Northwest/ Scouting the boys gymnastics state meet

Scouting the Boys State Gymnastics Finals

Where: Lincoln-Way East, Frankfort

Team Finals

When: 6 p.m. Friday

What: The state team title and the individual all-around title will be decided.

Outlook: Sectional winners Wheaton Co-op (158.00), Lincoln-Way Co-op (154.25), Downers Grove North (155.60), Palatine (152.85) and Glenbard West (154.60) will be joined by at-large qualifiers Mundelein (150.40), Hinsdale Central (147.80) and Glenbrook North (147.60). Lincoln-Way Co-op is the defending champion while Palatine, which finished fifth last year, is making its fifth appearance in the last six years. The state all-around title will be decided on this date for the second year. The favorite is sensational Glenbard West freshman Alex Diab, who led all qualifiers with 57.45. Diab would have broken the 58.00 had he not had an uncharacteristic fall on the high bar; an event where he scored a 10.0 earlier this year. Lincoln-Way co-op’s Ajani Cargle, who is a senior and is the defending state all-around champion, had the second highest all-around score with a 56.35. Palatine junior Jonah Hinz posted the third highest all-around score at sectionals last Saturday with a 54.25. Fremd’s C.J. Patton (50.65), who is coming off his best meet last week, Buffalo Grove’s David Kavalerchik (49.10), Schaumburg’s Chris Stehlin (47.45), Conant’s Brian Reedy (46.45) and Prospect’s Chris Klein (45.05) also qualified.

Individual Finals

When: Saturday, preliminaries at 11:30 a.m., finals at 6:30 p.m.

What: 43 area gymnasts have qualified for the preliminary finals Saturday, competing in 92 of the 321 performances. The top 10 finishers in each event move on to the finals Saturday evening.

Outlook: Buffalo Grove’s David Kavalerchik leads the pack by qualifying in all six events with his highest sectional finish coming on the high bar, where he had the 21st highest sectional score. Hinz has qualified in five events, finishing in the top 10 of all gymnasts in the sectionals on the floor, pommel horse, parallel bars and high bar. Hinz’s teammate Mike Jankovic also had a top 10 sectional floor score while Fremd’s C.J. Patton had the second-best sectional pommel horse score, Schaumburg’s Chris Stehlin and Conant’s Joey Mauk each had a top 10 score in the still rings, Fremd’s Bobby Wongkamalasai was in the top 10 score on the vault, Mauk on the parallel bars and Conant’s Brian Reedy finished in the top 10 on the high bar. Wongkamalasai, who was third in the floor in the state last year and has qualified this year on the event, is hoping to challenge there again this year. Glenbard West’s Alex Diab had the highest sectional score on still rings (9.65), the parallel bars (9.55) and the floor (9.90), where he tied Mundelein’s Colin McCarthy. Lincoln-Way Co-op’s Ajani Cargle had the highest score on the pommel horse (9.65) and the vault (9.55), where he tied McCarthy. Naperville North’s Billy Suta posted the top score on the high bar (9.35).

Area Individual State Qualifiers:

Barrington: Nolan Presmyk (FX), Chad Adams (FX)

Buffalo Grove: David Kavalerchik (AA, FX, PH, SR, V, PB, HB), Julian Vasquez (FX, V), Zac Halap (PB), Nick Balko (PB, HB)

Conant: Brian Reedy (AA, PH, V, PB, HB), Thomas Palm (FX), Joey Mauk (FX, SR, PB, HB), Nicholas Overby (PH, PB), Phillip Schorsch (PH), Blake Rossdeutcher (PH), Bill Belmonte (V),

Elk Grove: Kenji Fukuda (PH), Tom Jansen (SR, PB)

Fremd: C.J. Patton (AA, PH, PB, HB), Bobby Wongkamalasai (FX, V), Kyle Stevenson (PH), Quin Bley (PH, SR, PB), Itaro Wakabayashi (SR), Tom Leah (SR)

Hersey: David Jackowski (FX), Jordan Graff (V), Dan Urban (PB)

Hoffman Estates: Kyle Santiago (FX, SR, PB, HB), Neo Fernandez (FX, V), Jake Santiago (SR, V, PB), Nick Cannella (HB)

Leyden: UB Rodriguez (FX, PB), Jethro De Los Reyes (SR)

Palatine: Jonah Hinz (AA, FX, PH, SR, PB, HB), Mike Jankovic (FX, SR, V, PB, HB), Lucas Price (PH, PB), Matt Lee (PH, SR, PB, HB), Kevin Weir (V)

Prospect: Chris Klein (AA, PH, SR, V), Tim Pappas (FX), Ringo Larock (PH),

Rolling Meadows: Matt Crigler (HB)

Schaumburg: Chris Stehlin (AA, SR, V, PB, HB), Dan Rivera (FX), Elliot Lam (PH, V), James McDougall (SR, PB)