Austin Heads to Final State Meet

When this weekend's state gymnastics meet concludes at Lincoln Way East, it will mark the end of three decades of coaching for Libertyville High School's Curt Austin. In 31 years, he's had a trio of thirds to hold on to. As in three third-place finishes for his girls teams and three for the boys team. It's now time to retire for the veteran coach.

The truth is his boys team won't send Austin to a state championship in his final weekend of coaching. But the good news is two Libertyville gymnasts will accompany Austin to the state meet.

How about we glance into the future? The subject of this project is senior captain Craig Breckenridge. The all-around champion at the Mundelein Sectional will hopefully settle in well during his first year of college.

Of course, you can look up the distance he has to travel for school next year. It's less than 7,500 miles by plane.

Breckenridge is headed to college in Abu Dhabi. Yes, that's in the United Arab Emirates.

More on that later. First, Breckenridge must put his attention towards possibly winning a state title this weekend.

Here's his card from Saturday's Mundelein Sectional

First in pommel horse: 9.2

First in vault: 9.35

First in all-around: 52.95

Fifth in high bar (state qualifying): 8.4

Fifth in parallel bars (state qualifying): 8.75

"He exceeded our expectations,'' Austin said. "To win in three events in a sectional is unbelievable."

In more good news, Breckenridge won't travel to Lincoln Way alone. The Wildcats will also have a representative in floor exercise. Evan Policht has advanced to the state meet as well.

Austin's final boys gymnastics team was highlighted by new faces.

"We had a lot of freshmen,'' Austin said. "We were young but very talented."

Veteran Breckenridge took his captain's role seriously and mentored the young Wildcats. And when it was time to perform on the big stage, he was ready.

"He was the star of the night,'' Austin said. "He's very intelligent. He trains hard and has a very supportive family."

And with some scholarship money he'll head overseas for college.

"He kind of went over there in whim,'' Austin said. "But he gave it a shot and liked it. He's a hard-working student."

Policht has another year of gymnastics in front of him. Austin said this junior managed to qualify and he hopes he can make some improvements this weekend.