Records tumble at Lake Park

Painting the Lake Park gym last summer has saved Lancers boys gymnastics coach Keith Matune some work.

The record boards were taken down last summer and haven't been replaced yet. That's been a good thing because the Lancers set two new school records during Friday's Lake Park Invitational, winning their fourth invite this spring.

The Lancers finished with a season-high 154.8, comfortably ahead of runner-up Addison Trail's 147.450. They set school records on still rings (27.3) and vault (27.75).

Lake Park had the top three finishers on pommel horse and vault and three of the top four scores on still rings. They concluded the competition on those three events.

"Really a great meet all the way around," Matune said. "Setting these records gives them a lot of confidence, and if it motivates them I'm with it because they all come together as a team."

Mike Hannigan won still rings, Jesus Soto took top honors on pommel horse, and Kevin Fischer captured the vault.

"It was amazing, but I didn't even get a chance to warm up on vault," Fischer said. "I told coach I wanted to step up and I finally did things right and it paid off."

Addison Trail established a new season-high score.

"We came in last week and started with a new mentality," Blazers coach Mike Galfi said. "They saw the potential finally and the possibility of still getting to state this year."

Calvin Cheney won parallel bars and an enthusiastic Nick Ostapa won high bar and the all-around.

"We hit high bar so well and the momentum tonight just continued to carry over," Ostapa said. "We've finally realized that time's running out and we have to act now if we want to go to state."

Mike Zahradnik scored a season-best 9.1 to win the floor exercise for Glenbard South, which finished in a distant third place with a 118.1 points.

"My last couple meets I've been scoring about 8.9 and had a couple mishaps," he said. "Tonight I came out and hit it and got first."

-- Chris Walker

Boys water polo

Naperville Central 12, Hinsdale Central 3:ŒThe Naperville Central boys water polo team shook off the rust with its first game in 23 days on Thursday.

The Redhawks sure looked tuned up Friday.

Naperville Central scored 7 goals in the first period of the opening game of the Best of the West Tournament against Hinsdale Central in Naperville. The Redhawks coasted from there to a 12-3 win.

"We came out a lot stronger today than yesterday," Naperville Central coach Bill Salentine said. "We had a game against St. Ignatius on Thursday and knocked some of the rust off from spring break. Hopefully, good things will continue throughout the weekend."

Naperville Central (12-2) ranked third in the latest Illpolo.com state rankings, needed all of 12 seconds to get things started.

Mark Giuliani ripped a shot past the Hinsdale Central goalkeeper. Moments later sophomore Mark Menis stole the ball and guided it the other way, knocking in a goal off the keeper's hands.

Max Saltzman scored twice in 26 seconds for the Redhawks, Bobby Rickert lofted in a goal and Giuliani whipped in a shot behind his back to make it 6-0.

Menis' second score finished off the early flurry of action.

"We just planned on setting up our offense and trying drives, basic stuff," Menis said. "We did a good job of finding the open players."

Hinsdale Central (4-12) finally got on the board at 3:04 of the second period, Adam Gross putting in a shot deflected off the Naperville Central goalkeeper.

Red Devils coach Blake Lucas knew his team was in for a tough go, having lost to second-ranked Naperville North 16-3 on Thursday. The two Naperville schools have split two games this season.

"We knew from talking to Naperville North what kind of competition we'd be getting today," Lucas said. "The bracket we're in is very tough. There's Naperville Central, and we've played Glenbrook South and lost to them by 4, and that was down a couple starters."

Menis scored 3 goals and Giuliani, Saltzman and Jack Howenstein 2 apiece for Naperville Central.

The Redhawks figure to get stiffer tests the rest of the tournament, with the likes of Naperville North, Glenbrook South, Mundelein and Lincoln-Way Central present.

"We definitely want to get out and show that we can compete," Salentine said. "We have some pretty good teams here in the tournament. I think there's four teams in the top 20. We have some good teams and some developing teams."

-- Joshua Welge

Girls track

Downers Grove North invitational: Palatine rose to the occasion, scoring 109 points in securing the title at the Ritter Invitational in Downers Grove.

Defending champion Thornton took second with 87.5, followed by Prospect (71 points), Lyons (68), and Glenbard West (67).

Jasmyn Steele, Erin Aubrey, Angie Stearn, and Bridget Flanagan combined to lead Glenbard West to a victory in the 800 relay. Glenbard West was awarded the victory after an exchange zone violation disqualified West Aurora.

"Jasmyn really came through tonight," said Glenbard West coach Kelly Haas of Steele, who was also a part of the second place 400 relay team. "She's money, she is on every time, you always know what you're going to get from her."

Janet Planka led Glenbard West to a victory in the high jump.

-- Michael Eaken

Softball

Naperville Central 4, Glenbard South 0:ŒNatalie Wunderlich pitched the Redhawks (3-0) to victory with a 3-hit shutout. She struck out six and didn't walk anyone. Megan Silke hit a homer, Lizzy Ploen went 3 for 3 and scored twice, and Wunderlich delivered an RBI double.

Hinsdale Central 14, Willowbrook 3:ŒKate McGivney jacked a 3-run homer and also had an RBI triple for the Red Devils (2-4) in their five-inning triumph. Traci Freitag was 4 for 4 for the winners.

Downers North 8, Neuqua Valley 3:ŒKendall Ryndak recorded 13 strikeouts in earning the victory for Downers North (3-2). The Trojans trailed 3-0 before scoring 4 runs in the fifth inning and 4 more in the sixth.

Wheaton North 7, Geneva 2:ŒFreshman Kahla Nolan improved to 5-3 by picking up the victory for Wheaton North (7-3). Adrianne Sieben and Ashley Burau each doubled in the Falcons' 9-hit attack.

Wilmington 11, Lisle 4:ŒBreAnne Prindeville sent out a pair of RBI doubles and Colleen Drennan added a triple in the Interstate Eight Conference loss for the Lions (1-4, 1-2).

Baseball

Wheaton North 10, West Aurora 0:ŒJack DeAno (2-0) pitched a 1-hitter with 5 strikeouts and no walks as the host Falcons (8-1, 3-0) claimed a five-inning win and a three-game sweep in the DuPage Valley Conference. DeAno also went 3-for-3 with a triple, 3-run homer and 5 RBI. Matt Palackdharry doubled twice and drove in a pair of runs.

Naperville Central 6, Glenbard North 2:ŒPat Kaminska was the complete-game winner for the host Redhawks (6-3, 2-1) in their DuPage Valley Conference victory, striking out 12 and walking none. John Holm, who had 2 RBI, and Marc Mantucca each doubled twice. Alex Mullendore singled home a run for Glenbard North (1-4, 1-2) in the first inning.

Neuqua Valley 16, South Elgin 2:ŒThe host Wildcats (6-2, 3-0) followed a 9-run second inning with a 7-run fourth while cruising to the Upstate Eight Conference win. Kyle Kalkofen homered and drove in 3 runs. Jason David also had 3 RBI. Rob Skowronski pitched 3 innings of relief to earn the win.

Hinsdale South 3, Leyden 1:ŒRyan Zenger (2-0) allowed 1 hit, a walk and no earned runs while striking out two as the host Hornets (4-4, 4-2) won in the West Suburban Gold.