Mundelein asserts its independence, edges Stevenson
After a great performance last week, Stevenson was hoping to challenge Mundelein for the Independent Conference boys gymnastics title Wednesday night at Glenbard South.
The Patriots did give the Mustangs a run for their money, but they could not prevent Mundelein from winning its third straight conference crown, 148.75 to 146.4.
Lake Park held off the host Raiders 132.7 to 131.4 for third place ahead of Libertyville (117.9) and Fenton (98.5).
The Pats had an incredible previous week, as they scored a season-high 157.7 points by hitting all 18 of their routines.
But that type of performance was not meant to be for either Stevenson or the Mustangs on Wednesday as both teams struggled somewhat.
Both squads will be hosting sectional meets next week, beginning with the Patriots on Thursday night.
Mundelein’s junior duo of Colin McCarthy (53.95 points) and Cameron Mueller (50.1) went 1-2 in the all-around to carry the Mustangs’ scoring load. But Mundelein coach Jesse Piland knew his team was not sharp after hitting a season-high 150.5 recently at the Bohl Invitational.
“Our top two guys are doing what they’ve been doing all year, but our third score is what is going to make us or break us, and tonight it broke us,” said Piland, whose team closed out the meet with only a 21.5 on pommel horse. “Tonight we should have been in the 150’s easily and our last three guys had one fall each on pommel horse. We just gave points away all over the gym.”
Stevenson might have been even more frustrated with its results despite a solid overall performance from sophomore Arie Feltman-Frank, who placed third in the all-around with 49.8 points. Jacob Guth (49.1) placed fifth for the Pats, followed by senior teammate Kyle Weichselbaum (47.0) in seventh.
Stevenson coach Eric Liva was unable to make the meet due to a prior family commitment.
“To go from 157 to 146 is a big drop, but we had some changes in our lineup and Eric (Liva) isn’t here,” said Stevenson assistant coach Ryan Trostrud, whose team struggled to a 21.7 on pommel horse. “Overall it wasn’t our best meet, but I don’t see any reason why we can’t come back strong next week.”
Glenbard South junior Eugene Boguslavsky took fourth in the all-around with 49.5 points to lead the Raiders. Paul Steger (43.9) placed eighth overall for Glenbard South.
Lake Park’s elite Mac Allen (five events) and Glenbard South No. 2 all-arounder Eli Qahhaar are both out for the season, ironically with the same torn labrum injuries.
“Eugene (Boguslavsky) did a nice job and our sectional meet is next Wednesday so we’ll take it easy for a day or two,” said Glenbard South coach Steve Young. “With him (Qahhaar) in the lineup we were shooting for 145 and trying to qualify for the state meet for the first time ever. But with him out of the lineup it’s pretty tough.”
Senior Sam Flory (48.3) placed sixth overall followed by teammate Chris Avvisati (42.0) in ninth. Libertyville freshman Adrian Metcalf (41.1) was 10th overall.
“Our two all-arounders (Flory and Avvisati) both had good meets tonight and Chris had his best performance on high bar with an 8.1,” said Lake Park coach Keith Matune. “We’re competing without our best parallel bars and still rings guy (Allen) and when you lose somebody of that caliber it’s difficult.”
McCarthy was the individual champion on floor exercise (9.6), high bar (9.6), parallel bars (9.3), and vault (9.1). Mueller (9.4) was the parallel bars champ while Flory (8.3) edged Boguslavsky (8.1) for first place on pommel horse.
Fenton’s Oscar Garza placed third on vault with an 8.7 with Feltman-Frank (9.2) placing second on high bar.