Palatine redirects at sectional
After his team dropped 5 points from its season high at the Mid-Suburban League meet, Palatine boys coach Scott Hagel knew his gymnasts would be motivated to come back stronger when they hosted Saturday’s sectional.
“We had to step up at practice because our conference meet (146.35) wasn’t so great,” said Pirates all-arounder Damian Przystal. “Everyone worked real hard to get us where we needed to be.”
Now, the Pirates will be at Lincoln-Way East High School for next week’s state finals.
They won their own meet with a 150.15, followed by Conant (143.60) and Schaumburg (137.60).
It marks the fourth time Palatine has qualified its team for the state finals in five years and it’s the Pirates’ third sectional crown since 2007.
Rolling Meadows senior Marc Herff took the all-around with a score of 53.10, followed by Conant’s Steven Rink (52.05), Palatine’s Jonah Hinz (51.65), Przystal (50.60) and Schaumburg’s Alex Lin (47.85).
“This was my best meet ever,” said Herff, who was fourth in the MSL all-around with a score of 50.75. “Most meets I hit like three or four routines. But this time, I hit all six. That’s why I did so well.”
Fremd did well in the individual competition, as Viking junior Bobby Wongkamaiasai won the floor (9.45) and vault (9.3) and sophomore teammate C.J. Patton claimed top honors on the pommel horse (9.2).
“I really felt like everything was ‘on’ for me,” said Wongkamaiasai, who was a state qualifier in the floor as a freshman but sidelined from competition as a sophomore with a broken arm. “The season was tough but I’ve felt well here at the end of the season.”
Herff and Rink tied for second on the floor (9.05) while Conant’s Billy Belmonte (9.10) was the vault runner-up followed by Rolling Meadows’ Declan Delaney (9.05).
Patton was followed by Rink (8.95) and Hinz (8.9) on the pommel horse.
Herff won the still rings (9.15) over runner-up Evan Reynolds of Hersey (9.1) and Prospect’s Cullen Williams (8.75).
Herff also took first place on the parallel bars (9.25) while Przystal placed second (8.75) and Rink was third (8.65).
Schaumburg’s Lin won the horizontal bar (8.7) to give the Saxons’ retiring Howard Rubin an individual sectional champ in his final season as the program’s longtime coach.
“That was a pleasant surprise,” Rubin said of Lin’s strong showing. “We knew he had the stuff, and it worked out really well. He put it all together.”
Herff was second on the horizontal bar, followed by Rink (8.5).
“He’s an all-around great kid,” said Rolling Meadows coach Mike Costa of Herff. “I love when all the hard works plays off. He cashed in on it today. He’d been coming in on lunch periods, free periods ... always trying to get extra work in.”
Conant coach Paul Kim also has a hard worker in Rink.
“Steve is one guy you don’t have to worry about,” Kim said. “He’s so consistent.
“Our rotation did not favor us at this meet. The guys were not used to the order. Our vault group was 1 point lower and that took the energy out of us. Then we had to play catch-up the whole time. Our energy level just wasn’t there.”
The sectional champion Pirates hope to keep their energy up for next week.
“We’ll take this one over last week,” said Hagel, whose gymnasts placed second at the MSL meet. “This is what we have been fighting for all season. We’ve worked all week to fix things from the conference meet to accomplish this goal.”