Brian Boardman Named Team MVP
5/14/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Gymnastics
May 14, 2007
The Air Force men's gymnastics team recently concluded a season that featured numerous accomplishments at both the individual and team levels. Air Force claimed three victories against NCAA opponents, while earning a third-place standing at the USA Gymnastics Championships. With just one senior, the Falcons built a strong foundation for the future. As a team, the Falcons finished 15th in the nation with a national qualifying average of 191.310. After not surpassing the 190-point plateau in two years, the Falcons topped that mark on five occasions, including a 196.500 performance at Illinois-Chicago.
Weekly Release 12 - Season In Review
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INDIVIDUAL HIGHLIGHTS
In just his second year of gymnastics, Jacob Schonig placed 11th on the still rings at the NCAA Championships with a career-best 9.550 ... Greg Stine finished eighth in the all-around at the evening session of the National Qualifier. He advanced to the NCAA Championships on the floor exercise and still rings after top-10 finishes in those events at the qualifier ... Brian Boardman (vault) and Tyler Sickles (high bar) also participated at the National Qualifier ... Greg Stine won USA Gymnastics national titles in the all-around, floor exercise and still rings, becoming the first Falcon to ever win three USAG titles in a single year ... six Falcons collected 11 USAG All-America citations. That is the highest number of Falcons to earn USAG All-America honors since 2001, when seven gymnasts earned that distinction. In addition, the 11 total honors are the most ever for an Air Force squad ... Greg Stine was named Gymnast of the Week by the MPSF twice and by the CGA three times ... Kurt Antonio earned the USAG Outstanding Senior Gymnast award ... Brian Boardman and Jacob Schonig were named to the MPSF academic all-conference team.
ANNUAL TEAM AWARDS
MOST VALUABLE: For the second straight year, junior Brian Boardman was invited to compete at the NCAA National Qualifying Meet on the vault. A co-captain of the 2007 squad, Boardman improved his personal-best in the high bar, while nearly matching his personal-best on the parallel bars. Boardman collected Mountain Pacific Sports Federation all-academic team honors for the second straight year, while competing in every meet for the Falcons. He also individually qualified for the event finals of the Rocky Mountain Open and the USA Gymnastics Championships.
HARDEST WORKER: Sophomore Jacob Schonig made amazing strides during just his second year of gymnastics, finishing with an 11th-place finish at the NCAA Championships. Schonig, who improved his personal-best score on the rings seven times this season, became one of the highest scoring Falcons at the national meet in over 10 years. The MPSF academic all-conference selection also claimed USAG All-America honors and won the still rings at the 2007 Service Academy Classic. Entering the season with a career-best 7.350, Schonig added over two points to that mark, finishing the year with a score of 9.550 at the NCAA preliminaries.
MOST IMPROVED: Surpassing the eight-point plateau numerous times throughout the season, sophomore Josiah Loeser set career-best marks in three of his four events, including the floor exercise (8.250), still rings (8.350) and parallel bars (8.300). Loeser competed in every team competition for the Falcons, while also earning a spot in the individual event finals of the Rocky Mountain Open and USAG Championships.
Players Mentioned
