Boys Gymnastics: Jonah Hinz, strong floor fuel Palatine sectional victory

Updated: May 5, 2012 9:21PM

Palatine had a strong finish on the floor exercise which it used to beat Mundelein during Saturday’s Palatine sectional.

Mike Jankovec and Jonah Hinz tied for second on floor with a 9.65 and junior Austin Hoening contributed an 8.1 as the Pirates outlasted Mundelein, 152.85 to 150.4.

“We knew we had to have a very good floor if we wanted to win,” Palatine coach Scott Hagel said. “We had our top three guys really step up and get us the win.”

Hinz wasn’t just strong on floor as he placed second in four events and won parallel bars with a 9.35. He also won the all-around title with a 54.25.

“We were kind of nervous coming in because we hadn’t seen Mundelein yet,” Hinz said. “Overall I did pretty good. We’ve been working a lot on sticks in practice and overall I think it paid off.”

Pommel horse was arguably the biggest event that separated the top two teams as the Pirates scored 1.7 points higher than the Mustangs. Hinz led the way with a 9.35 while Lucas Price added a 7.5 and Matt Lee scored a 7.25.

Mundelein could qualify as an at-large team. Its 150.4 is the highest at-large score heading into the final sectional on Saturday evening. Cameron Mueller finished fourth in the all-around with a 50.05 and Colin McCarthy was second with a 52.65 to lead the Mustangs.

Mueller won still rings with a 9.3 while McCarthy won vault with a 9.5 and had a dazzling win on floor with a 9.9, tying his career best.

“I stuck almost everything and just had a few little hops that I have to work on,” McCarthy said. “As for vault, that was something else. I wasn’t expecting it, but was still able to pull it off.”

Stevenson freshman Arie Feltman-Frank won high bar with a 9.15 and was fifth in the all-around with a 49.35. Fremd’s C.J. Patton placed third in the all-around with a 50.55 and won pommel horse with a 9.55.

“I felt pretty confident and did the best I could,” Patton said. “The rest of my team did really well and I think that motivated me.”

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