Scouting DuPage County boys gymnastics
Top local teams: Downers Grove North, Glenbard West, Naperville North, Wheaton Warrenville co-op.
Top gymnastics: Michael Baren (Neuqua Valley, so., all-around), Charlie Cripe (York, jr., all-around), Brandon Dao (Glenbard North, jr., all-around), Alexander Demeris (Glenbard West., jr., all-around), Aaron Heppner (Downers Grove North, jr., all-around), Cade Houlinhan (Wheaton co-op, jr., all-around), Michael Hunter Jr., (Naperville North., sr, vault, floor, parallel bars), Eric Loid (Naperville North, sr., all-around), Coley McArdle (Glenbard West, sr., pommel horse), Louis Ranieri (Lake Park, sr., all-around), Matt Wojdak (Addison Trail, so., all-around).
Outlook: Addison Trail has one of the better sophomores in the state in all-arounder Matt Wojdka, who took sixth on floor at state last May, and will look for continued leadership and contributions from senior and fourth-year gymnast Eric Estrada. Juniors Caleb Michaliska and Jakub Sitko are coming off solid seasons as sophomores and will land bigger roles. "We're looking to develop on our strong base from last year," Blazers coach Mike Galfi said. "The team is definitely headed in the right direction."
Downers Grove North begins life without Lukas Elisha, who took third in the state in the all-around last year and is the reigning high bar champion. The Trojans can expect big all-around scores from junior Aaron Heppner and sophomore Jonah Kopecki but will need to get others to build up their team score. Heppner was 22nd in the all-around last year with a 50.8. Kopecki is coming off qualifying for state in diving in just his first year.
Downers Grove South continues to be in major rebuilding mode. After finishing in eighth place in a sectional last spring, the Mustangs bring back little varsity experience as only Mark Panek, Julian Perez and Jeff Maples competed in the Lyons sectional. The team's biggest loss was to lone all-arounder Donte Reed who graduated. Freshman Miguel Figueroa joins the team and will be in a mix of young and less experienced sophomores and juniors.
Fenton welcomes back senior all-arounders Austin Adkins and Omar Lopez. Both have postseason experience from last year's sectional so the Bison will lean heavily on those two as everyone else who competed in that sectional graduated.
Glenbard East returns few gymnasts from last year's squad. The biggest loss for the Rams was Marc Le's departure as he took eighth in the state in the all-around last May. "We have some athletes that did not compete in 2018 but did compete in 2017 as freshmen and now have returned," Rams coach Wayne Hill said. "Most of these athletes are all-arounders that will now specialize in rings, pommel horse and floor exercise."
Glenbard North has about 20 kids in the program as Dennis Wellman takes over as coach. "We've struggled the last few years, but it's my intention to flip the script and start from scratch with these kids and help them enjoy some 'Ws,'" Wellman said. "It's a new coaching perspective and I hope to bring skills to the team and help build a successful program." Junior Brando Dao is looking great already according to Wellman, while sophomore Dan Ochowicz also has returned and will play a big role.
Glenbard South graduated 10 gymnasts from last year's squad, but all-arounders Mark Johnson and Antonio Carter are back to alleviate some of the growing pains the Raiders are certain to endure. "We're in a rebuilding year," Raiders coach Lee Wood said. "We're very excited to have six new freshmen this season and my assistant coach and I am happy to see what level we can bring these boys up to."
Glenbard West, which was state runner-up last year and in 2016 and state champion in 2017, lost the Rudolph twins and Daniel Eichin to graduation but return junior all-arounder Alexander Demeris, who placed ninth in the state in the all-around and shared the state title in the floor exercise. Specialists Coley McArdle, Len Phuong and Aby-Bakr Syed all return. The Hilltoppers have been able to turn inexperienced gymnasts into state qualifiers in the past, and it's one of the reasons why they continue to be successful year after year. Can they do it again?
