Wheaton’s quality shows at Rolling Meadows
The 30th annual Vic Avigliano Invitational was truly a test of depth for area boys gymnastics teams Saturday at Rolling Meadows.
With each squad allowed to put up only one gymnast per event, consistency across the board also proved to be a key to success in the 22-team meet.
Top-ranked Wheaton co-op had all of the ingredients to put together a championship performance, despite trailing Lincoln-Way East co-op by just a 26.55 to 26.3 margin at the halfway point of the meet.
The final three events proved to be the difference for Wheaton, as it posted a first-place score of 52.5 points to outdistance runner-up Lincoln-Way East co-op (51.05 points) in second place.
There was a big drop-off after the top two squads, but Palatine put together a very solid third-place showing with 47.5 points to easily topple Niles West (45.45) in fourth place and Niles North (45.15) in fifth.
Stevenson did not field its full team and placed last.
Wheaton co-op produced a pair of champions in Mark Ciesielski and Bayly Sheeley. Ciesielski earned a winning 9.6 on floor, while Shelley swung to first-place 8.6 on parallel bars.
“We had only one miss on high bar and he (Mike Brackmann) still scored 8.7, which was good enough to place second in the meet,” said Wheaton co-op coach Chad Downie. “We have some good depth with four or five seniors on the team and that just makes a huge difference. We have good leadership with Darren Fill and Bayly Shelley.”
Addison Trail placed sixth with 44.9 points to edge Conant (43.9) in seventh, Lake Park (43.6) in eighth and Fremd (43.2) in ninth. Glenbard West (43.0) rounded out the top 10.
Conant junior Bill Belmonte led the Cougars with a first-place 9.2 on vault to outdistance Wheaton co-op’s Charlie Fisher (8.9) in second, and Rolling Meadows’ Declan Delany (8.8) in third.
“I feel I can do even better with my vault, but I’m happy for right now,” said Belmonte, who hit his season-high score on the event. “I wanted to keep my legs straight, and I’m glad I landed it.”
After placing third in the state last year, Conant has some rebuilding to do this spring without key sophomore all-arounder Joey Mauk back in the lineup.
“Bill Belmonte has a really powerful vault and he got credit for the layout today for the first time,” said Conant coach Paul Kim. “We were sloppy on a couple of events and we don’t have the depth this year that we had last year.”
Fremd sophomore C.J. Patton also had an outstanding individual performance Saturday, as he hit a career-high 9.2 to take home second place on pommel horse. Conant’s Steve Rink placed third on pommel horse with a 9.1 followed by Rolling Meadows’ Marc Herff (8.4) in fourth.
“I was glad because this was my highest score this season and in my career,” said Patton. “I’m proud of my team and Bobby (Wongkamalasai) did really well on floor exercise considering he was injured almost all last season.”
Palatine was led by a third-place 8.6 from Jonah Hinz on still rings, while teammate Erik Holowicki (8.55) took sixth place on vault.
“We had a decent meet overall and we’re going to try to clean up our routines before our next meet,” said Palatine coach Scott Hagel. “The team just had some mistakes that I think we can correct with a few days of practice.”
Fremd got off to a great start in the first three events with a third-place score of 24.4 points, but the Vikings could not maintain that torrid pace in the second half of the meet.
“We graduated a lot of seniors last year, but the young guys are stepping up, so that is good,” said Fremd coach Tim Hamman. “Everyone performed really well. The guys are learning their roles on varsity and doing a good job.”
Wheaton co-op’s Mark Glenbard North’s Ryan Kennedy finished second to Ciesielski on floor with a 9.5. Fill took second place on still rings with an 8.7.
Buffalo Grove’s Kyle Chamberlain placed third on floor with a 9.2 with Wongkamalasai (8.6) capturing fourth, and Elk Grove’s Mike Paulas (8.2) fifth.
Glenbard West’s Adam Soloseij placed third on parallel bars with an 8.1, followed by Buffalo Grove’s Eugene Blackmon (8.1) in fourth and Lake Park’s Mac Allen (8.0) in fifth.
Glenbard North’s Jared Vandenak was the high bar champion with a 9.0 to outdistance Wheaton co-op’s Mike Brackmann (8.7) in second. Elk Grove’s Nick Alcazar (8.3) and Addison Trail’s Joe Haynes tied for third on high bar.