Boys gymnastics: Wheaton wins first IHSGCA state meet

While boys gymnastics is no longer an IHSA sport in Illinois, there was a huge turnout for the inaugural IHSGCA boys state gymnastics meet Saturday afternoon at Hoffman Estates.

And Wheaton co-op saved its best performance of the season for that big stage as it dominated the 10-team field to soar to the state championship with 163.0 points.

Evanston took home the second-place trophy with 150.7 points while Glenbard West captured the third-place trophy with 149.4 points. Short-handed Lyons Township (144.85) took fourth place, and Downers Grove North (142.85) rounded out the top five teams.

Wheaton co-op's road to its fifth state title in school history was paved by junior all-around champion Jack Ongstad with 56.4 points (9.40 average) and junior teammate Patrick Malone (54.25 points) in fourth place overall.

Glenbard East's team did not qualify for state, but Vaden Srey (55.95 points) was very impressive for the Rams by taking runner-up honors in the all-around competition.

"It was our best meet of the year. From the first through the fifth guy all of them worked very hard and they build off of each other’s performances," said Wheaton co-op coach Greg Gebhardt, whose team won their first state title since 2014 with their second highest score in school history. "They compete as a team, and it takes a lot of pressure off of the last three guys when the first two guys come up and hit their routines to give them confidence."

Ongstad and teammate Joe Slaven (9.45) tied for first place on floor exercise while Ongstad and Srey (9.15) tied for first place on still rings. Srey just missed a perfect score with a 9.9 to win pommel horse while Ongstad won parallel bars with a 9.55. Malone was the high bar champ with a 9.3.

"I think the past couple of weeks we've been putting in the work and today it all came together," said Ongstad. "I think our best event was floor, and coming off of pommel horse everyone hit their routines so we felt really good."

Louie Diab was Glenbard West's top all-arounder in fifth place with 53.55 points followed by Downers Grove North's Jake Mateja (53.0) in sixth, Glenbard West's John Mammoser (52.6) in seventh, Lyons senior gymnast of the year Will Taylor (51.85) in eighth, Hinsdale Central's Marc Cihlar (50.55) in ninth, and Stevenson's Andrew Otgonbaatar (49.45) in 10th.

"We're extremely excited. We've been building for the last four years to get back to the state meet which was our No. 1 goal," said Glenbard West coach Carlos Fuentes, who is only the sixth coach in state history to win a state trophy in both boys and girls gymnastics. "The secondary goal would be the trophy, and with the boys pulling through and doing a nice job we were able to do that today with 10 different competitors contributing to that team score."

Naperville North was led by Jack Halama (49.3) in 11th overall followed by Maine East's Matt Hirstius (49.1) in 12th, Glenbard North's Willis Zuolys (48.2) in 13th, and Downers Grove North's Tomas Radzevicius (48.1) in 14th.

"Will Taylor had another great meet, and this was his second best meet," said Lyons coach Sam Zeman, whose team really missed Matt Adler, who was competing at nationals. "We were scoring 153 pretty consistently with Matt (Adler), but the guys had some rough spots on pommel horse today."

Saturday marked the first time since 1994 that Naperville Central (tied for eighth) qualified for the state meet. "We have good depth," said Naperville Central coach Dan Bajek. "The kids have been working out in the off-season and staying late after practice to work on their routines."

Malone thinks the team can be a title contender again next year, but they will have to replace some pieces.

"It's so much fun, and it's been a long time since we've been this good," said Malone. "We have three seniors graduating and we're going to miss them."