Pusateri powers shorthanded Patriots

Host Buffalo Grove had a case of the first-meet jitters Tuesday night as the Bison faced Stevenson in their opening meet of the 2008 boys gymnastics season.

Competing in their second dual meet, the Patriots had more than enough depth to capture a 117.3 to 111.2 non-conference victory, but Stevenson was competing without the services of elite sophomore all-arounder Lukasz Adamczyk again.

The Patriots (2-0) were led by junior Bryan Pusateri, who rolled to the all-around championship with a 47.9 composite (7.983 average).

The Bison had a solid performance from senior Jason Siebert, who placed second in the all-around with a 7.35 average.

"Based on what we did tonight I'm very pleased, and our freshman Mike Wilner is looking very good," said Stevenson coach Mike Farina, whose team scored 25.5 on both floor and vault. "We want to put a full lineup in and I'm hoping within a week or two we get everybody in."

Adamczyk placed fourth in the state on pommel horse and 17th in the all-around last year as a freshman. He's expected to start competing for the Patriots at 100-percent strength in the near future.

Pusateri made state on parallel bars and vault in 2007, and Tuesday he shined on floor exercise with a first-place mark of 9.3. Pusateri added a winning score of 9.0 on still rings.

"I started off the season with some injuries, but I think our team will progress and get better when we work some things out," said Pusateri, who hit a second-place 8.8 on vault. "I hope I make state on floor exercise, vault, and still rings at least. Those are the events I want to focus on."

Buffalo Grove's Steve Dugan soared to a title on vault with a 9.4, while Siebert placed third on vault with an 8.7.

Dugan took runner-up honors on floor with a 9.1 to outdistance Siebert (8.3) in third and Stevenson junior Bryan Epstein (8.2) in fourth.

Siebert was the parallel bars champion with an 8.8, while Pusateri captured first place on pommel horse a 7.1. Wilner placed fourth on vault with an 8.5.

"It was a real eye-opener to see the things we need to work on, but we still showed a lot of potential on our weaker events tonight," said Buffalo Grove coach Chris Stevens, whose team scored 26.3 on vault. "Jason Siebert had a personal-best with an 8.8 on parallel bars, and overall I thought floor exercise (24.9) was a good event for us."