Conant, Prospect hope to challenge Palatine
The 2007 season was historic for Palatine boys gymnastics.
Not only did the Pirates make their first state meet in school history, they also set a school record of 159.8 while winning the state title.
Led by senior Matt Eckardt, the two-time Mid-Suburban League champs will look to pick up where they left off.
"We just want to continue what we started last year," Eckardt said. "We lost a lot of our good people, but we're trying to fill in the gaps wherever we can and continue on."
Perhaps the biggest question mark for the Pirates is depth. After graduating five key contributors, Palatine needs several inexperienced gymnasts to emerge.
"Our goal this season is to improve upon our depth to take pressure off our bigger scorers," said Palatine coach Scott Hagel.
Senior Danny Weiss, along with juniors Andrew Gatorano and Luke Schuster return with state experience for the Pirates, which posted an impressive 156.1 in its season-opening meet.
Conant will try to end Palatine's five-year run on top of the Mid-Suburban West with a nice blend of talent and experience. Potential all-around standouts include senior captain John Snyder, as well as sophomore Anthony Crivolio and freshman Steven Rink.
The Cougars are very strong in the vault, with junior Clinton Martin returning with state experience in that event and floor. Seniors Frank Gottardo and Pranav Shastry will also be key contributors.
"(Our) goal is to make it (to state) as a team," Conant coach Paul Kim said. "We have a long ways to go. But if we all progress like we want, we should contend to be in the top 15 in state and inch toward at an at-large bid."
Prospect is the favorite in the East. Knights' fans should be optimistic after coach Pat Kivland saw plenty of room for growth after a strong early-season performance.
"What we're seeing now is that they're scoring very well," said Kivland. "We looked very sloppy (Tuesday) and had a lot of misses and problems. To have those kind of problems and still score 144.8 is pretty good."
Chris Mattes returns as the Knights' top all-around scorer with two years of state pommel experience and Joe Napoleon is close behind, while John Daoud will be a force in the vault. Kivland added an impressive group of sophomores that could produce several key contributors later in the season.
Barrington has a younger team with sophomore Kellen O'Connor as the team's likely high scorer. O'Connor took third in the state in floor last year while becoming first freshman to make a final event in school history.
Broncos coach Rob DeFano believes his team, led by seniors Sudeep Soni and Kenny Park and junior Jason Paz, could be scoring around 130 by the end of the season.
Fremd is a wild card after finishing in eighth place at state last year. First-year head coach Tim Hamman will be counting on a plethora of sophomores, including floor standout Dante Digangi. Hamman will lean heavily on senior vault stud Keith English and hopes to have his team in the 140s by late April.
Buffalo Grove coach Chris Stevens would like to see a 125-point meet. Stevens is impressed with senior Jason Siebert's all-around improvement and thinks senior Zack Zumbrock could qualify for state on floor and vault.
Schaumburg coach Howard Rubin is looking for steady improvement. Junior Stephen Long returns with state experience on floor and will be joined by 11 upperclassmen on the varsity squad.
Elk Grove is loaded with specialists, led by seniors Eric Ciesielski and Ed Hwang on pommel. Juniors Kamil Nytko and Mike Jachura will be joined by freshman Damian Zukowski as all-arounders.
Hoffman Estates will try to fill more requirements this year and improvements from seniors James Lee and Mark Rogalski, along with junior Justin Price, should help. Hawks coach Scott Phillips is encouraged by the hard work that his team is putting in.
Hersey will be led by seniors Juan Cervantes, John Duchek and Paul Londos. Huskies coach Mason Vernon is also excited about the progress of sophomore Kevin Snodgrass.
Wheeling, which normally has a co-op agreement with Hersey, will be on the sidelines after the necessary paperwork was not filed, according to Vernon.
Senior captain Riley Albers leads Rolling Meadows, which could receive a boost from freshman Marc Herff and junior Mike Medsker.