Boys gymnastics: Mundelein, Hersey finished 2-3 behind Deerfield at York

It was a pretty grueling weekend for the Mundelein boys gymnastics team.

But after scoring 146 points at the Lake Park Invitational on Friday night, the Mustangs started to run out of gas a little bit Saturday afternoon at the 39th Annual Ken Scorza Invite hosted by York.

The battle for the first-place trophy still turned out to be a very close one as Deerfield held off Mundelein 144.35 to 143.45 for the championship of this solid 10-team meet.

Like the Mustangs, Hersey fell well short of its season-high mark of 147.5, established two weeks ago. But the Huskies were more than consistent enough to capture third place with 143 points even.

Downers Grove South toppled the host Dukes 136.4 to 132.8 for fourth place while Stevenson (125.95 points) edged Glenbard East (124.95) for sixth place.

Glenbard South placed eighth with 119.85 points followed by Rolling Meadows (93.3) in ninth.

Like the team challenge, the battle for first place in the all-around competition was also a good one with Stevenson junior Matt Krames (49.85, 8.31 average) holding off Mundelein senior Brandon Swanson (49.4, 8.23 average) for the crown.

Hersey was led by all-arounder Matt Phelps (48.95 points) in fourth place overall while Mundelein junior Greg Godellas (47.3) placed sixth overall.

"You could tell the guys were a little fatigued today, but the guys got through it and competed well," said Mundelein coach Jesse Piland, whose team was impressive on pommel horse with 25.15 points. "We didn't have a perfect meet on any one event, but we had two meets back-to-back and we managed to stay healthy."

Besides Phelps, Hersey also got a seventh-place finish from Will Nicholson (46.65) in the all-around and a 10th from teammate Jon Phelps (45.0) overall.

"The boys competed well, they worked hard to get where they're at, and they have extremely high goals for themselves," said Hersey coach Dustin Berman, whose program has not reached the Elite Eight meet since the early 2000's. "They're goal is to make it to state, they have the pieces, they have the commitment, and now they have to go out there and perform."

After scoring the second highest all-around score of his career with 50.4 points in a home meet on Tuesday, Krames was still very sharp on Saturday as his performance included a career-high 9.5 for first place on vault. Krames was also the parallel bars champion with an 8.75.

"Our high bar scores were a little bit lower (than Tuesday), but Krames had a great meet," said first-year Stevenson coach Joe Rogalski, whose team scored 25.3 points on floor exercise. "We had two guys get new requirements on parallel bars and that boosted their scores by a point and a half a point, so that was good for the team."

Glenbard East was led by the all-around duo of senior Matt Le (43.05) in 17th overall followed closely by Marc Le (42.6) in 18th.

"Francis Nguyen (five events) has not competed in the last four meets so it will be nice to get him back," said Glenbard East coach Bruce Beiersdorf, whose team scored 25.2 points on floor. "Today they (Le brothers) looked tired after competing at Lake Park last night, but Matt looked really strong on still rings and that is his strongest event."

"Marc's best event is high bar, and he is doing a great job for us on that event," added Beiersdorf. "Andrew Honig's strongest event is floor exercise, and the floor team today all scored in the eight's."

Glenbard South was led by Neil Livingston (41.45), who placed 19th overall.

"He (Livingston) is a great guy to have as a gymnast, and he's very fun to have in the gym," said Glenbard South coach Lee Wood. "We got invited to this meet six days ago, and we're the smallest school here. So it's tough when you're a quarter the size or a third the size of the other schools."

Godellas was easily the pommel horse champ with a 9.1 while Krames placed second on floor with a 9.2. Nicholson was the runner-up on pommel horse with an 8.4 while Swanson placed second on high bar with an 8.1.

Jon Phelps captured third on vault with a 9.3 and third on floor with a 9.1 while Mundelein's Yanni Wiechering (8.3) placed third on p-horse. Matt Phelps added a third-place (8.3) on rings while Livingston (8.55) placed third on p-bars.