Buffalo Grove was looking to win the Mid-Suburban League East title for the fourth year in a row at the conference gymnastics championships at Prospect High School on Friday night. But the team fell agonizingly short, losing to Hersey by 1.75 points.
“Overall, we had a strong meet, but there were a few major errors that really hurt us,” said Buffalo Grove head coach Zach Crandall.
It was the first MSL East conference victory for Hersey since 2001.
“The team was elated to be MSL East Division champions,” said Hersey head coach Dustin Berman. “(This is) a stepping stone for our improvement and gives the guys a goal for next week.”
The overall Mid-Suburban League winner was Fremd, which scored 143.3 points to win the west title and meet. Schaumburg was close behind (141.30) in second, followed by Palatine in third (138.85). Hersey was in fourth overall with 136.05, followed by Buffalo Grove in sixth, Prospect in seventh (133.0), Rolling Meadows in ninth (114.55) and Elk Grove in 11th (108.35).
Palatine sophomore Prakash Nigam won the overall title with an all-around score of 50.50. Fremd’s Eric Barnd was second (47.50) followed by Prospect’s Pat Backus in third (45.80), Hoffman Estates’ Bartosz Widelak in fourth (45.25) and Prospect’s Mark Larock in fifth (45.20).
“The team had their best meet of the season,” said Prospect head coach Randy Smith. “All four flipping vaulters landed their vaults, which helped the team reach their season high.”
On the individual apparatus, Buffalo Grove’s Matt Scislowski won the pommel horse for the second year in a row, with a career-best 8.85. Tyler Cho won the parallel bars, coming back from an early-season injury.
“He just came back to competing four events a couple of weeks ago,” Crandall said. “He was a 47 point all-arounder last year, and losing him in that position has been very difficult for our team. But it was very rewarding to see him do so well on Friday night at conference after missing almost the entire season.”
Cho, Scislowski and Justin Zyck earned all-conference honors for Buffalo Grove.
For Hersey, it was a balanced team effort that led to the victory, led by senior Eric Williams, who won the still rings, and junior Will Nicholson in the all-around.
“The boys competed hard but are confident in the next steps they know they need to take to stay competitive as the season and intensity progresses,” Berman said. “We know that we left a few points out there and are determined to get them back at sectionals.”
The next step for all the teams is the section meets, which start Thursday and will qualify both teams and individuals for the state championships.
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“Our goal from day one of the season has been to make state as a team,” Berman said. “We are as confident as ever, and the team is working diligently to deliver.”
Buffal Grove also knows what it wants to do.
“Our team goal at sectionals is to finish with our best performance of the year and to send as many individuals to the state meet as possible,” Crandall said, adding that he hopes to send seven.
For Prospect, the two all-around stars, Backus and Larock, are expected to qualify for the state meet again this year.
“We’re focusing on cleaning up the small stuff and working on our presentation,” Smith said.
Banowetz is a freelance reporter.