Boys gymnastics: Hersey puts up a number to notice
It's been nearly 20 years since Hersey made an appearance at the boys gymnastics state finals.
The Huskies look to be on their way to making that happen again.
Despite not being at their best, Hersey still put on a show during Saturday's Fred Dennis Invite, scoring 144.150 points to win handily.
Lake Park was runner-up with a 134.125. Conant was a distant third with a 122.8.
"We didn't have a great meet," Hersey senior Matt Bednar said. "But it wasn't our worst either. It was OK, but we have a lot of improving to do from this meet."
Hersey last qualified for state in 2001 and is vying to get there for just the third time since 1990.
Bednar won the all-around with a 51.45 and was also crowned the vault and floor champion.
"Right now our third score is the most important thing with me and Garrett (Naughton) usually going 1-2," Bednar said. "At the beginning of the season, we were looking kind of iffy for a state-qualifying place, but the guys have really stepped up and done some good stuff for that third score. I'm really impressed."
Will Stefanik came up with four contributing team scores, producing on floor, pommel horse, parallel bars and high bar for Hersey. Jack Troyer delivered on still rings and Paul McGinnis and Jonathan Herda were huge on vault.
Naughton won pommel horse, high bar and parallel bars and tied for second on floor but had an off-day on vault and still rings.
"On rings some skills didn't count so that dropped my score a lot and on vault I balked and didn't flip it," he said. "Everything else was great. It was just those two events where I slipped up, but I'll go back into the gym and keep working it."
Bednar and the rest of the Huskies will undoubtedly be there with him.
"I want to enjoy my senior year, what I have left, as much as I can," Bednar said. "It's been my favorite season, but I also want to make it my best season. I don't want to leave anything out there. I don't want to have any regrets."
Lake Park continues to get better and better.
Senior Louie Ranieri scored a 49.3 to place second in the all-around. Matt Scimeca was fourth with a 46.325.
Ranieri finished in second or third place in all six events. Scimeca was a top-5 placer in each event.
"I'm really happy with my score," Ranieri said. "We got people in the gym a little more and then spring break was really helpful for us and we got to put in some new skills and improve, so it's nice to take second place as a team."
The Lancers surpassed 130 for the first time during Thursday's home triangular and went 4 points higher Saturday.
"I love the direction we're heading," Ranieri said. "We're only going to keep getting better."
Conant's Isaac Lopez-Salgado won still rings with an 8.2. His teammate Caleb Savoy led the Cougars in the all-around, taking seventh place with a 40.25.
"I started gymnastics freshman year without any experience and have just been working really hard," Lopez-Salgado said. "I'm just trying to clean up some stuff and get some new stuff in. Our team has a really good environment. It really helps how much we support each other."
Glenbard North junior Brandon Dao led the Panthers to fourth place with a 119.35. Dao was fifth in the all-around with a 43.25. He also finished third on still rings.
Last year Dao got hurt at the Fred Dennis Invite. On Saturday he was coping with a tender back.
"Last year I got hurt and couldn't compete so I was happy to be able to compete today," he said. "My back has been on and off and this was our first meet since spring break."
Jakub Sitko was the top finisher for the host Blazers, taking fifth on pommel horse. He also was eighth on parallel bars. Eric Estrada and Caleb Michaliska both had a pair of top-10 finishes for the Blazers.
Haroun Aldaas paced the Rams with a 37.505 in the all-around.
The Blazers edged the Rams for fifth place, 118.33 to 117.755.