Wheaton co-op finds its zone, wins Krupke
Wheaton co-op won Friday’s Lake Park Ralph Krupke boys gymnastics invitational comfortably, finishing easily ahead of runner-up Naperville North, 154.475 to 145.250.
“We’ve been bouncing between a 154 and 158, and that’s about where we belong,” Wheaton co-op coach Chad Downie said. “I thought Darren Fill had a rough meet and kind of struggled on a few events, and he’s going to be real consistent for us. Mike Brackman had one of his better meets but still had two major lapses. But I also think our younger guys are stepping up for us, which is very good.”
What was already a very good meet could’ve been more competitive at the top of the leaderboard if a few missing gymnasts were in attendance. Mundelein took third place with a 139.2 but was without its top gymnast, Scott Marthinsen.
But no team was as depleted as Downers Grove North, the Trojans were without their top three all-arounders, Luke Schubert, Luke Wychocki and Matt Rakow. The three were in Florida for a cheerleading competition. Even without their big three, the Trojans managed to post a 131.250 and took fifth place.
Whether or not Mundelein or Downers Grove North would’ve been able to prevail over Wheaton co-op if they were at 100 percent will never be known. What is known is that Wheaton co-op is going to be tough to beat all spring.
“We’re really happy with the score, but we still think we can do a lot better,” Wheaton co-op’s Mark Ciesielski said. “We hit some routines like we really wanted too, but we still want to see some improvements. But, yeah, overall, there’s not too much we could complain about.”
Brackman led the way for the winners, winning high bar with a 9.2 and finishing second in the all-around with a 52. He was also second on pommel horse with an 8.7 and still rings with an 8.3. Fill was fourth in the overall with a 51.575 and won parallel bars with a 9.1. Freshman Ethan Sansone was second on floor with a 9.4 and fourth on pommel horse with an 8.4. Bayly Shelly was third on parallel bars with an 8.7, and Ciesielski was fourth on floor with a 9.2.
“Ethan is doing such a great job. He’s a champ who has worked so hard and fits in well with a team that really is made of seniors,” Downie said. “Charlie Fisher did a great job on vault and his rings are picking up. I’m excited for what’s going to happen by the end of the year.”
Naperville North’s Billy Suta won still rings with an 8.9, which helped propel him to the all-around title with a 52.65. Josh Soto was seventh in the all-around with a 46.95, and Dante Reyes was eighth with a 45.65 for the second-place Huskies. Soto won pommel horse with an 8.8 and Reyes was second on vault with a 9.3.
“I was learning a new trick on rings and didn’t even do the trick because I was focusing on it too much and then messed up,” Reyes said. “We were focusing on staying tight and our big tricks, but we came out a little confused. We’ll be all right, but we could’ve done better.”
Colin McCarthy won floor with a 9.45 to lead Mundelein. McCarthy finished fifth in the all-around with a 48.550 while teammate Tim Beranek was right behind him with a 48.450.
“We were pretty solid tonight,” McCarthy said. “We’re still trying to recuperate with our best player (Marthinsen) out. Hopefully, we’ll be able to continue improving and get to state.”
Conant took fourth place with a 138.750. Steven Rink was second on high bar with a 9.0 and third in the all-around with a 51.7.
“It was our best scoring meet so far, we went only a tenth up, but it’s up,” Conant coach Paul Kim said. “We were hoping to get above 140 today, but we’ll still get there soon. The guys did a decent job of cleaning things up a bit.”
Host Lake Park was sixth with a 123.45.
“We had a 23-point improvement over the very first meet we had three weeks ago,” Lake Park coach Keith Matune said. “I’m really proud of the guys and their effort in the gym. They’re showing remarkable progress after a slow start and I think the future looks bright.”
Fenton’s Eric Owuso won vault with a 9.6. The Bison finished eighth with a 117.650. Glenbard South finished ninth with a 104.25.