Falcons Prepare For USA Gymnastics Championships
4/7/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Gymnastics
April 7, 2004
April 7, 2004
The Air Force men's and women's gymnastics teams close out the 2004 season at the USA Gymnastics Collegiate Championships this weekend (April 8-10) in Denton, Texas. The women kick off the competition on Thursday, April 8, with the team preliminaries, while the men take to the floor on Friday, April 9, with the men's team finals.
Complete Women's Notes
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Complete Men's NotesDownload Free Acrobat Reader
THE COMPETITION
The Falcon women will be competing against Cal-Davis, Centenary, Cornell, Seattle Pacific, Southern Connecticut, Temple and Texas Woman's University at Pioneer Hall on the campus of Texas Woman's University. The Air Force men will join Southern Connecticut, Springfield and Navy to dethrone defending varsity champion William and Mary, on the campus of Texas Woman's University. Arizona State, Vermont and Arizona will also participate at the event, as they contend for the collegiate division title.
THE SCHEDULE
The USA Gymnastics Championship festivities kick off on Wednesday, April 7, with a welcome banquet, featuring keynote speaker former Olympic gymnast Kim Zmeskel. The eight women's teams, led by defending champion TWU, will begin the preliminary competition at 4 p.m., on Thursday, April 8. The top four teams will advance to the finals, which are slated to be held at 7 p.m., on Friday, April 9. The Falcons will open the weekend with the team and all-around finals at 1 p.m., on Friday, April 9. The individual event finals are scheduled for 4 p.m., on Saturday, April 10, and both the men's and women's events will run concurrently.
WOMEN'S HISTORY 101
Air Force won the USA Gymnastics national championship in 2001 and 2002...four former Falcons have claimed a total of seven individual national titles since 2000...Kimberly Broughton won the all-around in 2000 and 2002, while Jennifer Dougherty captured the vault and all-around in the 2002...Bethany Stott won the beam in 2001 and Allison Todd claimed back-to-back beam titles in 2002 and 2003...last year, the Falcons finished second in the USA Gymnastics team finals with a team score of 192.850.
MEN'S HISTORY 101
Since 1994, six Falcons have been named USA Gymnastics national champions. Jerry Michael Cline and Brian Rizzoli claimed national titles in 1994, winning the all-around and floor exercise, respectively. In 1999, Erin Montague won the high bar, while Levi Torkelson won the parallel bars. Torkelson became the team's only repeat champion, claimed the parallel bars title in 2000, as Javin Peterson won the still rings that same year. Aaron Jackson rounds out the group with his vault national title last year. Cline and Jackson were also honored with the Outstanding Senior Gymnast Award in 1994 and 2004, respectively.
