Quartet of Falcons Head to NCAA Championships

April 11, 2007

Four members of the Air Force men's gymnastics team will compete at the 2007 National Collegiate Men's Gymnastics Championships, beginning Thursday, April 12, in State College, Pa. The Falcons will be represented by one all-around competitor and three individual event specialists.

Weekly Release 11 - at NCAA Championships
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WHO'S IN: Junior Greg Stine was selected to participate in the all-around. Three other Falcons qualified to the national meet as event specialists. Sophomore Jacob Schonig earned a berth in the still rings lineup, while junior Brian Boardman earned a spot in the vault rotation and classmate Tyler Sickles will compete on the high bar.

HOW IT WORKS: The NCAA selection committee invited 12 teams to the championship meet. In addition, they chose six all-around competitors and six specialists for each event that were not on qualifying teams.

SCORING: Greg Stine's qualifying all-around score of 50.150, which is ranked 11th in the country, is the best score of the six individual participants. Jacob Schonig, who is in just his second year of gymnastics, has the second-best qualifying score in the six-participant field at 9.180. Brian Boardman's vault mark of 8.110 is fifth, while Tyler Sickles' 8.450 qualifying average is ranked sixth.

SCHEDULING 101: All four Falcons will compete in the second session of competition during Thursday's national qualifier, which begins at 7 p.m.

LAST TIME OUT: With a score of 189.050, Air Force finished fifth at the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championships on March 31, in Berkeley, Calif. Air Force shined on the still rings, accounting for a season-best team score of 34.950 and a pair of top-10 individual finishes from junior Greg Stine (9.450-fifth) and sophomore Jacob Schonig (9.350-sixth).