Scouting DuPage County boys gymnastics teams
Top local teams: Downers Grove North, Glenbard West, Hinsdale Central, Wheaton Warrenville co-op, Willowbrook.
Top gymnastics: Luke Badger (Lake Park, jr., all-around), Evan Baird (Downers Grove South, sr., all-around), Paul Bonokollie (Glenbard West, sr., pommel horse), Lucas Cooperman (Wheaton Warrenville co-op, sr., all-around), Ryan Durkin (Naperville Central, sr., high bar, parallel bars, pommel horse, still rings), Lukas Elisha (Downers Grove North, so., all-around), Ricardo Jesus Torres Gomez (Fenton, jr., all-around), Brock Herion (Downers Grove South, jr., all-around), Alex Kominowski (Addison Trail, jr., all-around), Michael Kudelka (Downers Grove North, jr., all-around), Matt Le (Glenbard East, sr., all-around), Jacob Kurian (West Chicago, jr. all-around), Ryan Leahy (Hinsdale Central, jr., all-around), Timmy Le (Glenbard West, jr., all-around), Kwame Lipscome (Hinsdale South, jr., all-around), Luke Meister (Glenbard North, sr., all-around), Marcus Rias (Addison Trail, sr., all-around), Austin Tate (Wheaton Warrenville co-op, jr., all-around).
Outlook: Addison Trail returns three state qualifiers in seniors Marcus Rias and Ruben Sanchez and junior Alex Kominowski. "Although it will be difficult to find a third score on some events, we should have a solid team," Blazers coach Mike Galfi said. "Our goal this season is to win conference and send multiple gymnasts to the state meet as individuals, as well as a few to the state finals competition."
Downers Grove North landed sophomore all-arounder Lukas Elisha, which will really boost the team's score this spring and potentially get them back to state. Elisha has been competing for Aerial Gymnastics the past four years, but he'll be making his high school debut. Junior Mike Kudelka, who qualified for state on pommel horse and high bar, is also back as an all-arounder while senior specialists Kevin VanSaten, William Beckwith, Augie Strauch and Mike Greenwald return. Greenwald is a returning state qualifier on floor. The Trojans will try to advance to state for the eighth time in 10 seasons, although they've missed out the past two years.
Downers Grove South has two proven gymnasts in senior Evan Baird (27th in the all-around last year) and junior Brock Herion, but both are coming back from injuries; a shoulder injury limited Herion last season, and Baird is returning from a broken wrist from cheerleading. They team should receive a boost as Calum Bonds has returned to the team after taking the past three years off after making the varsity squad as a freshman.
Fenton will look to rebuild. "The number of athletes have grown; however, there are a lot of new boys that have never done the sport of gymnastics," Bison coach Paula Parat said. "Fenton will be in a rebuilding year and hopefully over time we'll develop more state qualifiers." The team returns juniors Ricardo Jesus Torres Gomez, Arturo Alfaro and Joshuah Puzzo and sophomores Angel Morales and Danny Alcaraz.
Glenbard East welcomes new coach Wayne Hill. The Rams will rely heavily on brothers and all-arounders Matt Le and Mark Le. Matt's in his final season while Mark is coming off a strong freshman season a year ago. "I don't know what really to expect," Hill said. "We've had a good turnout with 35 kids, but a lot of these kids are sophomores and juniors. One of the good things is that all seven freshmen from last year have come back."
Glenbard North welcomes back Luke Meister and Josh Garrison, both with state experience. "We had a relatively good turnout, but we are still a small team," Panthers coach Michael Crissie said. "Our team will not make state, but we are looking to return Luke and Josh to state, and hopefully add some more of their teammates." Look for freshman Alex Rodriguez, a first-year gymnast, to contribute. "He's incredibly strong and talented," Crissie said. "He should move up levels this year."
Glenbard South has a senior-heavy group but also has to replace standout Eric McGovern, who graduated. Neil Livingston, Treyvon Keys, Kevin McGovern and Josh Keating all return for their senior seasons while sophomore Sean McLaughlin could provide some scoring. "We look very good," Raiders coach Lee Wood said. "We've got a lot of talent and a great group of student-athletes to work with."
Glenbard West is aiming to advance to state for the fourth time in five years. Senior pommel horse specialist Paul Bonokollie and all-arounders Matthew Ideler and Timmy Le are back to lead the way, although junior Eric Samuta, who was 15th in the all-around last year, has opted to not compete this year and focus on football. The Hilltoppers will miss his scores but appear to have a lot of depth and many different contributors, including seniors Keith Briones, Adam Grimm, Viktor Kovalishin and Gunnar Maddock, while junior newcomers Raven Bettis and Frankie Pham and sophomores Aiden Rudolph and Shea Rudolph will also look to boost the team score.
