Ag Science's Maxwell is all-around champ

Last year Justin Maxwell finished a respectable sixth in the all-around competition at the boys state gymnastics meet.

This year the Ag Science senior has set his goals a little higher.

At Saturday's Hinsdale Central Sectional, Maxwell dominated the competition, taking home five individual titles, including the all-around, and one second-place finish.

"Last year I finished sixth in the all-around and that was OK," Maxwell said. "This year I came into the sectional meet just wanting to hit all my events and do the best I can. I can't really complain about anything I did today. Now it's on to next week and hopefully I can win all of my events there, too."

Maxwell tied for first in the horizontal bar with Neuqua Valley's Jack Boyle (9.550) and in the floor exercise with Lincoln-Way East's Isaac Kruspe (9.450). Maxwell also took home titles in the all-around (55.650), still rings (9.550) and vault (9.400). He placed second in the parallel bars (9.250).

In the team standings, Lincoln-Way East co-op earned its sixth consecutive sectional crown, compiling a 159.700. Hinsdale Central was second (147.900). Lyons (136.500), Hinsdale South (124.500), Leyden (118.200), Tinley Park/Andrew co-op (111.80), Evanston (100.900) and Homewood-Flossmoor (76.750) rounded out the competing teams.

"I probably should make a bigger deal out of winning a sectional since there are only five of them in the state," Lincoln-Way East co-op coach Skip Adamson said. "Our guys did a nice job today and we'll see how well we do next week. But winning a sectional is huge and we got a great effort out of our guys today.

"We like to use this meet as a stepping stone for state. We take it very seriously because it's a tough meet to do well in. We're a young team and it will be interesting to see what we do."

Lincoln-Way East will host this year's state finals.

The Griffins were led by Kruspe, a sophomore. In addition to tying Maxwell for the floor exercise title, Kruspe qualified in three other events. He placed second in the still rings (9.250), third in the vault (9.3) and fourth in the all-around (53.900).

The Griffins' Kyle Staley placed third in the parallel bars (9.0).