Patriots' Pusateri redeems himself on vault

Stevenson junior Bryan Pusateri badly wanted to redeem himself after his vault at last year's preliminary round of the state meet resulted in him landing on his rear end.

Pusateri did just that on Saturday as he scored a 9.4 on vault, which tied him for third in the individual competition of the boys state gymnastics meet at Barrington.

After doing a handspring pike, he stuck the landing and celebrated with an emphatic fist pump.

"I'm feeling awesome," said Pusateri, who set a career best with a 9.6 in prelims. "Last year I got (42nd) and fell on my butt, so this is like redemption."

The impressive performance netted Pusateri his first state medal.

"I was a little nervous because I've never made finals before but I was really excited more than nervous," he said. "I finally made it after working so hard."

Stevenson coach Mike Farina was thrilled for the junior.

"He went out there and did exactly what he was supposed to do," Farina said. "He really had his head in the game and was focused and just had a great meet."

While Pusateri only qualified for finals on vault, he came very close in several other events. During the preliminaries, Pusateri took 15th on floor (9.3), 13th on rings (8.85) and 18th on parallel bars (8.4).

His overall performance was even more impressive considering he finished 45th on p-bars last year and didn't even qualify for state on rings or floor as a sophomore.

Farina said the key to Pusateri's rapid improvement was simply hard work.

"He's been working hard all year and just got focused," Farina said. "He's a really hard worker and put everything together today. With his work ethic and his drive, anything is possible."

Mundelein had several quality performances on vault as senior Brian Arnold took 36th with a 9.0, senior Paolo Apuli was 53rd with an 8.6, freshman Scott Marthinsen scored an 8.5 for 55th and sophomore Mike Agosto was 59th with a 8.15.

Apuli added a 39th place finish on p-bars with a 7.7 while senior Rick Fox scored a 7.85 on rings and finished in 40th place.

The state all-around champion was Steve Deutsch of Glenbrook South with 56.6.

Deutsch added a title on pommel horse (9.5).

Tim Krueger of the Wheaton co-op was a triple event winner, taking first places on floor exercise (9.65), vault (9.8) and parallel bars (9.55).

The still rings crown went to Keith Lage of Naperville Central with a score of 9.5.

Doug Rybar of Downers Grove North soared to the horizontal bar state title with a mark of 9.5.