Willowbrook girls badminton team sending two to state
Addison Trail boys gymnast Kominowski qualifies for state.
By Mike Miazga
Correspondent
The Willowbrook girls badminton team placed second at the recent Hinsdale South sectional.
The Warriors had 11.5 points, while host Hinsdale South won the sectional title with 17 points.
Willowbrook did qualify two players for this weekend’s state finals meet in Charleston.
Senior Grace Chantos took second in the singles division, while sophomore teammate Hanna Konrath took third.
Chantos won her first match 21-12, 21-16 and then won her second contest 21-14, 21-13 before losing to Hinsdale South in the sectional-championship match.
Konrath won her first match 21-7, 21-6 and then lost to Hinsdale South in the second round. She came back to score a 21-7, 21-13 win in her third match and then defeated another player from Hinsdale South 22-20, 21-15 for third place.
Willowbrook boys gymnastics
The Willowbrook boys gymnastics team took sixth at the recent Glenbard West sectional. The Warriors finished with a 127.650 team score.
The Warriors did not have any automatic state individual qualifiers. The list of at-large state qualifiers was to be released earlier in the week.
In other recent action, the Warriors took third at the West Suburban Conference Gold Division meet.
Willowbrook’s JV team won the conference title by 15 points.
At the varsity level at conference, Zack Zeffiro tied for third on floor at 9.2. Matt Barrantes was fourth on pommel horse with a 7.2, while Nick Donaldson took fifth at 6.9.
Donaldson was seventh on rings with a 7.1. Zeffiro tied for fourth on vault with an 8.35. Isaiah Lewis was eighth on vault at 7.95, while Dylan Leska was ninth at 7.7.
On parallel bars, Miguel Portilla tied for third at 7.45 and Matt Smith was eighth at 7.1. On horizontal bar, Portilla was third at 7.2 and Smith took sixth at 6.6, while Leska was 10th at 5.7.
At JV Conference, Matt Foley won the floor exercise with an 8.55. Saad Omar won pommel horse with a 6.4 Brendan Bailey won still rings at 6.8. Foley won vault with a 7.2, while Bailey won parallel bars with a 7.55. Bailey also won the horizontal bar at 5.4. Bailey also won the all-around competition with a 39.95. Sean Luner was second at 35.85.
In other recent action, the Warriors dropped a 151.4-135.0 WSC Gold meet to Downers Grove South and also lost 137.8-129.0 to Hinsdale South. Both Willowbrook’s JV and freshman teams won both meets to stay undefeated in conference.
“Our team mainly is just trying to clean up the routines we have now,” said Willowbrook coach Caleb Strejc after his team had competed in the conference meet. “We really need to work on sticking landings on floor passes and then dismounts on everything. That has been a weakness this year. Only a few guys will be adding new skills to routines (at sectionals), mostly on high bar.”
Strejc said the team improved throughout the season on parallel-bar routines. “I have seen specific growth in the execution of the guys’ parallel routines,” he said. “They have gotten much better at that and cleaner, resulting in higher scores.”
The Warriors also have excelled on floor and vault. “Floor and vault continue to be bright spots,” said Strejc. “Most guys consistently hit their floor routines and score in the 8s and Zack has been getting in the 9s sometimes. Also, vault is a bright spot with the difficulty of the skills, but guys haven’t been landing consistently. Once they all land though, it will be a really great vault team score.”
Strejc said he’s quite proud of his roster for stepping up when needed. “So many guys are able to step up and fill spots on varsity and JV when we need them,” he said. “I have not been able to have consistent lineups this year because of a lot of sickness, injuries and other random reasons, but there always have been guys who are working hard and ready to compete.”
Bailey has made strides with his parallel bar routine. “His routine over the past few weeks has been extremely consistent and clean and he actually would have gotten third place if he would have competed varsity for conference,” the coach pointed out. “He will be a huge asset to the p-bar sectional team as a sophomore.”
Sophomore Isaiah Lewis also was praised for his recent excellence. “Isaiah has been working extremely hard on floor and vault,” said Strejc. “He improved his vault score by getting a flipping vault which makes him a very important part of our vault team.”
Strejc has no qualms about the effort he’s received and the progress he’s witnessed this season. “Each season is different, but I have really loved the tenacity the guys have shown this year having to step up and build a new team identity as we move forward from last season,” he said. “The progress has been good as guys improve their gymnastics by getting better form and execution, which will make transitioning to harder skills a lot easier over the off-season and leading into next year.”
Addison Trail boys gymnastics
The Addison Trail boys gymnastics team was seventh at the recent Glenbard West sectional.
The Blazers finished with a team score of 126.750.
Addison Trail senior Alex Kominowski earned an automatic state-qualifying bid after taking second on floor exercise with a 9.350 score.
The state at-large qualifiers were to be announced earlier this week.
