Wheaton posts state’s top score
The Wheaton co-op boys gymnastics team made a statement on Friday night in Lombard.
Wheaton cruised to victory in the DuPage Valley Conference meet at Glenbard East and in doing show posted the top team score in the state, flirting with a 160 before settling with an impressive 159.25.
“It shows how good we are and how good we can get and we’re still nowhere close to where we want to be right now,” Wheaton junior Ethan Sansone said. “We’re going to keep working in the gym and we want our final product to be ideal.”
Sansone led the way for the winners, claiming top honors in the all-around with a 53.95. He also won pommel horse with a 9.4.
“We just had hits all around and were focused on all our events,” Sansone said. “Everyone is molding into their spots and we’re getting very comfortable as a team right now.”
The rest of the DVC isn’t even close to Wheaton. Glenbard North was more than 25 points behind as the runner-up with a 133.6.
Wheaton’s David MacDonald won still rings with a 9.3, vault with a 9.25 and parallel bars with a 9.05. Normally an all-arounder, MacDonald didn’t compete on pommel horse.
“Coach is trying to take it a little easy on us so we can peak at the right time for state,” MacDonald said. “I’m still a little bruised right now, but we’re getting it back together.”
Wheaton most certainly had it together with Danny Heller winning high bar with a 9.15 and placing second in the all-around with a 51.1, and Mike Rumoro taking second on still rings with an 8.4.
“I was a little shaky (on rings) at the beginning of the season, but over time I found my weaknesses,” Rumoro said. “I’ve been just trying to get better from here on out.”
T.J. Kennedy won floor with a 9.5 to lead Glenbard North. Gino Simone was fourth in the all-around with a 43.2 and John Cummins was fifth with a 41.5 for the Panthers.
“We had our highest score of the season by 6 points so I’m very excited with where we’re heading,” Panthers coach Michael Crissie said. “We’re happy to have (Kennedy) back and we feel very good about our program. Glenbard North is turning it around.”
Naperville Central placed third with a 132.75. Dom Delgrosso was third on parallel bars with an 8.5 while freshman Ryan Durkin finished in the top five on pommel horse and still rings and took third in the all-around with a 46.8.
“Things went OK for me, I mean, I could’ve done a lot better but did pretty on the pommel horse,” Durkin said. “I had a very good routine there, but then I still need work on high bar so hopefully I’ll get better by state.”
Naperville North senior Evan Todd had a 35.1 in the all-around and the Huskies took fourth place with a 115.
The host Rams were fifth with a 107.7.