Wheaton North slips past Glenbard North
Blame it on being a Monday.
The much-anticipated meeting between the boys gymnastics teams from Wheaton co-op and Glenbard North failed to live up to the hype as host Wheaton co-op won comfortably, beating the defending state champions 143-133.8 in a DuPage Valley Conference dual meet.
"We haven't practiced in five days and I thought that was indicative of our performance," Wheaton coach Chad Downie said. "We're a little bit better than we were tonight. We're trying a lot of new skills and putting them in routines these last three meets so I'm fine with where we're at."
Wheaton did not win a single event outright. Its lone victory came on vault where Darren Fill tied Glenbard North's Ryan Kennedy for top honors with an 8.9. Wheaton was able to outscore the Panthers largely because Fill finished in the top three in all 6 events and Mike Brackman was among the top three in four events.
"We're making progress in our third and fourth score on high bar and those are the important things right now," Downie said. "I know my top two in each event will always be fine. It's bolstering the other scores."
One of Wheaton's highlights came on parallel bars, when senior Gerry Riemer delivered an 8.2.
"I felt pretty good about that," Riemer said. "My teammates have helped me out when I wasn't hitting my sets so I was just happy to help them out."
Wheaton also received a nice lift from specialist Mark Cielsielski. The only underclassmen contributor, Mark Ciesielski produced an 8.6 on vault and an 8.5 in the floor exercise.
"I'm trying to help out the best I can," he said. "We have a lot of depth. It's one the great aspects of this team."
Injuries continue to plague the Panthers. Kennedy, Jesus Soto and Jared Vandenack are all battling the injury bug.
"I hate to use injuries as an excuse but so many of the guys are hurting," Glenbard North coach Michael Crissie said. "It really bothers me because their heads weren't in it today either. Spring break is coming up next week and I don't know if that was it, but we should've been able to beat a 143."
Soto was limited to only competing on still rings and won with a 9.1. Meanwhile, Kennedy won floor exercise, pommel horse, parallel bars and high bar outright while posting an all-around total of 50.5.
"Our mojo was just down after the first two events," Kennedy said. "This will probably be out worst meet of the season so we're glad to just get it out of the way."
The Panthers received an 8.1 on floor exercise from Vincenzo Cusmano and an 8 on vault from Vandenack.
"I'm kind of disappointed," Crissie said. "Luckily we have almost two weeks without a meet. We'll have time to rework some things, heal the injuries and come back. We're still hoping to be in the high 140s and hopefully 150s when Jesus (Soto) is back."