Reif, Cargle win titles for Lincoln-Way

Updated: May 14, 2011 10:15PM

Ryan Reif waited until his sophomore year to try gymnastics.

Reif must have been a quick study because three years later the Lincoln-Way Co-op gymnast captured the still rings title Saturday at the boys gymnastics individual finals at Lincoln-Way East in Frankfort.

“My teammates and coach always told me I could do it,” said Reif, who was sixth in the state on the rings last year.

“It took a little time for me to believe them. It looks like they were right.”

Reif’s teammate, Ajani Cargle, tied Libertyville’s Craig Breckenridge for the floor exercise title with a 9.65.

“I did what I came here to do,” said Breckenridge, who also was second on the pommel horse, third on the rings and fifth on parallel bars. “I have been doing well the past few weeks and I am loving it.”

Cargle also came back on his last event to win the high bar with a 9.40. Cargle, who won the all-around title Friday with a 55.45, qualified for five individual finals on Saturday. Had the all-around been Saturday, Cargle would have had a 56.30, bettering his score from the previous evening. Along with his two state titles, he had a second in the rings, a third on the vault and an 11th on the pommel horse.

“It hasn’t all sunk in yet,” Cargle said. “It was a rough two days and it didn’t help that I had ACTs earlier this week.”

West Aurora’s Doug Sullivan claimed the first boys gymnastics title in school history when he won the pommel horse with a 9.55. He also became the school’s first medalist since Kurt Erdmann in 1986.

“I wasn’t expecting to finish first,” Sullivan said. “I was just hoping to get a medal. I have stayed on the horse he last couple of times, so I thought I could do well.”

Hinsdale Central’s Tyler Leahy became his school’s first state title winner in the vault with his layout kazamatsu and his score of 9.60.

“I saw that a couple weeks ago on our wall and I wanted that,” said Leahy, who tied for fifth on the floor. “It felt real good. I hit it the best I could.”

Wheaton Co-op’s Darren Fill, who was named senior gymnast of the year earlier in the day, saved his best routine for the final routine of his high school career. Fill nailed his parallel bars to score a career-best 9.60 and win the event.

“It is honestly too good,” Fill said. :Just to crank it out at the end it feels awesome and I will never forget it.”

© 2012 Sun-Times Media, LLC. All rights reserved. This material may not be copied or distributed without permission. For more information about reprints and permissions, visit www.suntimesreprints.com. To order a reprint of this article, click here.