BARRINGTON -- Keith Lage sat in third place in the all-around heading into the 2008 state individual finals Saturday.
As the lone representative from Naperville, the light shone even brighter on Lage's every move. That didn't seem to faze the Naperville Central senior, hoping for a memorable last hurrah in high school competition.
"I really put a lot of concentration and strength in my routines," he said. "I had a lot of nerves coming into the state meet, especially state finals. I just wanted to repeat what I did in sectionals."
Lage ended his prep gymnastics career by winning the still rings (9.5) and tying for first with Wheaton Co-op's Tim Krueger on the floor exercise (9.65), becoming the first Central boys gymnast to earn a state title since Steve Bajus on the horizontal bar in 1984.
Lage rounded out his career with four state medals from Saturday, taking second on the horizontal bar (9.45) to go with his pair of state titles and third-place showing in the all-around (55.8).
Lage's all-around total - compiled by adding his individual event preliminary scores - put him behind only Glenbrook South's Steve Deutsch (56.6) and Lincoln-Way Co-op's Dan Hutton (56.4).
Lage said he hopes to compete at the University of Illinois-Chicago but is uncertain on his future. One thing that is certain is he always made the most of his opportunities.
"We're going to miss him a lot," Redhawks coach Glen Reimers said. "He was always a leader in conditioning. He did an awesome job here."
Facebook App
Font Size
Black Text