Palatine Pirates defend their championship with win over Conant

At 5-foot-1, Luke Schuster was the smallest gymnast competing for Palatine in its Mid-Suburban West showdown at Conant on Friday night.

At 6-foot-2, David Irsay was the tallest Pirate competing.

Together, they helped the defending MSL champs post a 152.4-143.2 victory in Hoffman Estates.

Schuster came in with best score in the high bar (9.1) and tied for first with Conant's Anthony Crivolio (8-5) on the still rings.

"I'm not really concerned with the individual events," said the modest Schuster. "I was just worried about what I could do to help my team get in the 150s. Our goal was 153, so we got close. It was nice to come here and get the victory and move closer toward a conference championship."

Senior Andre Gatorano got the night rolling for the visitors (3-0 in the West) with a first-place score of 9.3 on the floor. He also won the vault (9.20) and high bars (8.6).

"Actually, our high bars improved the most," said Pirates coach Scott Hagel. "We had a lot of weaknesses going into spring break.

"And Pat Hamman improved 2 points from his previous score. He added an eagle (outward movement of hands) to his routine. That is probably the toughest requirement to get in gymnastics. Only Andre and Pat do it for us."

Hamman took third place (8.3) behind runner-up Crivolio (8.5) of Conant (2-1 in the West).

Irsay's 9.2 score for the pommel horse was his personal best.

"I put in a double walk-around," the senior said "Normally I just do a single one. But the double adds five-tenths difficulty to your score.

"We needed this win. We knew Conant poses a big threat in the MSL, so we treated this meet like the conference meet."

Crivolio (8.3) was second in all-around while sophomore teammate Steve Rink (8.1) was third.

"Anthony (Crivolio) is a great kid, a determined athlete who won't leave the gym until he is totally satisfied," said Conant coach Randy Smith. "I can't praise him enough. We've just got to get our No. 2 and 3 guys going."

Senior Dave Kaminski (slight concussion) and junior Austin Bolesta (sprained ankles) are expected back in a week.

"So it's rough in any event for us because we don't have a buffer," Smith said. "If our top three don't hit, there's a lot of pressure on us. I was happy we stayed on the pommel horse. At Lake Park, every guy fell off. Rings is still hurting us. We'll see them (Palatine) again at conference so hopefully we can give them a good meet there."