Ajani Leads Lincoln-Way to Gymnastics Sectional Crown

Even a so-so day for Lincoln-Way co-op's Ajani Cargle pushed him well ahead of the rest of the pack of high school gymnasts on Thursday.

Cargle was far from ecstatic about his performance during the Lincoln-Way East Sectional, but the standout junior still won pommel horse, parallel bars and high bar, and placed second on floor and vault. He also cruised to the all-around title with a 55.6, well ahead of the 51.7 posted by runner-up Billy Suta of Naperville North.

"I didn't like my performance," Cargle said. "I didn't get a 10 everywhere, so I can always do better. I didn't hit everything. Still rings didn't go too well. I could've done better on vault, but the other events besides high bar were OK."

Lincoln-Way won the sectional with a 160.8 and ensured its trip to the state finals next weekend at Lincoln-Way East. Naperville North was a distant second place with a 149.65 and Hinsdale Central took third place with a 140.9.

"I just wanted them to get through it," Lincoln-Way co-op coach Skip Adamson said. "It was not a good day, but Ajani was funny. He said, '160, huh?' and was surprised with how good the day was even though it was not a good day."

Lincoln-Way had three of the top five finishers in pommel horse, still rings and high bar and had two top finishers in the other three events.

Tyler Yost took third on high bar with an 8.8 and fourth on vault with a 9.3. Evan Hosman placed third on still rings with an 8.55 and fourth on high bar with an 8.75. Ryan Reif claimed second place on still rings with an 8.6 and fifth on parallel bars with an 8.7. Other top finishers for Lincoln-Way included Victor Valencia tying for third on floor with a 9.25, Jake Gratkowski capturing third on pommel horse with an 8.9 and Brandon Oboikovitz finishing fourth on pommel horse with an 8.

"Coach said we just need to stay on our feet and get through our routines without any falls," Yost said. "That's what we tried to do. We knew we'd have some errors—we always do—and we'll try to get that fixed up."

Andrew/District 230 co-op took seventh place with a 106.4. The team's lone all-arounder, Rod Haddad, took 10th place with a 32.35. Anthony Romito was 11th on still rings with a 7.2 and Andrew Gahan tied for 11th on vault with an 8.95.

The IHSA state boys gymnastics finals are scheduled for next weekend. The team competition will be held on Friday (May 13) and the individual championships will be Saturday (May 14).

Lincoln-Way has been the state runner-up for three consecutive years. It last won the title in 2006.

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