Boys gymnastics: Fremd's Styczen gets the fun rolling at East-West meet
There was no time like the present for Lucas Styczen.
The Fremd senior gymnast had never thrown his Gienger in a competition before. And when he successfully landed the release move during warmups on the bars at the annual East vs. West boys gymnastics meet Thursday at Barrington, he knew it was the right time.
“It stood one warmup and I hit it,” Styczen said. “I figured I would do it now. I never did a full set in a meet with it.”
Styczen nailed the Gienger perfectly, which brought all the competitors and the crowd to their feet, roaring their approval.
“I love the East-West meet and I thought this would be the perfect time,” Styczen said. “It is a fun meet and I figured this was the time to throw it.”
So did his coach, Jason Brandenburg, who saw not only what the Gienger did for the crowd, but for his team as well.
“He has been working at it real hard in practice,” Brandenburg said. “Him doing that has brought a lot of energy for us as a team. It is pretty cool when you get that skill set and everybody is buzzing about it.”
Styczen was so excited about the Gienger that he landed some extra swings and scored an 8.00. That didn't matter to Styczen or Brandenburg as the East-West meet is designed as a the kickoff to the boys' season.
“This meet used to be the Tuesday before varsity conference,” Barrington coach Rob DeFano said. “It was much different. Now that we start it at the beginning, the boys get to know each other. The kids get along great. And when the Fremd kid hit the Gienger, the place went crazy. Every meet he goes to this year, they will be looking for that.”
Teams were allowed just one competitor per event, with six scores counting for each team. Individuals were allowed to compete in just one event, so it really showed off the talent of all the teams. There were no awards for top individuals in the events. Trophies were given out to the entire group of competitors from the team that won each event.
Just for the record, the West did win the meet, outscoring the East 249.00 to 235.90.
“It is a fun time for the boys to show off what they have been working on,” Schaumburg coach Erik Bostrom said. “They can try out some new things and there's a lot of camaraderie between the guys.”
Palatine had four gymnasts who had high scores in their events.
Chris Waller was tops on the rings with a 7.60, Trey Wilcox was best on the vault with an 8.40, Dominic Filichia had the highest score on the high bar with an 8.70 while AJ Krambeer scored an 8.80 on the parallel bars.
Krambeer, who is a junior, was excited about his performance. It was just shy of his best score ever on the event and brought him closer to his goal of one day being on the Palatine leaderboard in the school's practice gym.
“I am hoping this season to get there,” said Kramberr, who needs an 8.95 to make it. “I am going to work hard for that.”
Palatine coach Scott Hagel said he liked the versatility his team showed.
“They were really excited,” Hagel said. “They love this meet. They can hang out with everybody in the entire conference. It is a lot of fun.”
Also posting high scores in the events were Schaumburg's Brandon Nyborg, who had an 8.80 on the floor, and Hersey's Garret Naughton, who had an 8.70 on the pommel horse.