Falcons Place Second at All-Academy Championships

Feb. 15, 2009

PORTLAND, Ore. - The Air Force men's gymnastics team tallied its highest team score of the season to finish second at the All-Academy Championships in Portland, Ore., on Saturday, Feb. 14. The Falcons boasted a combined score of 330.800 in the annual meet, bettering their previous season-high by nearly two points.

Two Academy records fell during the meet. Freshman Jacob Houder tallied a career-best mark of 13.850 on the pommel horse to reset the standard, while classmate Joel Uptmor improved his own program mark on the vault at 15.600. Uptmor was the meet runner-up in the vault, while Houder placed fourth on the pommel horse.

Senior Jake Schonig won the still rings for the second straight year, after collecting a score of 14.700, while classmate Josiah Loeser was the runner up in that event with a mark of 14.250.

Loeser also tallied a top-three finish on the parallel bars, tallying a third-place score of 13.800. Sophomore Nash Mills picked up a pair of third-place scores, earning those positions on the still rings (14.150) and all-around (81.350). His all-around score matched a career-high. Classmate Dan Klimkowski placed third on the floor exercise with a score of 14.150.

Navy rallied to win its second consecutive title against its service academy counterparts, as it edged the Falcons, 335.050-330.800. Army rounded out the three-team meet with a combined score of 312.900.

As a team, the Falcons won the floor exercise and still rings, while setting an Academy record on the vault. The Falcons' vault total of 61.000 upped the previous record of 60.950 that they set on Feb. 2 against Army.

The Falcons return to action on Saturday, Feb. 21, when they travel to Oakland, Calif., for the prestigious Pacific Coast Classic.

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