Naperville Central duo reach award stand at state

Naperville Central’s Ryan Durkin and Dom Delgrosso didn’t stick around for the end of Saturday’s IHSA boys gymnastics individual event championships at Hinsdale Central.

Perhaps they rushed off to celebrate.

Competing for the final time in his career, Dom Delgrosso took third place in the floor exercise with a 9.35.

“He wanted to get third place,” Naperville Central coach Glen Reimers said. “He had that as a goal and talked about it during the season. For him to get that was very exciting for him. He was very happy.”

Durkin also was called to awards stand, placing fourth on pommel horse with a 9. It was a vast improvement over the 8.05 he received on Friday, after he had to count a fall.

“Being that young, it says a lot, even though he’s been in club,” Reimers said. “But it’s not the same as being in the state meet. That’s an overwhelming feeling but he didn’t let it affect him.”

It has been a while since a Naperville Central gymnast had been called to award stand, as Durkin and Delgrosso became the first Redhawks to enjoy the honor since Keith Lage in 2008. Lage took third in the all-around that year at Barrington, tying for first place on floor, winning still rings outright and placing second on high bar.

“I was ecstatic with those guys,” Reimer said. “It couldn’t have happened to two greater guys, especially for Dom. He’s always wanted to be in the finals, especially on floor, so to get that chance in his senior year and final meet, that was pretty exciting.”

Both gymnasts had mixed feeling about their results during Friday’s all-around competition as Durkin took tenth and Delgrosso was 13th. Reimers made sure to emphasize that Saturday was a brand new day and the focus was solely on individual events.

“I asked those guys, ‘You expect to be the top in the all-around?’ ” he said. “I told them to get ready and to try to get into the finals. Both of them were able to do it and had a great meet.”