Downers Grove South having some fun

Jeff Maples remembers his brother joining the Downers Grove South boys gymnastics team and having a fantastic experience.

Now he's the one having the fun.

Maples and the Mustangs had a big night in just their second meet of the season, outscoring host Glenbard South, 114 to 58.3 on Monday night in Glen Ellyn.

"It was an amazing night," he said. "I was really impressed with every event and with my form. I was able to work through things even when things didn't go right. On high bar I had a couple of mess-ups and still was able to get my routine down and get through it and I was really happy with my highest score yet."

Maples placed second on floor, parallel bars and high bar and tied for third on vault.

"I came in freshman year and was brand new, but my brother (Joe) did it in high school all four years," he said. "I felt it was really cool to be able to do flips on different apparatus so I thought I would join."

Freshman Miguel Figueroa, who came into high school with some gymnastics experience, was the lone all-arounder for either team, scoring a 36.6. He had the top scores on parallel bars and high bar.

"Tonight was fun," he said. "I enjoyed it, especially rings and parallel bars although I scared myself a little bit with my dismounts."

Kelby Martinek said that the success was contagious as the Mustangs had an excellent night overall.

"I thought it as a pretty good night for the whole team," he said. "I've been improving a lot and we're all working on getting better."

Julian Perez, who won still rings for the Mustangs, said he and his fellow teammates are seeing their hard work pay off.

"I got my highest scores so I'm very glad about that," he said. "I'm feeling more confident and I feel a lot better doing these harder skills. I've actually gotten pretty good at some of my routines. Last year we didn't do that great, but this year we're working a lot harder for sure."

The Raiders are also working hard, but there simply aren't enough of them healthy to fill an actual lineup. Vault was the only event that Glenbard South had three competitors and they only had Antonio Carter on floor and still rings and no one on high bar.

"We have another guy coming back later this week and all-arounder (Mark Johnson), he's a really awesome gymnast, but he broke his hand in a freak accident on vault the night before the season started."

Carter competed in meets last Thursday and Friday and didn't have practice over the weekend so he hasn't had a chance to really recover and correct some things. Still, he won floor and vault and is easing his way back toward being an all-arounder again.

"Tonight was better than I expected," Carter said. "Floor was good. I just didn't throw a couple of tricks because I was nervous of what was going on today and then vault, I could've done so much better by sticking it, but it is what it is."

Josh Mozockie won pommel horse for the Raiders, while Val Saboriendo placed third.

Sean Joyce added a third-place effort on floor and tied for third on vault for the Mustangs while Jimmy Riedel was third on high bar and Doug Schumacher took third on parallel bars.