all season has been to break 150 and we finally were able to do that," Buffalo Grove coach Zack Crandall said. "We had a great practice on Wednesday night and put it all together. The guys did as well as they could so I'm incredibly happy. It's been an extremely rewarding year with these guys, and we had 18 different guys compete for us so anybody's score can count at any time."

Daniel Gerovoy paced the Bison, taking fourth in the all-around with a 51.1, while fellow seniors Michael Trandicosta, Sean Sparkowski and Jack Delattre also had top finishes for the runner-up.

Senior Austin Tate paced third-place Wheaton co-op by taking seventh in the all-around with a 50.3. He won pommel horse with a strong 9.35 while teammate Joey DiRienzo followed him with an 8.9.

"We came in here and came out with no regrets," Tate said. "We put everything on the table. Whatever happens, that's the way it turns out. I felt it went as well as it could have. We had some bobbles and stumbles and falls, but it happens."

The Hilltoppers received big-time contributions from its upperclassmen as its seniors delivered to win four events, which ultimately led to the big victory. Timmy Le won floor and vault, Frankie Pham took top honors on still rings and Matthew Ideler did the same on high bar while also claiming the all-around with a 53.35.

In addition, junior Shea Rudolph shared top honors on parallel bars with freshman teammate Alexander Demeris with a 9.35.

"This was just like a normal meet for us," Ideler said. "We did an intrasquad meet on Tuesday, a mock meet, so whatever we do in practice we're going to do in a meet and we went out and hit our sets like we did in practice."

Now it comes down to the little things for the Hilltoppers as they prepare for the state finals on May 12-13.

"We're focusing on the little things like toes, the knees and the slight feet separation, all of the small things," Ideler said. "We don't want to feel the pain from last year again. It's definitely still in our minds."

Elgin senior Nolan Williamson took second in the all-around with a 53.05, while West Chicago senior Jacob Kurian took fifth with a 50.85. The two were the lone reps from their respective schools.

"I want to end this year, my final year, on a good note," Kurian said. "Other than horse, everything was good. I stuck most of my landings which was key to me doing well this meet."

Glenbard East took fourth with a 135.45 behind junior Marc Le's third-place effort on still rings.

Lake Park was fifth with a 133.3. Senior Luke Badger led the Lancers with a sixth-place finish on high bar.

Addison Trail was seventh with a 126.75. Junior Alex Kominowski took second on floor with a 9.35 to lead the Blazers.