Boys Gymnastics: Ajani Cargle leads Lincoln-Way to Hinsdale Central title

Lincoln-Way Co-op realizes it has to replace several scores if it’s going to defend last year’s boys gymnastics state title.

It certainly helps though when you have the reigning all-around champion in senior Ajani Cargle.

Cargle led Lincoln-Way to victory in Friday’s third annual Krupicka Invitational at Hinsdale Central, winning the all-around with a 56.4. He also registered eye-popping winning efforts on still rings with a 9.7 and pommel horse with a 9.8, as well as a 9.4 on parallel bars.

Lincoln-Way finished comfortably ahead of runner-up Hinsdale Central, 147.45-137.8.

“I can do better because I had a few falls here and there,” Cargle said. “I definitely can improve with a little more practice.”

Victor Valencia added a 9.5 on floor and 8.7 on parallel bars, Brandon Oboikovitz contributed a 7.7 on pommel horse and Zach Beecher had a 7.5 on still rings for the winners.

“They are piecing stuff together but aren’t hitting yet what they need to,” Lincoln-Way coach Skip Adamson said. “They’re starting to get hungry and they now know what they have to do to step up.”

Mundelein’s Colin McCarthy won horizontal bar with an 8.8 and the floor exercise with a 9.7. He took second in the all-around with a 51.8.

“Even though floor was my first event of the night, I felt pretty good on it,” McCarthy said. “I was pretty happy with it.”

Fresh off his performance in a school production of Les Miserables, Hinsdale Central’s Tyler Leahy made his season debut, placing third in the all-around with a 50.1. The defending state vault champion also won vault on Friday with a 9.4.

“It had been a while since I’d done it and it wasn’t one of my best ones,” Leahy said. “Still, I’m happy to put my name down as one of the champions for this meet which is very cool.”

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