West edges East ... and a fun time is had by all
The 20th annual East vs. West Andy Kostick Mid-Suburban Camaraderie boys gymnastics meet served as an opportunity to bring the athletes closer together as the season starts.
Even the final score was close this time, as the West defeated the East 250.1 to 249.0 at Barrington High School on Friday night.
"By far, the closest ever," said Rob Defano, the tourney host and Barrington coach. "The best thing about this meet is that when all the gymnasts go to dual meets during the season they already know each other during warm-ups from seeing everyone at this meet. No other sport gets along that way."
Not many other meets are as much fun, either, for the MSL gymnasts who get to participate in four "fun" events as well.
"I love this meet," said Fremd senior Dave Allison, who capped off the night by winning the standing back flip with 36 in a row.
"It's probably my favorite meet of the season except for state."
Over the past four years, Allison said the most flips he accomplished before falling were five to 10.
"Sometimes, I'll do them with my teammates at practice," Allison said. "I'm usually about average at them. But I guess I do better under pressure."
Conant's Steven Rink handled the pressure of defending his last two titles in the circle competition on the pommel horse. The junior won the event for the third straight year by completing 551/2 circles.
"I practice it (circles) a little in the summer," he said. "I just really enjoy this meet. It's great to meet everyone from the other teams. It's so much better than when you're just competing."
The night's first "fun" event was to see who could hold the longest handstand.
For the second straight year, Rolling Meadows junior Marc Herff was the champ, lasting more than three minutes.
"I've just always been good at handstands," said Herff, who was a state qualifier on the parallel bars and still rings last year. "I practice them all the time at home just to get better with strength and balance. This is really a fun meet. I love it."
Buffalo Grove junior Kyle Siebert was first in the longest sitting L position on the parallel bars. Siebert set a meet record with a time of 52.6 seconds.
"I do it sometimes just for conditioning," he said. "It's fun. I just don't try to think about how much it hurts when I'm up there. I just do it."
As for the standard events, the West had the top performer in four of the six events.
Barrington's Kellen O'Connor (9.6) took first in the floor exercise over runner-up Allison (9.3).
Alex Logisz of Fremd was tops on the pommel horse with a 7.2, followed by Prospect's Dave Kreuger (6.8).
Defending MSL champ John Scallon of Rolling Meadows did not compete because of foot injury but is expected back next week.
Barrington's Tom Olandese ws the winner on the still rings (8.9), followed by Siebert (7.7).
Rink and Elk Grove's Blake Tallaferro tied for first (8.9) on the vault, while Fremd's Brandon Trostud (9.4) was tops on the parallel bars over Herff (8.7).
Prospect's Jim Brault scored an 8.8 on the high bar for first place, followed by Fremd's Dave Bruns (8.6).