Season-best score sends Wheaton to sectional victory
Wheaton co-op became the first team to punch its ticket to the IHSA boys state gymnastics finals, winning Wednesday's Wheaton North sectional in convincing fashion with a score of 156.250.
Led by all-arounders Darren Fill, who posted the best total score with a 53.95, and Mike Brackmann, who took third with a 53.4, Wheaton established a new season-best score.
"This is the first meet we've trained for with routines. Our hit percentage at the conference meet was 48 percent, and today I think it was 80 percent," Wheaton coach Chad Downie said. "Hopefully, we're peaking at the right time and still not finished."
Fill finished second on still rings, vault, high bar and floor exercise and third on pommel horse and parallel bars to pace Wheaton.
"We came into this sectional really wanting to hit all routines, really be consistent and get through them," Fill said. "I thought we came in and did what we wanted to do."
The winners received nice contributions from a handful of gymnasts, including a 9 on vault from Charlie Fisher, a 9 in the floor exercise from Mark Ciesielski and an 8.4 on high bar from Mike Dieterle before Brackmann put an exclamation point on the victory by closing with the high bar title with a 9.45.
"Every routine I'm cringing," Downie said. "When we got to high bar, the nicest thing about these guys is they're so confident on high bar and to get to end on it tonight was such a nice thing."
Defending state champion Glenbard North finished in second place with a 148.7, just ahead of the 148.3 generated by Highland Park co-op. The Panthers hope to be one of the three at-large qualifier teams but will have to wait until the final sectional is completed Saturday night to see if they'll have an opportunity to compete in Frankfort.
Jesus Soto competed as an all-arounder for the first time this season for a Panthers team that has had plenty of injuries and ups and downs this spring. Soto won still rings and vault and took second in the all-around with a 53.4. Teammate Ryan Kennedy won floor exercise with a 9.35, which boosted his all-around tally to 50.75.
"We still have a chance to make it through (to state)," Soto said. "It felt good to have everyone healthy and everyone stepped up big today."
Elk Grove finished in fourth place with a 136.
"Like any day we had highs and lows," Elk Grove coach Keith Mukai said. "We were disappointed in some of the scores, but that's life in the first sectional with tighter scores and having to work extra hard to earn them."
A pair of Grenadiers advanced to state. Damian Zukowski took third on high bar with an 8.95 and tied for fourth on parallel bars with an 8.7, and John Capacite tied for third on still rings with an 8.95.
"John Capacite taking third on still rings was phenomenal," Mukai said. "Damian Zukowski has been awesome all season, so for him to place on parallel bars and high bar was not a surprise as he always gets the job done."
John Scallon, who tied for fourth in the state on pommel horse last year, won the sectional with a 9.65 to lead Rolling Meadows. He'll shoot for a title along with teammate Marc Herff, who advanced on parallel bars and still rings.
Other notable ranked qualifiers included Prospect's Jim Brault on high bar and Hersey's Drew Schultz on vault.