Cool Coulson carries Cats past Stevenson

The opening meet of the Independent Conference boys gymnastics season proved to be a good one for host Libertyville Tuesday night.

The Wildcats soared to a season-high 132.1 points to edge Stevenson with 129 points in the dual meet.

After scoring a 141.2 in the Mundelein Invitational last weekend, the Patriots competed without standout sophomore all-arounder Lukasz Adamczyk.

Stevenson (3-1, 0-1) was still solid, but the Patriots could not topple Libertyville and junior all-arounder Ashton Coulson.

Coulson won the all-around with an 8.18 average to outdistance runner-up Bryan Pusateri of Stevenson with a 7.92 average. Stevenson's Mike Wilner (7.27 average) placed third.

"This was probably Ashton's most consistent meet of the season and he was definitely the star of the meet tonight," Libertyville coach Curt Austin said.

The Wildcats hit 26.5 on vault.

"Vault seems to be our highest scoring event right now," Austin said, "followed by floor exercise."

The vault competition wound up finishing in a three-way tie among Libertyville's Greg Wilhelm and Coulson, and Willner, as they all posted a 9.0.

Wilhelm has been a member of two of the Wildcats' three Elite Eight teams since his freshman year. He's optimistic about the remainder of the 2008 campaign.

Libertyville will miss the presence of injured junior Phil Pickar in its lineup this spring, but the return of senior Reed Stewart to the roster has given the Wildcats a lift.

"I think our team is doing well and we're improving at every level and doing new tricks," said Wilhelm, who added a 7.4 on floor exercise. "Ashton qualified for state on still rings last year, and Reed Stewart is another good all-arounder for us."

Pusateri won still rings easily with a 9.0. His 8.0 on pommel horse nipped Libertyville's John Harder (7.8) for first place.

Coulson took home first place on floor exercise with an 8.9, followed by Stewart (8.3) and Pusateri (8.0).

Coulson was also the champion on high bar with a 7.8 and parallel bars with a 7.7. Wilner took second place on still rings with an 8.2.

"I think all of the events had their high points and low points tonight," said Stevenson coach Mike Farina, whose team scored a 25.7 on vault. "We've just got to get more consistent now."