Mundelein hits 152.8
The Mundelein boys gymnastics team is already showing signs of greatness as they competed Tuesday night in rival Libertyville’s gym.
The visiting Mustangs proved they are an Elite Eight meet contender — or maybe even better — as they soared to a season-high 152.8 points to topple the host Wildcats with 121.0 points on their senior night.
Besides the emergence of Mundelein (1-0, 1-0) as a team to beat in its Independent Conference opener, Tuesday night also marked the final home meet in the stellar career of long-time Libertyville coach Curt Austin.
Austin has spent a total of 33 years in the Wildcats’ program, including 17 as an assistant coach to Paul Blasko. This will be Austin’s 16th and final year as head coach for the fifth winningest program over the lifetime of the sport at the high school level.
Libertyville (1-3, 0-1) also hit an early-season high mark Tuesday behind all-around champion Craig Breckenridge (53.7 points) with an 8.95 average.
But the Mustangs stole the show behind the all-around trio of UIC-bound senior Scott Marthinsen (51.7 points) in second, freshman Colin McCarthy (51.4) in third and junior Tim Beranek (49.7) in fourth overall.
Marthinsen won vault with a meet-high 9.3 while adding first-place scores of 9.0 on still rings, and tying for first place with Breckenridge on high bar (8.7).
A solid high bar routine turned out to be a real relief for Marthinsen. He missed Mundelein’s last meet after injuring his ribs after hitting the high bar in a fall at practice last week.
“I was pretty happy with today’s meet except for a few bobbles on parallel bars, and I was very happy with high bar because I didn’t hit the bar again,” Marthinsen said. “We were getting some good scores today, but we had a lot of misses so we have a lot of room for improvement.”
Breckenridge also took home first place on floor exercise with a 9.2 and pommel horse (8.8). Breckenridge was the runner-up on vault (9.1), parallel bars (9.0), and still rings (8.9).
Austin was recognized for his 33 years of service to the Libertyville program following the meet. He was a two-time state tumbling champion during his competitive career.
“Gymnastics has been my life and I’ll still be involved with the sport,” said Austin of his upcoming retirement. “But I look forward to moving on and watching other people develop the program. Hopefully I will see Libertyville get to the state meet again soon.”
Mundelein looks like it is ready to return to state for the first time since 2005 after McCarthy posted a first-place 9.1 on parallel bars Tuesday.
McCarthy added a second-place 9.0 on floor exercise while he and Beranek (8.4) tied for second on pommel horse.
“I didn’t expect us to score this high, and a 152 is huge,” said Mundelein assistant coach Jim Geske. “They did fantastic. We had a couple of falls here and there, but I was pretty pleased with how they did.”
Marthinsen posted a third-place 8.9 on floor exercise while McCarthy placed third on vault with an 8.9. Beranek placed third on parallel bars (8.6), and high bar (8.6).