Wheaton wins DVC title by landslide
Seniors Darren Fill and Mike Brackmann finished in first and second place, respectively, in the all-around, and Wheaton co-op won Saturday morning’s DuPage Valley Conference championship at Wheaton Warrenville South.
Wheaton co-op finished well ahead of Naperville North, 159.2 to 148.1, to win the title. Glenbard North was a distant third place at 124.6, following by Naperville Central and Glenbard East.
“We really don’t look at the other teams or even our scores a lot of the time,” Fill said. “We look at our hit ratio and what we expect from ourselves.”
Fill won still rings with an 8.8, pommel horse with a 9.3 and floor with a 9.7. He finished with an all-around total of 54.250.
“It was really kind of what we expected,” Fill said. “We practice all year for three big meets and this is just the start of the triple crown, or whatever you want to call it. Now the first is down and we hope to do it again at sectionals and then go onto state, and that’s everyone’s goal.”
Brackmann won parallel bars with an 8.85. He took second on pommel horse, vault and tied for second on high bar, finishing with an all-around score of 53.45.
“It means a lot to win conference,” Brackmann said. “There are some things some of us wanted to do better, but some guys shined through on certain events. Zach (Neal) had a great set on rings, Darren (Fill) came though on high bar like he always does, Mark (Ciesielski) came through after being injured and Danny (Heller) had a great high bar set for his first full requirement routine, so it was a good meet.”
Naperville North’s Josh Soto and Billy Suta tied for fourth in the all-around with a 51.450.
“That 51 is well below what Billy would normally do, but he had three mistakes on three different events,” Naperville North coach Brad Foerch said. “He just wasn’t really sharp today, but we got Dante (Reyes) back today on four events, which was key for us, and we hope to get him back in the all-around for sectionals.”
Foerch is nervous about scoring in the 148 range and feels the Huskies need to reach 150 in the sectional to feel comfortable about advancing to state.
“One hundred forty-eight could make it, but that would be on the bubble,” he said. “We’re looking for two more points, so we’re looking for that 150.”
Ryan Kennedy won high bar with a 9.35 and took third in the all-around to pace Glenbard North to third place with a 124.6.
Naperville Central’s Dave Rynearson, who has battled a sore back, won the vault with a 9.5 to help the Redhawks take fourth place with a 109.2.
Glenbard East’s Robo Sullivan tied for second on vault with a 9.35. The Rams finished fifth with a 102.7.
“I knew if he didn’t stick he wouldn’t have placed here,” Glenbard East coach Lee Wood said. “So he did real well. I think as a whole varsity group, for the skill set that we have, they did a nice job of putting things together.”
West Aurora’s Doug Sullivan took second on the floor with a 9.55 and was sixth in the all-around with a 50.95. Alec Sunder also competed as an individual for the Blackhawks and had a 43.8 in the all-around.