Mundelein hits goal, surpasses Libertyville
Host Mundelein had a goal, and the Mustangs reached it Monday night in their Independent Conference boys gymnastics opener against rival Libertyville.
It was a close call, but Mundelein did crack the 130-point plateau with 130.3 points to capture the dual-meet victory over the Wildcats (2-2, 0-1) with 122.1 points.
Mundelein (1-0, 1-0) was led by junior all-arounder Scott Marthinsen, who nipped Libertyville junior Craig Breckenridge 51.3 to 51.2 for first place overall.
Mundelein sophomore Tim Beranek is showing great signs of improvement already this season after hitting a third-place 7.43 average in the all-around competition.
"It was an early-season goal we had for ourselves to break 130 points and our top two guys did what they're capable of doing tonight," said Mundelein coach Jesse Piland, whose team hit 25.8 points on vault. "As long as Scott (Marthinsen) and Tim (Beranek) can pick up most of the workload we can continue to work on our third scores."
Marthinsen (8.55 average) is one of the top-ranked vaulters in the state, but he missed his hand-spring front in pike position landing on vault Monday. In spite of the miss, Marthinsen still posted a winning mark of 9.3 on vault to outdistance Libertyville's Jamie Kadonsky (8.9) in second, and Breckenridge (8.5) in third.
Marthinsen captured the parallel bars title with an 8.9 while adding a first-place 8.5 on still rings. Marthinsen (7.7) finished second to Breckenridge on high bar after Marthinsen missed his double back-flip landing on his high bar routine.
"I still have a long way to go, and I'm still missing some requirements (on high bar) so I can see how I got a 7.7," said Marthinsen, who reached the state finals on vault last year. "I'm hoping vault and still rings are my best events this year because the team is struggling on those two events so I hope I can step up."
Breckenridge (8.53 average) hit a meet-high 9.6 to take home first place on floor exercise while adding top scores of 8.3 on pommel horse and 8.0 on high bar. Breckenridge (8.2) had to settle for second place after missing his dismount on his still rings routine.
Kadonsky took runner-up honors on floor exercise with a 9.2 to edge Beranek (9.1) in third place. Breckenridge placed second on parallel bars with an 8.6 while Marthinsen (8.1) placed second on pommel horse.
"I thought we competed really well at Hinsdale and in the tri-meet, but the kids are trying new things," said Libertyville coach Curt Austin, whose team scored 26.6 points on floor exercise. "Craig (Breckenridge) was rough in the all-around, but he had some outstanding events and Jamie Kadonsky did well on his favorite events."
Marthinsen placed fourth on floor with an 8.8 while Beranek placed third on parallel bars (8.0), third on pommel horse (7.5), and fourth on vault (8.3). Mundelein's Ryan Menary placed fifth on vault (8.2).