Boys gymnastics: Demeris sets tone for Glenbard West

Alexander Demeris had the kind of meet that most high school gymnasts could only dream about during Saturday's prestigious Dave Donaldson Invitational.

The Glenbard West junior won three events as well as the all-around, but he's dreaming of even bigger and better things from himself and his fellow Hilltoppers, who finished in fourth place as a team.

Lyons Twp. edged Glenbrook North 153.475 to 152.85 for the team title. The hosts were third with 144.75 points. The Hilltoppers finished with 143.5 points.

"There were definitely high-level teams and it wasn't our best meet, like yesterday where we scored (seven points) higher," he said. "It just goes to show that we need to be more consistent as a team so we can score higher and put ourselves in a position to qualify for state."

Glenbard West scored 150.65 points during Friday's Ed Raymond Invitational at Conant so there was quite a dropoff. Coach Frank Novakowski set up the team's schedule this way to prepare them for what lies ahead in the state tournament, something he's done for a few years now.

"One of the reasons we got into Conant was so they'd have an idea of what the state meet is like," Novakowski said. "So it's a learning experience that you can't coast on that second day."

Demeris won the floor exercise, pommel horse and parallel bars. Len Phuong took third place on still rings and Coley McArdle was seventh on pommel horse for the Hilltoppers.

"It wasn't our best meet, but we still ended up fourth and we know our scores can go up higher," Demeris said. "I didn't have a good start on vault and high bar, but I ended up doing well in the all-around so I was glad I was able to work it out."

Cade Houlihan won high bar, took second on pommel horse and was second in the all-around to lead Wheaton Warrenville co-op to third place.

"Winning high bar is a pretty good feeling because you know your hard work is paying off and there were a lot of talented high bar kids here tonight," he said. "I'm not sure if some guys didn't have their best, but it was one of my better nights and having success is always a good feeling."

Marty Franz added a sixth-place finish on still rings and Rodrigo Ruiz was seventh on parallel bars for Wheaton co-op.

"I added a new skill so I was very pleased with my routine," Ruiz said. "The whole team is working really hard. Everybody is focused and knows what they have to do."

Wheaton co-op, like other teams in the state, knows time is running out in the regular season.

"We've kicked it up in the past week or so and trying to become more consistent," Houlihan said. "With two judges on every event, this meet told us a lot as far as where we're at right now. It wasn't our greatest meet, but I was pretty happy with how we did and we're going to keep on working."

Timothy Christian's Scotty Schnurr placed in the top five in all but parallel bars and high bar, while taking fourth place in the all-around with a 50.95. The junior did all that after rushing to Wheaton after taking the ACT.

"It was a long day and I was definitely feeling it in my leg," Schnurr said. "I broke it last year and it didn't fully heal because I didn't catch it for three months. Today was OK. I took out my giant on rings so that was pretty clean but overall things were pretty average."

Lake Park was seventh with a 131.5. Matt Scimeca and Louie Ranieri finished 2-3 on floor behind Demeris.

Glenbard North was ninth with a 121.65. Brandon Dao led the Panthers, tying for eighth place on high bar and taking ninth on parallel bars.

Naperville Central placed 11th with 101.05 points.

Hinsdale South's Anthony Anderson took second on vault while Hinsdale Central's Matthew Cihlar was eighth in the all-around with a 48.8 for the Red Devils who took fifth place with a 135.05.