York opens season with Lesch win

Riding a pair of first-place finishes from Christian and Kyle Carmona, York opened its boys gymnastics season on a winning note, capturing top honors Friday night at the 38th annual Vic Lesch Invitational at Glenbard South.

It was the third consecutive year that the Dukes, who scored 99.5 points, have won the invitational. Glenbard North was second (80), Addison Trail third (73) and Glenbard West a distant fourth (39).

The format for the meet allows each team to have two gymnasts compete in each of the six events and placement points are awarded.

Kyle Carmona won on pommel horse and high bar, while Christian Carmona won on floor and parallel bars. The win on parallel bars was especially sweet because it marked the fourth consecutive year that Christian Carmona has won the event. York also received a second-place finish on still rings from sophomore Caleb Strejc.

"It was a little rough and not our best effort, but we tried some things and some other guys," York coach Rich Larsen said. "We're seeing some awfully good scores already so we've got to get in shape faster."

The second-place finish by Glenbard North was solid for a variety of reasons.

Erik Mikkelson won vault, Ryan Wiser tied for second on vault, Tyler DeAnda finished second on high bar and pommel horse and freshman Ryan Kennedy tied for fifth on high bar.

"We had an OK start," Glenbard North coach Edsel Clark said. "Some highlights were (Tyler) DeAnda on high bar, both Tylers (DeAnda and Arl) on bars and the freshman (Kennedy) finished fifth on high bar."

Mikkelson, whose vault was far from perfect, felt bittersweet about taking first place.

"I was off on my vault and could've done a lot better," he said. "I won, and that was a surprise, but I would feel a lot better if I would've been clean."

The performances of Calvin Cheney and Nick Ostapa carried Addison Trail into third place. Ostapa was the lone all-around competitor during the invitational. He won still rings with an 8.4.

"It's good to get this first one out of the way," Ostapa said. "We still have a lot of work and cleaning up to do, but it was nice to come out and do pretty well."

Cheney finished second on floor and third on parallel bars and still rings.

Glenbard East's Ralph Borromeo was the Rams' lone top-five finisher. The senior took second on parallel bars with an 8.5.

Glenbard West senior Greg Mladucky finished third on pommel horse and tied for fourth on vault.