North and Central Boys Gymnastics Compete at Conference as Kalabayda Shines in All-Around

Naperville North and Naperville Central compete at the Boys Gymnastics Independent Conference Championship at Lake Park. The two Naperville schools are present among seven area teams, including the defending champion Wheaton Co-Op. This highlight is sponsored by BMO.

Naperville North and Central boys gymnastics get the Independent Conference Championship underway on the floor

Let’s get right into it with the floor exercise. Here is Alex Realmuto of Naperville North in his effort. He comes back down the mat and lands an impressive flip, good to help him place ninth with an 8.4.

Here is Naperville Central’s Oscar Binkowski. In the second half of his routine, he spins and then sticks the first landing, before making one last effort down the mat. He scored an 8.7, good for sixthin the event.

Stas Kalabayda has a strong start to his floor routine. The Huskie sophomore placed highly a year ago, and the floor is just one of his high-placing events. He scored a 9.1, which was good for second place behind Wheaton’s Jack Ongstad.

Stas Kalabayda records the top score on the night on the pommel horse

In the Pommel Horse, Naperville North’s Albert Rustandi scored well for his team. The judges scored it a 7.5, landing Rustandi in seventh place.

Here is Kalabayda at the end of his pommel horse routine. There are no slip-ups from the sophomore as he lands cleanly for a score of 9.6, the highest score for any event on the night.

Just watch this effort from Kalabayda to win the Still Rings.

Binkowski put together some solid events to place eighth on the night, his best in the vault, where he lands in fourth place.

Patrick Malone adds a solid score for Wheaton’s team total with this vault jump. 8.85 and third place.

Jack Ongstad went toe-to-toe with Kalabayda all night, winning the vault with this jump and scoring a 9.3.

Wheaton Co-Op takes the conference title, and Kalabayda finishes tied for 1st in all-around

In the parallel bars, it was Kalabayda getting the edge with this routine… He tucks and flips right into a perfect landing for a 9.3 on the night.

Our last event of the night is the Horizontal bar. Kalabayda was the final competitor on the night, needing at least a 9.5 to tie Ongstad for the individual all-around win. Here at the finish, he soars high and nails the landing. He does score a 9.5 from the judges and takes home a share of first place.

Wheaton Co-Op won the team total with a 157.1. North came in second with a 141.040. Glenbard North finished third, and Lake Park rounded out the top four. Naperville Central placed fifth.