Eichin does his part for Glenbard West
Daniel Eichin has a legitimate fear of being upside down.
On the pommel horse the Glenbard West senior is anything but terrorized.
Eichin certainly wasn't afraid of how he competed and finished during Saturday's District 87 meet in Lombard as he won the pommel horse with a personal-best 8.2. It was the first time he won a varsity event, and it helped the Hilltoppers dominate the four-team field with 151.6 points.
"Last year I was just trying to get up to varsity, but this year I did a lot of off-season work," he said. "With gymnastics it's all about how much work you put in and that correlates to how good you are."
He couldn't crack the state champion lineup that featured three seniors last spring but realized his time was coming.
"He's a hard worker," Hilltoppers coach Frank Novakowski said. "He just achieved Eagle Scout last week so that's a testament to his hard work, and last year he really started to come on and he won JV conference."
Eichin said the combination of hard work, finding a mentor and following the direction of coaches have helped him rise from a kid who barely knew what a pommel horse was as a freshman to ruling it like a champion today.
"We're not even halfway through the season yet, so I've seen how hard work does pay off," he said. "I've been lucky to have a really good horseman in Paul (Bonokollie, who took second in the state in 2016). He was my mentor and I've had a lot of good coaches. I think what's really hit me though is that it's a mental event. I'm not the strongest guy on the team, but I'm trying to get to the most focused state, to get in the zone."
Eichin wasn't the only Glenbard West gymnast in the zone, as Alexander Demetris took second in the all-around with a 50.4 and Aiden Rudolph won high bar and vault and took third in the all-around with a 49.6.
"Overall we did pretty well, but there's always room for improvement," Rudolph said. "I think we're going to have to focus on a lot of the basics in practice if we want to improve more, but today we had guys who really stepped up a lot compared to last week."
Other notable finishers for Glenbard West included Shea Rudolph and Connor McBride, who tied for fourth place on high bar with 7.3s. Shea Rudolph was also fourth on floor with an 8.8. Carlos Sandoval added a fourth-place effort of 8.3 on still rings and took fifth on parallel bars with a 7.9.
You wouldn't know that Glenbard East senior Marc Le hibernated from gymnastics after the state finals last May until the beginning of this season. He certainly didn't look rusty in winning the all-around with a 51.7. He also claimed top honors on floor, parallel bars and still rings.
"For my third meet of this busy week, I'd say I'm very proud of my performance," Le said. "Today, I did my best out of the three meets. I hit 5 of 6 but fell on pommel horse, so I was kind of disappointed there. I wanted to hit 6 for 6."
While pommel horse got the best of him this time, it's high bar that has given him the biggest trouble during the young season.
"This meet is a big eye opener for me as I know I still have potential to do things, and I took the entire off-season off for other things so I'm trying to get back in the groove," he said. "High bar is bothering me the most. I just have to work on my endurance and stay tight, keep it clean and hopefully make upgrades."
Glenbard South was third with a 112.45. Senior Sean McLaughlin led the team with a 37.6 in the all-around while Ryan McConville had a 35.75.
McLaughlin had dislocated his foot about this time last year and missed the District 87. Not this time.
"It was nice to go out this time and I did pretty well on floor and had some nice dismounts," he said. "I think we all did really good. We still are a little inexperienced and rusty from last year with a lot of new guys who are still trying to figure out how meets work."
Glenbard North took fourth with an 85.8. Sophomore Brandon Dao led the Panthers with a 36.7 as its lone all-arounder.