Falcons Head To All-Academy Championships
2/12/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Gymnastics
Feb. 12, 2004
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Seven Falcons return home as the Air Force men's gymnastics team heads to Houston, Texas, for a showdown with Army and Navy at the All-Academy Championships on Saturday, Feb. 14. Sponsored by the Houston North Gymnastics Club, the competition between the three service academies will take place at 7:30 p.m., at Concordia High School. The meet will coincide with the club's annual Presidents' Day Boys Invitational.
HISTORY 101
This is the fifth year that the three service academies have battled it out at the All-Academy Championships. Air Force won the first trophy in 2000, but the Black Knights of Army have won the last three.
A FALCON-FRIENDLY ENVIRONMENT
The All-Academy Championships are contested at a different neutral site each year. With seven Falcons on the roster who hail from the Lonestar State, this year's location should be quite "Falcon-friendly". While Greg Stine officially calls Houston home - Julian Benton (Kingwood), Michael Berry (Sugarland), Josh Loeser (Alvin) and Brian Moore (Cypress) are all from the greater Houston area. Plus, Patrick McAndrew is from the San Antonio area, while Noah Rich is from just outside of Lubbock. In fact, while the other two academies have no Texans on their rosters, Air Force claims three (Berry, Moore and Stine) who trained at the Houston North Gymnastics Club.
CHECKING OUT THE COMPETITION (ARMY)
Army is led by junior Brian Lee, who is currently ranked second nationally, among all still rings competitors with an average score of 9.725...last weekend, Lee competed at the Winter Cup Challenge, placing sixth in the finals of the still rings competition...his score was the third highest of collegiate gymnasts...as a team, the Black Knights are ranked No. 12 in the national GymInfo rankings with a season average of 207.356... Army currently leads the USAG standings, as well...they are the fifth-ranked team in the country on the still rings...Army is ranked higher than the other two service academies in every event.
HEAD COACH: Doug VanEveren (Cal State-Fullerton, 1987) - 14th season
ASSISTANT COACH: Carmine Giglio (Western Michigan, 1990)
CHECKING OUT THE COMPETITION (NAVY)
The Midshipmen have just three seniors on their roster...as a squad, they are ranked No. 15 in the latest team rankings with an average score of 199.783...in the USAG standings, Navy is ranked third with that average...Navy has one gymnast who is ranked among the nation's top-20, as freshman Sean Blackman is tied for 18th, on the still rings with an average of 9.100...most recently, the Mids finished third of four teams at the James Madison Open...Navy has faced off with Army once this season, finishing fifth at the West Point Open behind Army's third-place finish.
HEAD COACH: Sho Fukushima (Washington, 1971) - 13th season
ASSISTANT COACH: Lt. J.G. Craig Holt (Syracuse, 1995)
IN THIS TOGETHER
Head coaches Lou Burkel (Air Force), Doug VanEveren (Army) and Sho Fukushima (Navy) have coached against one another for the past 12 years - since Fukushima joined the Navy staff. Burkel has the longest tenure of the three with 22 years on the Falcons' bench. VanEveren is in his 14th season at the helm of the Black Knights, while Fukushima has been at Navy for the past 12 years. In fact, the three coaches of this weekend's competition have a combined 49 years of head coaching experience at their respective academies.
A SPECIAL SIDE TRIP
While in Houston, the Falcons will be joining members of the Army and Navy gymnastics teams for a visit to the Texas Children's Hospital.
WHAT DO YOU MEAN WINS AND LOSSES DON'T MATTER?
Unlike most sports, gymnastics is one that is based on the overall team score and not the win-loss record. Qualification for the NCAA Championships (April 2-4), is based on the team's National Qualifying Average (NQA). The NQA is determined by selecting the four highest regular-season scores (with no more than two home meets) and dropping the highest. The score from the conference meet will be doubled and then added to the remaining three scores. The average of those scores is known as the National Qualifying Average. The NQA rankings will first be announced on March 22.
LOOK CLOSELY
Although Air Force has been on the lower side of the score compared to their NCAA Division I competition this season, you have to stop and see the top-ten teams that the Falcons have been competing against. Already twice in this short season, Air Force has faced the two-time defending national champions from Oklahoma - currently the fourth-ranked team in the country. The Falcons have also taken on California (currently No. 2), Iowa (currently No. 6), Nebraska (currently No. 8) and Stanford (currently No. 10).
RECAPPING LAST WEEK
The Falcons were off from team competition last weekend, as senior co-captain Jeff Andersen competed at the Winter Cup Challenge in Las Vegas. Joining Andersen were nearly 100 of the nation's top gymnasts; all competing for a spot on the U.S. National Team. Andersen's highest finish of the preliminary competition was a 26th-place tie on the still rings, after scoring an 8.800. He also registered an 8.400 on the parallel bars (30), an 8.200 on the pommel horse (50-tie) and a 7.400 on the high bar (67).
NOTEWORTHY NEWS
Jeff Andersen became the first gymnast to represent the Air Force Academy at the Winter Cup since All-American Joel Miller competed on the still rings in 1992. Maj. Miller is currently an instructor at the Academy and serves as the Officer Representative for the men's gymnastics team. The squad's other Officer Representative is Maj. Ken Kemper, who was also a four-year letter winner with the team and the conference gymnast of the year in 1990.
COMING UP
The Falcons will have a week off before heading to the East Coast for a pair of meets the weekend of Feb. 27-29. Air Force will start the weekend at West Point, when they take on Army in a dual-meet competition at 6 p.m., on Friday, Feb. 27. The Falcons continue along the eastern shore on Sunday, Feb. 29, when they travel to Springfield, Mass., for a tri-meet with Navy and Springfield College at 1 p.m.
Players Mentioned
