West Aurora’s Sullivan makes history with state title

It was all about tenths for West Aurora junior Doug Sullivan.

Sullivan scored a 9.35 on pommel horse during Friday night’s all-around competition in the IHSA state boys gymnastics finals, came back with a 9.45 during Saturday afternoon’s individual championship preliminaries and then won it later in the evening with a 9.55.

Sullivan is the first boys state champion gymnast from West Aurora or any of the local schools.

“I put in so much hard work so it’s good to see it finally paying off,” he said. “It’s a great feeling, so exciting.”

The pommel horse champion’s ability to steadily improve his score all weekend simply came down to paying attention to his coach and the judges.

“(Coach) would tell me that I could go 9.5 on my routine if you fix this certain trick,” he said. “I just got more comfortable each time I went up there today.”

An appearance at state isn’t anything new for the junior who has made the trip to Frankfort three consecutive years, but now he’s proven that he belongs among the state’s elite.

“The last couple years he’s gotten to the finals and had some falls because he gets really nervous,” West Aurora coach Tom Wirth said. “I told him he belongs in this group and it’s time to prove you belong. It was the most aggressive I’ve seen him work a horse routine ever.”

Sullivan also advanced to the final on high bar, placing 10th with an 8.55.