Victory kick-starts Glenbard West season

Alexander Demeris acknowledged that he didn't know where Glenbard West stood as it opened its season on Thursday at the 49th annual Vic Lesch Invitational in Carol Stream.

A couple hours later he knew when the junior was perched on top of the award stand as he led the Hilltoppers to victory.

"I didn't know where we were going to stand for the first meet, but we did pretty well," he said. "It's nice that we stood tall and know that we're not lacking behind anyone yet."

Since 1970, this invite has served as the season opener for its participating teams while offering a distinct competition and scoring.

Teams only had two gymnasts on each event - an optional all-arounder and a specialist - while 11 points were given to the winners, 9 for second place, 8 for third and all the way down to a single point for 10th place.

Glenbard West finished with 93.5 points to slip past runner-up York's 86 while Willowbrook was a distant third with a 52 among the seven-team field.

Demeris, the co-state champion on floor last year, didn't win the floor but won high bar, parallel bars, vault and pommel horse, placed second on still rings and floor and won the all-around with a 51.55. He was ninth in the state last year with a 52.85.

"I went to Aerial (his club) for a few months to stay in shape so I'd be ready," he said. "I've already increased my parallel bars routine start value so that's pretty good. It's now almost at a 10.

His 9.3 on the parallel bars was the highest score on any event.

While Demeris has been a fixture for the Hilltoppers the past two seasons, senior Abu Syed is a lesser known despite qualifying for state on still rings last year.

Now with a bigger role, Syed is already running with the opportunity. He took third on parallel bars while winning still rings.

"Last year we had a pretty solid senior class and with them leaving and now that I'm a senior, I feel I need to step up and fill that role now," he said. "Seeing how successful we were tonight, it feels pretty good. The team is counting on me to do it this year and I count on doing it."

Coley McArdle added a second-place finish on pommel horse for the Hilltoppers.

Junior Charlie Cripe's season debut was a strong one for York, helping the Dukes take second place as he took outright or tied for second place on vault, parallel bars and high bar and was third on still rings to post a 49.35 in the all-around.

"Things are coming back slowly but surely," Cripe said. "It's all coming back to me after being off. It's great to be back with all the guys. It's a lot of fun."

Cripe was pleased with his showing.

"I can't complain being second overall," he said. "It's tough to get back to doing consistent routines over and over again, because summer was just working on skills, so all-in-all I'm happy with the outcome today."

The Dukes were hit hard in the off-season with the loss of a few key contributors but are already receiving nice offerings from freshmen Patrick Kimbler and Nolan Fazzini.

Fazzini was third on pommel horse while Kimbler tied for second on vault and was third on floor.

"We don't have seniors like Kelvin Stevens from last year anymore so we need to train harder," Cripe said. "We need to do whatever we can to get that motivation out of us and make an impact this season."

Willowbrook junior Danny Saldana led the Warriors by tying for third place on floor.

Glenbard East took fourth place with 39 points. Matt Piszczek paced the Rams, taking third in the all-around while tying for second on vault and placing third on high bar.

Brandon Dao took third on floor to lead Glenbard North to sixth place with 26 points.

"I was just really nervous today for the first meet," he said. "I was excited to do my new routine, but I need to clean it up. By next week it should be better out there."

Addison Trail was fifth with 30.5 points. Jakub Sitko had the Blazers' top finish, taking fifth on parallel bars with a 7.55.

"We competed really well today," Addison Trail coach Mike Galfi said. "It's crazy to get ready for this meet and once you're set up it kick-starts everything else. We'll have this meet and one day at practice and then hit Glenbard West (on Saturday). It's a real fast start to the season, but gets guys moving in the right direction real quick."