Boys gymnastics is back on the mats with Naperville North welcoming Lake Park for the first head-to-head matchup of the year. The Huskies won the Lake Park President’s Cup Invitational over the weekend to kick off a new season. Standout Stas Kalabayda is back for his junior season with the Huskies. This highlight is sponsored by BMO.
The floor exercise gets things underway with North taking its turn. Matthew Faust with a nice back handspring tuck, which helps to a score of 8.0 to start his night.
Stas Kalabayda impresses the crowd right from the start
Lake Park gets a solid performance on the floor from Aiden Rex. His high-octane routine earns an 8.70, which leads the Lancers.
Stas Kalabayda heads down the runway with back-to-back flips, the second one lands after a twist. He then shows his strength and poise with a handstand before calmly wrapping up the routine, impressing the judge to the tune of 9.50, the top score for any event in the meet.
Kalabayda looks to keep rolling on the pommel horse, where he recovers nicely from a slight early stumble, spinning his body low over the horse and the handles before lifting into a handstand and the dismount. His 9.0 leads all scores in the challenging event.
Over to the still rings, where North captain Finn Coyle shows his strength, holding his positions until he uses a twisting dismount. A 6.20 for the Huskie on the rings. He also finishes second on the team in the all-around.
Lake Park is once again led by Aiden Rex, who uses a double backflip tuck on the dismount and lands with just a small stumble. That tops the Lancers with a 6.60.
Albert Rustandi fires up the Huskies
Another Naperville North captain, Albert Rustandi, takes his turn on the rings and gets the Huskies on a roll. He lands the double back and is fired up at the performance, which scores a 7.90, the best in the event.
Another Lancer with a strong performance is Patrick Paulish, as he gets high on his vault attempt and hits the back tuck. An 8.50 leads Lake Park on the vault.
Alex Realmuto from North takes his turn down the runway and lands a similar vault to Paulish, earning an 8.10 for the effort, the second-best score for the Huskies behind Stas Kalabayda with an 8.90.
To the parallel bars, where Kalabayda continues his big night with another score of 8.90. He puts the strength and poise back on display with a handstand on the bars and a double back tuck on the dismount for another first-place finish.
Albert Rustandi continues to perform well as he takes his turn on the parallel bars. A handstand before flipping down to the floor wraps up an 8.20 routine. A minor hand injury prevents him from competing in the horizontal bar later in the night.
Alex Realmuto is up next, swinging his way between the bars before a twisting dismount to the mat below. The sophomore earns an 8.30.
Patrick Paulish once again leads the way for Lake Park with his bars routine, scoring an 8.20. Paulish also ends the night as the all-around winner with a total score of 46.50.
A balanced effort leads Naperville North to victory
Realmuto is the top all-around performer for the Huskies, ending the night well on the horizontal bar with a 7.90 as he spins his way down with a somersault tuck. His all-around score settles at 45.50.
Kalabayda does not compete in the still rings, making him ineligible for the all-around, but he does cap off a great meet on the horizontal bar. He gathers momentum for a dazzling three rotation dismount as he lands on his feet to the delight of the crowd and teammates. A 9.0 to wrap up a Naperville North victory over Lake Park with a team total of 140.90 to 125.20.
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