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Shorthanded Naperville Central falls to Glenbard North

Naperville Central seniors Joe Bajek and Jeff Jung believe that their final boys gymnastics season can be something special.

They also are realists who are patiently waiting to see if the team can return to full strength later this spring and then earn a state appearance at a team, something they haven't done in more than 20 years.

Perhaps they can, but they're going to need some help from their teammates.

The duo did their part during Wednesday's DuPage Valley Conference meet against visiting Glenbard North, but with standout Ryan Durkin limited to one event, and fellow all-arounder Karl Jungquist out of town, the Redhawks fell, 128.3 to 125.3.

"We're doing the best we can with the injuries (to Durkin) and stuff," Jung said. "We know we can always get better and we'll hopefully learn from what we did tonight."

Prior to the season, the Redhawks knew they had a chance to be one of the highest scoring teams in the state, but without all-arounders Karl Jungquist and Durkin, they're still very good but likely unable to reach that elite level.

"Karl is out for another week - he's on a mission's retreat, so we'll get him back," Redhawks coach Glen Reimers said. "With Ryan he's got a broken foot so we'll try to water down some things to get him back, but it looks like he's done with vault and floor right now, it's just too much."

Naperville Central's Tahj Jacobs won floor with an 8.0, Cameron Baumgartner won high bar with a 6.2 and Durkin shined on pommel horse with a 9.3, the kind of score that will likely make him a state finalist if he can keep it going.

"It's a big loss without Ryan and Karl," Bajek said. "It's kind of interesting to see what we can do without those guys, to see who can step up and help compensate for the loss, but we need everyone."

Glenbard North's Joshua Garrison won still rings with a 7.6 while Luke Meister earned top honors on parallel bars with a 7.5, and Flores did the same on vault with an 8.5.

"I did my full front round-off, side flip and back full so that went really (on floor)," Flores said. "I'd been working on it for a couple of weeks and it went really well."

Asim Zaidi added an 8.0 on pommel horse for the Panthers.

"We had a positive spring break and then we had a lot of clean gymnastics," Glenbard North coach Michael Crissie said. "I was pleased that we were clean with most of our element groups and they kept their legs straight like we'd been working on."

Time is running out for both teams. The DuPage Valley Conference is just two weeks from Friday, so getting healthy and cleaning routines is imperative if the teams hope to finish strong before sectionals.

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