Hinsdale Central's storied program has won nine state titles. The Red Devils may have enough talent to return to state for the first time in three years. Junior Ryan Leahy returns along with an experienced group of seniors Chris Kujalowicz and Eric Knat and juniors Nick Altandush and Zhiyi Zhu. Sophomores Alec Roca and Nolan Holmes give the team seven gymnasts to utilize to optimize the team score. "We have a good amount of depth on many events this year, which will be key to compete at a high level," Red Devils coach Mark Wanner said. "Our success as a team will depend on how we practice and compete as a team."
Hinsdale South has a state-qualifier in junior Kwame Lipscomb who was 10th in the floor exercise, but overall the team is young. Sophomore all-arounder Dominic Cassano will look to add some scores, while seniors Nick Ardovitch and Doyle Dunleavy will need to excel in specialist roles and junior Trevor Long as an all-arounder if the Hornets hope to be competitive in conference action.
Lake Park welcomes new coach Tim Whelan to a program that graduated much of its talent. Junior all-arounder Luke Badger will be needed to post a solid score in all six events regularly. Junior specialist James Firme also returns, while freshman Louie Ranieri will be a key addition. "We lost a lot of seniors last year," said Whelan, who takes over for Anthony Avella. "So the goal is to improve our sectional seeding score of 125 or more."
Naperville Central will try to rebuild quickly after losing seven seniors. The Redhawks welcome back senior Ryan Durkin, a top-five finisher on pommel horse, still rings, and parallel bars, but injuries will keep him away from floor and vault so he'll focus on four events. Seniors Tony Biondo, Sean Piggott and Erik Swanson and juniors Taj Jacobs and Tyler Conner all return but will be asked to step up and contribute more as specialists, while sophomore Kevin Sedlacek is a newcomer who should add scoring.
Naperville North appeared to be one of the better teams in the state, but its top two gymnasts - sophomore Ethan Soto and senior Yudai Okabe, were injured tumbling at their respective clubs in the off-season and are out for the year. "Our outlook was score over 140 and win conference," Huskies coach Brad Foerch said. "With these guys gone we will barely break 100." It's Foerch's swan song; he's retiring at the end of the season after 34 years. Junior Brian Kay, a state qualifier on pommel horse last year, returns, along with senior specialists Jon Heitz and Alex Trannon and junior Dan Moore.
Wheaton Warrenville co-op will try to qualify for state for the eighth straight year, a time frame in which the team has won three state titles and been runner-up twice. "If we can stay healthy and continue to improve, this will be a fun group to watch develop throughout the season," coach Greg Gebhardt said. "I think we can make it to state if we stay healthy and our juniors and sophomores continues to develop into reliable varsity athletes." Senior Lucas Cooperman and junior Austin Tate are both experienced all-arounders, while senior specialist Chase McClearn will also contribute and in a leadership role. Cooperman finished second at state on parallel bars and fourth on high bar and floor last season, as well as 13th in the all-around. Sophomores Aiden Moran and Joey DiRienzo and junior Andy Mathieu return to give the team depth while at least six newcomers could be in the mix for lineup slots.
Willowbrook lost two of its top three all-arounders to graduation, but does return sophomore Adam Sousa, a state finals qualifier in three events last year who also took fourth in the all-around. While on the subject of all-around, the 2010 state champion, Caleb Strejc, takes over as coach of the Warriors. The former York gymnast feels his team should be competitive. "We believe if we are lucky to stay healthy and figure out the best combination of specialists to fill the second and third scores that count behind Adam's that we should be able to fight for the conference title again this year," Strejc said. "That's our main realistic goal we have our sights set on as a team." Senior specialists Ian Patete, Ricky Saldana and Joey Egan, junior all-arounder Bailey Heppner and freshman all-arounder Matt Foley will all need to contribute.
York is hopeful that a talented group of sophomore all-arounders, including Kelvin Stevens, Jake Anderson and John Gill, can mesh well with senior all-arounder James Foreman and junior pommel horse specialist Robeson Gill. "Our team looks to rebuild after the graduation of all-arounder and Senior Gymnast of the Year, Sam Bode," Dukes coach Alex Banasiak said. "Our team performance is dependent on how hard our athletes work. They have the potential to be very good this year, but need to stay focused and continue to improve."
As for as individuals representing their respective schools, it appears as if only West Chicago's Jacob Kurian and Neuqua Valley's Gareth Elkins will do it this spring. Kurian finished 24th in the all-around last year.