Hornets’ Maher aims to vault to state

Since scoring a career-high 9.3 on the vault April 14 in a dual meet at Leyden, Riley Maher’s expectations have changed this season with visions of a possible state meet berth.

“Coach (Jarrod Amolsch) told me I could probably make state,” said Maher, a Hinsdale South junior.

The numbers are certainly in Maher’s favor if he could come close to repeating his high-scoring handspring front vault. Maher is one of Hinsdale South’s top specialists as the Hornets chase a conference title at the West Suburban Gold meet at 6 p.m. Friday at Willowbrook.

The minimum score to reach last year’s state meet in the vault was an 8.85. One of those qualifiers was Hinsdale South graduate Eric Zurawski, who finished tied for 45th with an 8.5 score.

Hinsdale South competes in the Lincoln-Way East Sectional at 7 p.m. May 5. Lincoln-Way East also hosts the state meet May 13-14.

“(My scores) have always been going up except for the past invite (at Homewood-Flossmoor),” Maher said. “I’m focused on consistency this year.”

Maher’s second best event this season has been the floor exercise, but those scores have ranged from 7.8-8.5. Maher’s other events are the high bar and parallel bars.

Hinsdale South’s top all-arounder this season has been senior Tomas Kasprzycki.

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