Boys gymnastics: Wheaton Warrenville co-op dominates DVC meet

Regardless of it was the horizontal one or the parallel ones, Wheaton Warrenville co-op owned the bars during the DuPage Valley Conference meet on Thursday in Naperville.

Wheaton's five competitors snagged all five spots on the podium on parallel bars, while the four that performed on high bar earned the four highest scores on that apparatus.

Its dominance wasn't limited to the bars either. Wheaton ruled the five-team field with 155.65 points.

"Our boys hit a lot of routines tonight," Wheaton co-op coach Greg Gebhardt said. "We need to get a little bit better with our form and things like that and judging was state-level tonight and we need to be ready for that, but overall watching the guys compete the way they did and to take the top four in the all-around, I was really proud of that."

Nicky Franz, Joey DiRienzo, Aiden Moran and Cade Houlihan were the all-arounders. Franz won parallel bars, high bar, still rings and vault and DiRienzo won pommel horse.

"With this being my first year competing in high school, I'm interested in seeing how I can do," Houlihan said. "I felt this meet was really fun and a good judge for how we're going to do in the future."

Wheaton's night was full of highlights and not from just the usual suspects either.

"It was nice getting guys like Rodrigo (Ruiz) doing four events again," Gebhardt said. "We went 5-for-5 on vault. We didn't count many misses. We swept the parallel bars and got Nicky and Marty (Franz) up there at the same time, which was really special. Any time Marty gets an award it's awesome and he works hard."

Lake Park was the runner-up with a 136.55.

"The team performance was great and I'm hoping we can add even more between now and sectionals," Lancers coach Tim Whelan said. "To see consistent scores and being above 135 and the Top 20 in the state, I'm proud of my guys. They've worked their tails off this year."

Louie Ranieri won floor and fifth in the all-around to lead the Lancers.

"He did a fantastic job and was still disappointed in his performance," Whelan said. "That's what makes him a great gymnast. He's a perfectionist that's always striving to get better."

Matt Sciemca took third on floor and fourth on pommel horse and Bosco Boyer placed third on still rings for the Lancers.

Naperville North took third with a 130.3 behind a second-place effort on vault and a fourth-place finish on floor from Michael Hunter Jr.

"I had a rough floor overall, but a good routine," Hunter said. "My vault was one of the most outstanding ones I've ever had."

Eric Loid added a pair of fifth-place finishes on still rings and high bar for the Huskies.

Naperville Central edged Glenbard North, 111.85 to 110.8 for fourth place.

No Redhawks competed in the all-around, while Brandon Dao had a 39.15 to pace the Panthers. He also took fifth on floor.

"The guys that we had out there did their thing," Redhawks coach Glen Reimers said. "That was good for the seniors."