Great start for Hersey at Libertyville
The boys gymnastics season got underway for Hersey on Saturday morning with a strong performance at Libertyville.
The Huskies (2-0) rolled to nonconference victories over the host Wildcats and Naperville Central in this double-dual meet with 126.3 points after competing in an exhibition meet Friday night.
The Redhawks (1-2) went 1-1 on the day with a 112.9 to 107.1 victory over Libertyville as the Wildcats fell to 0-3 on the young season despite showing much improvement from their first meet.
Hersey did not have an all-arounder competing in the meet. But the Huskies’ had plenty of depth and contributors to carry them to the lopsided victories.
“We’re coming along and we’ve got some talent,” said Hersey coach Mason Vernon, who is in his eighth season. “Basically we’re young, and right now we’re just focusing on hitting our routines and the skills will come easier. We have a ton of guys filling spots here and there.”
Unlike Hersey, Libertyville turned to senior all-arounder Evan Policht for the majority of its depth and scoring Saturday as Policht rolled to the overall crown with a 7.52 average.
The Wildcats’ program is being led by first-year coach Josh Cimo, who takes over for former coach Curt Austin after his very successful 16-year run.
Like Austin, Cimo has a very long career in the sport as an athlete and coach. Cimo was an elite all-arounder at Arizona State in 2003 before a shoulder injury cut his career short.
Cimo said he’s pretty happy with the progress of his team so far. But he knows they have a very long way to go between now and the end of the season.
“We have a lot of team unity and we had two guys who didn’t compete in our first meet who competed in this meet,” said Cimo, whose team scored 24.5 points on floor exercise. “They’re all pulling together and we hope to be scoring 130 to 140 by the end of the year.”
Policht and Hersey’s Tommy Reynolds (9.1) tied for first place on floor exercise while Policht added winning marks of 8.7 on still rings and 6.5 on high bar.
“I cleaned up my front-full (on floor) and hit my press pretty well, which is what made it,” said Policht, who hit a career-high in the all-around by about 5 points. “We think we’re going to do pretty well and we’re just progressively getting better and going up with our score.”
Naperville Central was led by Dom Delgrosso, who took runner-up honors in the all-around competition with a 6.87 average. Delgrosso was the pommel horse champ with a 7.2 while tying for second place on floor with Hersey’s David Jackowski (9.0).
“We made improvements on all of the events but high bar and we’ll be working hard on high bar,” said Naperville Central coach Glen Reimers, whose team improved by 9 points from its opening meet. “He (Delgrosso) had a very good meet except for high bar, and other than that he did very well today.”
Jackowski took home first place on vault with a 9.1 as he outdistanced Delgrosso (8.8) in second place. Policht, Reynolds, and Naperville Central’s Mitch O’Flynn (8.7) tied for third on vault.
Hersey’s Ryan Brueckert edged teammate Dan Urban 7.6 to 7.4 for first place on parallel bars. Hersey’s Grant Manno and Naperville Central’s Charles Abeling (6.5) tied for second place on still rings.
The Huskies also got a second-place 6.2 from Cody Knight on pommel horse while Hersey’s Roely Dartmatisiean and Naperville Central’s Blake Beehler (6.1) tied for third on pommel horse.