We travel to Wheaton Warrenville South for the Independent Conference Championship with 13 teams in attendance including our very own Naperville Central and Naperville North.
Pommel Horse
We start first with hosts Wheaton Co_ops Cade Houlihan on the Pommel Horse. Once he starts, there is no stopping him, rotating around the horse, not stopping at all as he moves to one side, continuing the rotations. He lands the dismount, grabbing him an 8.35 and third place overall.
Two placements behind him is Lake Parks Louie Ranieri. He’s showing off his felxibilty as he rocks back and fourth before completely switching and then continuing the movements. Before the dismount, he shows off his strength with the push up hand stand and a stuck landing for an 8.05 and fifth place.
Floor
We find Jeremy Venegas on floor for the redhawks. His first pass holds a front half twisting layout. Little later he shows his strength with the push up handstand… a lot more difficult than it looks and he holds it, showing his balance. Final pass is a round off back tuck. He finishes with a 7.1
North’s Michael Hunter Jr’s turn on floor and his first pass is something else: a front bunch, round off, back handspring double tuck. He touches the floor but shakes it off. He then goes immediately into a standing layout to his hands and then into a press up, he gets 9th on floor with 8.75.
Still Rings
We stick with North but move to the rings. Gavin Shipp going straight to work with the iron cross…. Extremely difficult. For the dismount, A half twist landing him a 7.05 score.
Horizontal Bar
Back to Naperville Central on the Horitzontal Bar. Kyle Gunter starting his routine working up momentum before flipping around and grabbing hold again! For the dismount, he lets himself fly into a back tuck and applause from his team for a 6.95 score.
Parallel Bars
Back with the Huskies and All-around competitor Eric Loid on the Parallel Bars. He swings up and starts his routine, holding his legs up in a V formation… again showing flexibility and strength. Little later in the routine, he stops his momentum in a hand stand position and then rocks out a full twisting dismount for an 8.3 and 7th place.
Vault
Huskie Michael Hunter Jr would also land a 9.225 on vault and 2nd place with his double layout helping the huskies to fourth place in the championship.
Final Results
Top performer and team on the day though would be Libertyville. Matthew Richardson on the High bar would grab first place with a score of 9.25. He also grabbed first on the Pommel Horse, floor, Parallel Bars and the All-Around which obviously pushed the team to the first place trophy with 157.9 points.
