Wheaton Warrenville co-op cruises to invite crown
The Wheaton Warrenville co-op boys gymnastics team hosted the Dave Donaldson Invitational at Wheaton Warrenville South for the first time on Friday night. The team also introduced new uniforms.
Most importantly though, the results in the gym were the same as Wheaton Warrenville co-op proved to be far superior to their other nine teams competing, winning the invitational with a 159.227 while runner-up Hinsdale Central was a very distant second at 131.325.
“One of the things that was awesome was how much fun we had as a team,” Wheaton senior Darren Fill said. “There were falls and slip-ups, but we understood those were going to happen and after each event we left that behind and moved on.”
Fill had plenty to be pleased with. He won the floor exercise with a 9.55, still rings with a 9.1 and vault with a 9.475 while also claiming the all-around title with a 53.925.
Wheaton freshman Ethan Sansone won parallel bars with an 8.95.
“I think I had hit a clean set and that’s what I wanted to hit,” he said. “I can still add some more difficulty, but for the time being I think I had a good routine.”
The winners finished up with a strong effort on high bar, highlighted by the final gymnast of the night, senior Mike Brackmann, besting Fill for top honors with a 9.55.
“We’ve been working on it a lot and Darren (Fill) and I have pretty much the same set,” Brackmann said. “We just try to be consistent and it’s good to have someone that’s neck and neck with me to motivate me to go the extra mile and push each other.”
Glenbard North took sixth with a 111.975. Ryan Kennedy won pommel horse with a 9.05 and took third in the all-around with a 52.35. Still, the Panthers’ senior was disappointed.
“I could do a lot better. Everything didn’t go as great as I thought,” Kennedy said. “It’s not like how it used to be with a whole team doing great and supporting each other a lot. It definitely seems like it’s just me now.”
Dave Rynearson took second on vault with a 9.3 to lead Naperville Central to seventh place with a 111.573.
“I was hoping for a 115 tonight, but we kind of blew a couple events,” Naperville Central coach Glen Reimers said. “The goal has been 120 all year and we’re just not quite there yet and I’m not sure if it will happen or not, but we will keep striving.”
Elk Grove, which scored a 145 earlier in the week, competed without its seniors and placed ninth with a 102.875.
“This was next year’s team,” Elk Grove assistant coach Bill Watts said. “The seniors have had a lot of meets so they stayed home and rested. This was a chance for the JV team to come here and have a fun meet.”