Urban’s all-around success paces Hersey

In a team of specialists, Dan Urban is the closest thing Hersey has to an all-arounder.

Urban competed in five of the six events Friday at the Prospect triangular and came away with top scores in two events. Urban’s performance may have helped outfit the Huskies with an MSL East gymnastics title.

“This is the first time I ever competed in five events,” said Urban, who posted the high score in the floor (8.60) and the high bar (7.10). “I feel real good out there. I have been working to get stronger and it has paid off.”

Hersey (4-0, 2-0) took great strides in claiming the title by scoring a 129.40 to finish well ahead of Prospect’s 123.70 and Elk Grove’s 118.30.

The Huskies were dominant in both the floor and the vault, finishing with the top three scores in both events.

“Those are our strength,” Hersey coach Mason Vernon said. “But we have been working on the other events as well. We don’t have an all-arounder and that is OK. It gives our guys a chance to specialize more and it gives me a chance to have more guys in the lineup.”

David Jackowski was spectacular in his Tsuk-layout vault. He hit the vault near-perfect and stuck his long landing for a 9.50.

“It felt real good,” Jackowski said. “I have been working real hard on it and taking care of the little things in it.”

Hersey, which also got strong performances from Tommy Reynolds, Jordan Graff, Grant Manno, Matt Korff and Ryan Brueckert rallied from 6 points down to Prospect to win the meet.

“We are coming along pretty well,” Vernon said.

Prospect, which led for the first five events, was competing in its first meet of the season.

Knights coach Randy Smith’s squad picked up where they left off from a year ago. Prospect completed its season last year with a score of 124 and nearly matched it Friday.

“That puts us in a great spot,” Smith said. “We are a young team and we did real well tonight. We still have a few things to work on. But I know we will be better. “

Chris Klein, who had the top all-around score of 40.20 and Mark “Ringo” Larock, who had a 38.20, were key factors for the Knights.

Elk Grove coach Ben Anderson, who is in his first year as head coach, was also pleased with his team’s first outing of the year.

“We did well tonight,” Anderson said. “The guys have worked hard and it showed.”

The Grens’ Kenji Fukuda won the pommel horse with an 8.50 and Josh Salud was third in the all-around.