Lemont captures fifth cheerleading state title

LEMONT – The Lemont High School cheerleading team saved its best for last.

The Indians came through with their best performance of the season at the perfect time, earning the 2017 medium division state championship Feb. 4 at U.S. Cellular Coliseum in Bloomington.

Lemont posted a final-round score of 89.62, edging state runner-up Columbia (88.84) for the title. Defending state champion Oak Forest (86.84), Antioch (86.60) and Yorkville (85.16) rounded out the top five teams.

A score of 83.13 in the prelims Feb. 3 had Lemont sitting in sixth place while Crystal Lake Central and Columbia led the way. A huge jump in score in the finals helped the Indians capture their fifth state championship and 11th state trophy in 12 seasons.

Lemont also won state titles in 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2014.

Coach Dave Erlenbaugh’s team included seniors Claudia DeSantis, Alyssa Gorski, Caitlyn Henry, Olivia LaDuke, Morgan Pukula and Gianna Sabanov; juniors Gia Baldassano, Rebecca Bertram, Katie Boyle, Andrew Gonzalez, Julie Hughes, Claudia Kociubinski, Lucy Kraker and Stephanie Pinczes; sophomores Lizzie Adell, Juliana DeSantis and Kate Roenitz; and freshman Hailey Dennis.

Boys swimming

Lemont finished second to host Tinley Park at the South Suburban Conference meet Feb. 4, but it was a day to remember for several Indians as they broke six team records and one pool record.

Diver Zach Rosenblum set a team record with 263.25 points on six dives as he placed third overall.

More records came when the swimming started. The 200-yard medley relay team of Isaiah Arabe, Owen Ganzer, Ray Scribano and Ethan Potts placed second with a school-record time of 1:47.26.

Ganzer later broke the 200 individual medley school record and Tinley Park pool record with a winning time of 2:03.93.

The 200 freestyle relay team of Potts, Andres De La Vega, Greg Zimkus and Ganzer took first place with a school-record time of 1:34.70.

In the 400 freestyle relay final, Ganzer led off with a 49.01 leg, a personal best and fast enough to be a team record for the 100 freestyle. Scribano, Arabe and Zimkus took it from there and set a team relay record with a winning time of 3:26.86.

Scribano won the 500 freestyle (5:03.68) and the 100 butterfly (1:00.25).

Zimkus (second in 1:54.36) and De La Vega (third in 2:00.80) had strong showings in the 200 freestyle.

Girls basketball

After wrapping up the regular season against Tinley Park on Feb. 9, Lemont turned its attention to the Class 4A postseason.

The Indians are the No. 9 seed in the East Aurora sectional and start the playoffs at the Benet regional, where they will face No. 8 Plainfield North at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 14.

A win against Plainfield would send Lemont to the Feb. 16 regional final, where No. 1 seed and two-time defending state champ Benet likely would be waiting.

Wrestling

Behind titles from Kyle Schickel (106 pounds), Jack Leffler (113), Drew Nash (120), Grant LaDuke (126), Egan Berta (145), Jake Kirkman (152), Damyen Gothard (170) and Alex Oruna (182), Lemont took home the title at its own Class 2A regional Feb. 4.

Kyle Zator (132) and Sam Campagna (285) won third-place matches to join the champs in qualifying for the Thornridge sectional that concluded Feb. 11.

Boys basketball

PJ Pipes scored 21 points and Paul O’Leary added 16 to lead Lemont to a 63-51 win at Oak Forest on Feb. 3.

Girls bowling

Kyla Owens totaled 1,128 pins at the Plainfield South regional Feb. 4 to earn an individual berth at the Tinley Park sectional.

As a team, the Indians placed 10th with a score of 5,039.