Mundelein overcomes Wilner, Stevenson
Host Mundelein knew that Thursday night was going to be its toughest test of the regular season when it faced rival Stevenson in an Independent Conference boys gymnastics dual meet.
And despite top all-arounder Scott Marthinsen still being limited to only one event due to a sprained wrist, the Mustangs were able to pull out a 144.5 to 142.4 victory over the Patriots.
Stevenson (2-2, 1-1) was once again led by senior Mike Wilner, who put together a spectacular performance to win the all-around competition with a season-high 54 points (9.00 average).
The Pats also had the runner-up in the meet behind senior Scott Siegel’s second-place 8.55 average (51.3 points). But Mundelein (2-0, 2-0) had just enough depth and balance to pull out the victory.
Junior Tim Beranek was a huge contributor for the Mustangs with a third-place 8.28 average followed closely by freshman teammate Colin McCarthy (8.12 average) in fourth place overall.
“It’s really good for our team to show that without one of our best guys that we’re able to pull through and when we do get Scott (Marthinsen) back we’ll be pretty solid for state,” said Beranek, who is very happy to have McCarthy as a new teammate. “He is excellent, we’re very proud to have him on our team, and he is one of the most modest, cool kids that I know.”
Wilner hit a meet-high 9.65 to take first place on floor exercise along with winning scores 9.6 on high bar, 9.55 on vault, and 9.5 on still rings. Wilner is definitely a state title contender on still rings after hitting a 9.9 on that event at last Friday’s Bohl Invite.
But Wilner could also jump up from 12th in the state as a junior to a potential state crown in the all-around considering the great improvement he has shown from the 2010 season to now.
“He’s improved tremendously each year and it has been his whole approach to gymnastics,” said Stevenson coach Mike Farina, whose team hit a season-high score in the meet. “He’s a lot cleaner, he’s taking his time more, he’s concentrating more on doing things the right way and using the correct technique.”
“He’s got the difficulties in there (on still rings), he’s got the swing elements in there, he’s got the dismount, and he’ll compete with the best of college routines,” added Farina about the Illinois-bound Wilner.
Beranek (8.9) and McCarthy (8.3) placed 1-2 on pommel horse while Siegel took home top honors on parallel bars with an 8.3.
Siegel was runner-up on vault with a 9.35 to edge McCarthy (9.2) in third place. Siegel topped Marthinsen 8.7 to 8.4 for second place on still rings while McCarthy was the runner-up on floor exercise with a 9.6.
The Mustangs will meet the Pats again on April 27 at the Independent Conference meet before what will probably be their final showdown May 7 at the Mundelein sectional. Mundelein coach Jesse Piland hopes Marthinsen is ready to compete in the all-around by then.
“We just want to see how much better he can get and he’s probably about 70 percent right now,” Piland said. “He’s a gamer, and he’ll be back whether or not he’s fully healthy.”
“He (McCarthy) came in with a lot of tricks, but his routines were not really clean,” added Piland. “He’s done a great job of gaining some polish and he’s still working on a few tricks he wants to add to his routines. (Ryan) Riddle did a brand new routine on floor and high bar and he absolutely hit them.”