Mundelein elevates for victory over Libertyville
Host Mundelein was hoping to put together a strong performance on senior night when the Mustangs faced rival Libertyville in this Independent Conference boys gymnastics dual meet.
And Mundelein did just that as the Mustangs soared to a season-high 146.4 points to roll to the victory over the Wildcats with 128.0 points despite not hitting on all cylinders in the pressure-packed contest.
Senior all-arounder Brandon Swanson also turned in his best performance in the early stages of the season by winning the all-around competition with 52.0 points (8.66 average).
Libertyville (0-2, 0-1) could not match the overall depth of the Mustangs as Mundelein junior Greg Godellas took runner-up honors in the all-around with 48.3 points (8.05 average).
Mundelein junior Yanni Wiechering (44.7 points) gave the Mustangs a clean sweep of the top three places in the all-around while Libertyville sophomore Pat Tanski took fourth place overall with 42.5 points.
"Our problem recently has been not finishing very strong, and high bar was our worst event of the night," said Mundelein coach Jesse Piland, whose team hosts the Bob Bohl Invitational next Friday. "But I'm happy overall - we got a season-high score, and this time we had our most consistent performance out of all of our gymnasts."
Piland also found out earlier in the day that his squad will be hosting the second of five sectional meets on May 5 when he hopes his team will come through in earning Mundelein's 21st trip in school history to the Elite Eight.
Swanson's performance featured first-place scores of 8.9 on vault, 8.9 on still rings, 8.8 on floor exercise, 8.8 on parallel bars and 8.1 on high bar. Godellas was the pommel horse champion with a 9.1.
"Being early in the season I think we can still improve a lot," said Swanson, who placed ninth in the state all-around and fourth on vault as a junior. "We just need to get back in the gym, keep working on our tricks and routines, and we can do well."
Godellas placed second on floor exercise with an 8.6 while there was a logjam of a four-way tie for third place on that event with Reichert, Wiechering, Mundelein's Ismael Antunez, and Libertyville's Jade Fisher all posting an 8.5.
"Pat Tanski is doing awesome, he's a good anchor for the team, and he's a great teammate," said Libertyville coach Josh Cimo, whose team is without the services of key senior Adrian Metcalf, who is not competing this season. "It was just not his (Andrew Jacob's) night coming off of spring break. But the other guys are pulling it together and we were able to surpass our goal of scoring 120 points tonight."
Jacob and Reichert tied for second place on vault with an 8.6 while Swanson added a second-place 8.6 on pommel horse. Mundelein senior Noe Alcantar took second place on still rings with an 8.1 to edge Godellas (7.9) in third place.
Godellas also added a second-place 8.5 on parallel bars to outdistance Alcantar (8.2) in third place, and Antunez (8.0) in fourth. Tanski and Wiechering tied for fourth on vault with an 8.5.
"(Sophomore) Tyler Collins competed on JV tonight, but he's going to help the team and in some events he could be our third scorer," said Piland. "Swanson certainly looked good tonight, and he performed better than he has overall this year."
Swanson's previous season-high score in the all-around this season was 50.65 points at the Lake Park Invitational.
Cimo is still optimistic as he looks ahead to the latter stages of the season.
"Jade (Fisher) has improved overall," added Cimo. "And he was able to add a new element group on high bar that helped out a lot tonight."