Boys gymnastics: Meadows' Kowalski, Schaumburg tops at MSL meet
Reading is power. Just ask Rolling Meadows' Ben Kowalski.
After winning the Mid-Suburban League boys gymnastics all-around title a year ago, Kowalski picked up a few books.
"I read all the gymnastics' rule books I could find," said Kowalski, who is a senior this year.
"I wanted to know what all the start values and what all the deductions were. I added up my best skills and I tried to perfect them to the best routine I can. And then I came in this past summer and winter and fall and worked on them."
That melding of prose to practice proved to be hugely successful for Kowalski. He won the conference all-around title for the second consecutive year Friday at Buffalo Grove with a score of 54.20.
Kowalski also won the pommel horse with a 9.40, the high bar with a 9.00 and tied Schaumburg's Brandon Nyborg on the floor with a 9.45.
"He is very hard on himself," Rolling Meadows coach Michael Costa said. "When he comes off an event and he does a bad job he has to process it and absorb it and clear the clutter. He has done a better job of cleaning the clutter."
Hersey's Garrett Naughton was second in the all-around with a 54.05 and teammate Matt Bednar was third with a 53.95.
"It was a pretty good meet for me," said Naughton, who won the parallel bars with a 9.50.
"I hit everything. I have to do some work on the rings but everything else I can't complain."
Also not complaining was Bednar, who was proud of his third-place finish.
"I was really happy with the meet," Bednar said. "I hit every event. I'll take a third place any day, especially with the quality of all-arounders in this competition."
Schaumburg's Brandon Nyborg couldn't be happier as well.
Nyborg has been either sick or injured all season and had not competed in the all-around. He competed in all six events on Friday, winning three of them and finished fourth in the all-around with a 53.45.
"It was a lot more fun to compete in every event," said Nyborg, who in addition to tying Kowalski for top honors on the floor, won rings with a 9.10 and the vault with a 9.50.
"It is exhilarating. So much so that I am not going to sleep tonight. I am just so adrenaline-boosted right now," he said.
His Saxons teammate Oscar Kulesza finished fifth in the all-around with a 52.55.
That duo, along with Trever Baynes, helped Schaumburg win the team title with a score of 152.45. What was even more impressive is that the Saxons did it without third all-arounder Nathan Frank, who was home sick.
"There was a little more of strict score since there were two judges," Schaumburg coach Erik Bostrom said. "So you kind of know where you are with four eyes on each routine."
Kowalski, along with Ryan Rettig, Justin Kurak and Mikail Dukes helped lead Rolling Meadows to a second-place finish with a 149.95.
"We are getting there," Costa said. "Justin is still at 60 percent. If we can get him to 80 percent by next week we can do much better."
Hersey finished third with a 149.00.
"Our two all-arounders did real well," Hersey coach Jon Yun said. "We left some scores out there."
Palatine, which was led by Trey Wilcox and Dominic Filichia, was fourth with a 144.47. Buffalo Grove, led by Jesus Vizcarra and Ben Goldberg, was fifth with a 138.45.
Sectional competition begins next week with the MSL teams competing at various locations with at least eight teams in each sectional.
Buffalo Grove is at Lyons on Tuesday. Barrington and Fremd are at Libertyville on Wednesday. Palatine is at Glenbrook North on Thursday. Schaumburg hosts Conant, Hoffman Estates and Rolling Meadows on Friday. Hersey hosts Prospect and Elk Grove on Saturday.