Hinsdale Central is coming off a strong season, finishing with a 143.25 and taking third place at the Lyons sectional, but the Red Devils lost a handful of gymnasts, including Nolan Holmes and Alex Roca. Seniors Thomas Monson and Nicky Armonda and juniors Herbert Wang and Christian Riordan return for new coach C.J. Johnson, who also has three freshmen to work with this spring. "This will be a year of working hard to get the skills necessary to be competitive within the conference," Johnson said. "We will be a much better team by the end of the season."
Hinsdale South should be able to surpass the 117.45 it finished with last season since several of its gymnasts return, including junior Anthony Anderson, the team's lone all-arounder in last year's sectional. Elijah Lashley, Tyler Jannenga and Henry Mihndou also return with postseason experience from a year ago, while Payton Hultmark and Zachary Lowery will look to contribute as well.
Lake Park is definitely a work in progress due to the loss of a couple of gymnasts who chose not to return as well as the graduation of Bosco Boyer and Jake Slavin. Senior Louie Ranieri, a two-time state qualifier on floor, does return. "We have a lot of first-year gymnasts of all ages and two returning varsity gymnasts, so it will take a bit of time to figure out where we stand and what our goals will be as a team," Lancers coach Tim Whelan said.
Naperville Central coach Glen Reimers said, "Rebuilding and hard work will pay off in the end," and by end, it's all over soon for the longtime boys and girls gymnastics coach for the Redhawks, who is retiring after this season. Senior all-arounder Jeremy Venegas, junior specialists Ryan Belanger, Kyle Gunter, Joseph Guzman, Max Janke, David Majka and Darrell Ware and sophomore Tim Froelich all will have an opportunity to compete this spring.
Naperville North should be competitive. "Michael Hunter (two-time state qualifier) and Eric Loid will turn in some strong performances, which should keep us competitive throughout," Huskies coach Chris Stanicek said. Hunter's working three events while Loid will contribute as an all-arounder. Stanicek acknowledged that Mohammad Diaby and Ridge Dart have improved, Gavin Shipp will contribute a solid score on still rings and the crop of freshmen that joined the program have a lot of promise, including Gavin Rump, Garrett Dahn and Ryan Marrow.
Wheaton Warrenville co-op's streak of 10 consecutive team appearances in the state finals is rather impressive but making it 11 straight will be quite challenging since sophomore Nicky Franz, fifth last year in the all-around, is not returning and Joey DiRienzo and Aiden Moran graduated. "We have a lot of inexperience at the varsity level," coach Greg Gebhardt said. "Our goal is to have consistent growth throughout the season and be competitive going into the state series." All-arounders Cade Houlihan and Rodrigo Ruiz take on bigger roles this spring along with returning specialist Marty Franz. At least six new faces will have a chance to add to the team score.
Willowbrook will never forget last year's finish at state with Adam Sousa winning the all-around title. The Warriors knew he would be gone now, but Isaiah Lewis' departure - moved with his family - is an added hit. Specialists Collin Donaldson, Cooper Ross, Sean Luner and Brendan Bailey return. "It is, of course, a huge loss to our team score losing Adam to graduation, so we will have to figure out ways to make up some of those points on all six events," Willowbrook coach Caleb Strejc said. "We will need specialists to step up and any all-arounders to be extremely consistent."
York may have been overlooked a bit last season as the Dukes had one of the better team seasons in the state but just came up short of getting to the finals with a 148.55 at the Schaumburg sectional. Key scorers from that team were lost to graduation, including all-arounders John Gill and Jake Anderson and standout specialist Kelvin Stevens Jr. Thankfully, junior all-arounder Charlie Cripe and senior specialist Joe Brown return.
Lastly, at least one individual from DuPage County will represent a school that doesn't have a team. Neuqua Valley sophomore Michael Baren said he's competing this spring. Baren took seventh in the all-around last year and medaled in two events, taking second on vault and tying for fifth place on pommel horse. "I'm coming back from a shoulder injury so I might be a little weaker in some events," he said. "I don't know what to expect, we'll see in three months."
- Chris Walker