Naperville North's score is state's best so far

It may seem too early in the season for Naperville North to host a Senior Night, but that's what the Huskies did during Wednesday's DuPage Valley Conference meet against Glenbard East.

The Huskies posted the state's best score of the year, rolling past Glenbard North 143 to 117.1. They'll finish the regular season with eight consecutive meets on the road.

"I'm not sure if we'll blow up another 143 again," Huskies coach Brad Foerch said. "But I was pretty darned pleased with what we did (Wednesday night)."

And they did it despite not being at full strength.

"Yudai (Okabe) was a little sick so he didn't do two events," Foerch said. "We're still making mistakes, but it's still March. We have a few more elements we want to put in and they're each worth half a point."

Six Huskies contributed to the team score, and seniors Brandon Louise, Allen Peng, Miko Matz and Okabe each had the top score in at least one event, while Peng and Louise also tied for top honors on vault with a pair of 8.7s.

"The third score is what sets us apart from other teams," Louise said. "Usually teams have two good scores and not a good third score, but for us, that third score is just as strong as the other two. It's a good feeling to know if you don't hit, you have somebody behind you that will hit for you."

Louise won floor with an 8.8, while Peng was the top gymnast on parallel bars with an 8.4 and pommel horse with a 7.8.

Peng admitted that he doesn't really care for pommel horse, but he does enjoy getting the best of it.

"It's an event that I don't really like, but hitting on it feels really, really good," he said. "The pressure of a big meet helps you stay on. In practice you get tired and it's easy to fall off, but with everyone watching it's really easy."

Okabe had an 8.6 on floor but it was his 8.2 on rings that you could argue was most impressive. Louise also came up huge. He dared himself, adding a back-kip to cross to his rings routine, which netted a 7.6.

"That gave me another requirement and an iron cross is an iconic move to have for gymnastics," Louise said. "I was really happy with that."

Similarly, Matz wowed the crowd and his teammates with his 8.2 on high bar.

"Miko hitting that full Higgins on high bar was big for us," Peng said. "He scored two points higher than usual so that was big towards the team score."

Freshman Ethan Soto joined in on the fun as well, contributing a 6.9 on pommel horse, 7.6 on parallel bars and 7.3 on high bar, while Ryan Riley added an 8.5 on vault.

"We started out a little shaky but wrapped it up really nice," Louise said. "We were short a couple guys with illness and injuries, but we still all pulled it together and threw in some moves we've been working on since the beginning of the season."

Luke Meister led Glenbard North as its lone all-arounder with a 39.4, and the Panthers received some strong individual performances in a few events.

Jesus Flores was third on vault with an 8.4 and Meister placed third on parallel bars with a 7.7. Mason Morgan added a 7.4 on floor, Joshua Garrison scored a 6.7 on still rings and Asim Zaidi had a 6.7 on pommel horse.

"Coach is always stressing to have fun. It's competition, but you can't let it get into your head," Meister said. "We're trying to have fun and do the best we can to get great results."