Boys gymnastics: Le, Glenbard West make the most of their chance at Conant
When he was a freshman, Glenbard West's Timmy Le decided that he would give gymnastics a chance. And Le has made sure that his work, and his opportunity, have paid off.
Le, who have never competed in gymnastics showed that he is more than ready for the sport. The junior scored a 51.20 to win the all-around Friday at the Ed Raymond Invitational at Conant in Hoffman Estates.
He was terrific, winning the floor with a 9.40 and the parallel bars with a 9.00. He was also fifth in the vault and the high bar.
"It was surprising," Le said. "I just do a lot of routines in practice. Then I stay late to work on some special parts of my routines."
Glenbard West coach Frank Novakowski said Le's hard work has paid huge dividends.
"He is a great kid and a hard worker," Novakowski said. "He is a high school gymnast. He has just worked hard, and you can see the results. He is an amazing athlete."
Novakowski also got big performances from Viktor Kovalishin, who won the vault with a 9.40 and Paul Bonokollie, who won the pommel horse with a 9.30. Frankie Pharm (third on the rings), Shea Rudolph (fifth on the parallel bars) and Michael Yangas (fourth on the high bar) all helped the Hilltoppers to the team title with a score of 151.25.
"We had a good meet," Novakowski said. "Our goal is to go 30-for-30 before that state meet rolls around. That was a good score and we don't have our full lineup in. We didn't hit on all events, so that made it even better."
Novakowski also said that it was good to be in a meet that featured five teams that could be competing in the state finals four weeks from now at Hinsdale Central.
"It was great to see some of these teams again," Novakowski said. "We saw them earlier this year and it was great to get another look at them."
One of those teams that is hoping to challenge Glenbard West was Schaumburg, which finished second with a 148.65. Besides Hardin, the Saxons also had top-five finishers in Shane Donovan (fourth in floor), Alex Hernandez (third in pommel horse), Chasen Chau (fifth in pommel horse and third in parallel bars) and Dylan Mitchell (fourth on rings).
"We did a pretty nice job overall," Schaumburg coach Erik Bostrom said. "It was one of our higher scores, but we still left a fair enough of points on the floor."
Fremd finished third, just a hair behind Schaumburg with a 148.45.
Barnd led the way for the Vikings, winning the high bar with an 8.40 and was second on the pommel horse and fourth on the vault.
"I had a really good set on high bars," Barnd said. "Everything went pretty well. I had a few errors on pommel horse, but I was still able to get a good score."
Barnd also had huge help from Ryan Roth, who was second on the high bar and third on the floor. Chase Jauch finished sixth in the all-around while Daniel Classon was seventh.
"It was kind of what we expected," said Fremd coach Jason Loeffler, who was filling in for head coach Tim Hamman, who was called away due to a family emergency. "It is still kind of midway through the season, so we are still moving forward."
Buffalo Grove is on the upswing according to coach Zach Crandall. The Bison, who were buoyed by the performances by Leo Cuellar, Jack Delattre and Michael Trandicosta, finished fifth with a 138.95.
"It was our season high by about a point and half," Crandall said. "Our goal is to break 140 before the state meet and then see what happens from there."
Palatine, which finished sixth with a 134.80, was competing without two of its top all-arounders in Prakash Nigam and Chris Lunsford. But the Pirates got strong performances from Wang along with Jack Hallier and Brian Pazdioch.
The gutsiest and toughest performance of the night came from Naperville North's Yudai Okabe. The senior, who severely broke his leg earlier this year, scored a 9.00 on the rings, despite not being able to perform a formal dismount.
"He did a terrific job just being out there and competing," Naperville North coach Brad Foerch said. "We are hoping that he can heal even more before state."