Stevenson tunes up, turns it up
The Independent Conference regular season finale gave two rival boys gymnastics teams one final tune-up Thursday night at Libertyville before the upcoming conference meet.
The host Wildcats did not have the firepower to match the Patriots as No. 2-ranked Stevenson (2-0, 1-0) captured an impressive 153.7 to 140.1 victory over Libertyville.
The Wildcats (1-2, 0-2) still have much hope heading into the IHSA sectionals the following week as key senior Alex Pong (four events) is expected to return in the all-around competition.
The Pats showed that they had the depth to score very well Wednesday despite having standout junior Arie Feltman-Frank (13th in state all-around in 2013) in only two events due to a wrist injury.
Stevenson did have its dominant senior duo of Zack Gilbert and Jacob Guth intact for the meet as Gilbert captured the all-around crown with a 9.06 average (54.4 points).
Guth took runner up honors with 49.6 points while Libertyville sophomore Adrian Metcalf (43.9 points) placed third overall.
"We've got to fix our still rings, but we were really good on the other five events tonight," said Stevenson coach Eric Liva, whose team is ranked second to only Wheaton co-op. "Zack (Gilbert) was a machine tonight and hitting 54.4 in the all-around was incredible. Jacob (Guth) almost hit 50 so he did awesome."
Gilbert made a clean sweep of all six events as he posted winning marks of 9.4 on floor exercise, 9.2 on vault, 9.1 with a great dismount on parallel bars, 9.1 on pommel horse, 8.9 despite getting underscored on high bar, and 8.7 on still rings.
"We're doing good, but still rings is our Achilles heel," added Liva, whose team scored 27.1 points on vault and 26.8 points on floor. "We're definitely struggling on rings (23.2) and there is no quick fix."
Like first-year IHSA gymnast Gilbert, Pong has given the Libertyville program a real boost this spring as Pong placed second on parallel bars (9.0), and still rings (8.6) in the meet. Pong and Feltman-Frank (8.7) tied for second place on high bar.
Felman-Frank was optimistic that he can help give his team a big boost at the sectionals and the state meet should the Patriots put together a solid state series.
"Hopefully I'll be back in the all-around for sectionals," said Feltman-Frank, who also brings some big-meet experience to Stevenson's varsity lineup. "We have to have good form and hit our sets and hopefully that will get us a good trophy at state."
As it stands, Wheaton co-op has the inside track at the IHSA title with numerous team scores higher than the Patriots. But a recent injury to elite all-arounder David MacDonald of Wheaton could really make the 2014 Elite Eight meet even closer.
Libertyville will be hard-pressed to reach the state meet as a team, but the Wildcats are hoping to peak at the right time this season.
"As a team we were three for six in events tonight and we hit well on the last two events," said Libertyville coach Josh Cimo, whose team struggled to an 18.9 on pommel horse. "We're just working the parts that we've been missing and we might have overworked pommel horse because we were 0-for-5 on that tonight."
Stevenson junior Elijah Klaber was a big contributor with third-place scores on vault (8.9) and pommel horse (7.7). Guth placed second on floor with an 8.9 to topple Libertyville junior Mark Pickar (8.6) in third.
Guth added second-place marks on vault (9.0), and pommel horse (8.4). Metcalf (7.6) took third on still rings while Guth (8.6) placed third on parallel bars.
"Coming into the final stretch we're going to really focus hard so when sectionals come they will be 100 percent," added Cimo. "They're really supportive of each other and the team unity we have is just incredible."