Naperville North duo’s return worth the wait
Josh Soto thought missing two weeks was difficult. Donte Reyes missed two years.
The two Naperville North all-arounders were in the lineup in Naperville on Monday for a DuPage Valley Conference gymnastics meet against Glenbard North.
Soto finished third in the all-around with a 50.9 and Reyes was fourth with a 46.5 to help the Huskies claim a 149.3 to 134.8 victory.
Soto had been out for two weeks after sustaining an injury on the parallel bars. After being medically cleared to return to action, Soto was only able to practice twice before Saturday’s Dick Foerch Invitational. He struggled over the weekend and with the quick turnaround on Monday was unable to practice.
Soto won on high bar with an 8.9.
“I definitely did a lot better than Saturday,” Soto said. “It was rough on Saturday and I just wanted to come in and redo it and do the best I could and try to get back in the game.”
Reyes had been ineligible to compete the past two seasons but is in the lineup this season. He continued his remarkable return on Monday by posting solid scores. Reyes won the vault with a 9.1 and had an 8.7 on floor.
“He’s been a tremendous surprise for a kid who hasn’t competed in two years,” Naperville North coach Brad Foerch said. “He’s really picked things up quickly and actually has the most high (between himself, Soto and Billy Suta). Rings, high bar and pommel horse, we can push all those way up and he can probably get a few 9s for us. So, yeah, he’s been a real nice surprise.”
Suta took second in the all-around with a 51.9 and won still rings with an 8.5, as the Huskies counted the total scores of its three all-arounders.
“I think we did really well,” Suta said. “I didn’t think we’d get a 149 so this is good, and it’s still the beginning of the season and we will get better from here.”
A commitment to off-season training and a hunger for greater success is already paying off this spring for Soto and Suta.
“They’ve worked year round and it really shows,” Foerch said. “They’ve put in a lot of time with Rich Larsen (retired York coach) and it’s made a huge difference.”
Glenbard North’s Ryan Kennedy was the all-around champion with a 52.4. Kennedy won parallel bars with an 8.8, floor with a 9.2 and pommel horse with a 9.4. His excellence on the pommel horse resulted in a personal record.
“I was really happy with setting an all-time high,” he said. “I had a good warmup so I expected to score like that.”
Jared Vandenack and John Cummins also competed as all-arounders for the Panthers. Vandenack had an 8.2 on high bar to help him score a 43 overall. Cummins finished with a 37.7.
Jacob Peterson added an 8.4 on vault while Caleb Hanselman contributed an 8.0 on the same event for the Panthers.
“We could’ve done better, but we’re getting better as time progresses,” Kennedy said. “I think we’ll be a lot better, at least by state.”