Chris Rediehs leads Lyons to sectional title

Lyons junior Chris Rediehs admits that he wasn’t very good on parallel bars when he first entered the doors of his school in LaGrange. Boy, has that changed. Inspired by his dad, John, who was dominant on parallel bars many years ago at Lyons, Rediehs was easily the top parallel bars performer during Friday’s Lyons Sectional, winning the event with a 9.45, one of his four wins in leading Lyons to the title with 156.050 points. Lyons advances to next weekend’s state finals at Hinsdale Central. “I’ve always liked p-bars, but when I started in high school, I wasn’t very good at them,” Rediehs said. “My dad was pretty amazing on them so I think that inspired me.” Rediehs appeared inspired with a state trip on the line, winning the all-around title with a 54.05, sneaking past Niles West sophomore Dalai Jamiyankhuu’s 53.4. “We had a lot of confidence being here at home and got on a nice roll on high bar,” Rediehs said. “It really helps when you’re confident. We started off well and just kept going and we did that for most of tonight.” Victories on vault with a 9.65 and high bar with an 8.0 proved huge for Rediehs, as did tying for top honors with freshman teammate Alex Janicki on floor, as both scored an eye-popping 9.6. “It’s pretty big when you can get two big scores like that to tie for first place on floor and help the team out,” Janicki said. “It really kept the enthusiasm and excitement going for us all night.” Niles West ended up being a distant runner-up with 148.4 points, but its team total is the top from a squad that hasn’t won any of the three sectionals thus far. The top three scoring teams that do not win a sectional will advance to the state finals. Niles West is in the driver’s seat for the time being with the final two sectionals scheduled for Mundelein and Glenbard West on Saturday. The Wolves haven’t qualified for state since 1986. “It was a good meet, but not our greatest meet,” Niles West coach Adrian Batistia said. “We had a rough high bar, but after that we went 5-for-5 so going 5-for-6 isn’t too bad.” Jamiyankhuu won pommel horse with a 9.1 and still rings with a 9.05 to lead the Wolves.