Air Force Academy
USAG Championships
Air Force Places Seventh at USAG Championships
4/9/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Gymnastics
April 9, 2009
NEW HAVEN, Conn. - The Air Force women's gymnastics team concluded the team portion of the 2009 slate with a seventh-place finish at the USA Gymnastics Collegiate National Championships on Thursday, April 9, in New Haven, Conn. As a team, the Falcons recorded a total score of 187.325. Individually, freshman Jenna Dudley earned USAG All-America honors in the all-around, while junior Aftan Boudreaux qualified for the event finals.
Air Force opened the meet on vault and continued the rotation to uneven bars and balance beam, before concluding on the floor exercise. Unlike the traditional championship format, this meet was divided into two flights, which competed consecutively. The first four teams would compete on an event, while the second flight (which included Air Force) would warm up on that event in a separate gym. Each flight would rotate between competition and warm up, until all eight teams had competed on the four required events.
The Falcons exited the first full rotation in sixth place, following a 47.225 performance on the vault. Sophomore Brittany Dutton led the squad with a 9.650, while Dudley and Samantha Jones were close behind with respective scores of 9.600 and 9.550.
Boudreaux paced the Falcons on the uneven bars, as she tallied a 9.575. Dudley and Jones once again posted high scoring marks for the Falcons, as Dudley tallied a 9.375 and Jones collected a score of 9.200. Air Force finished the rotation with a total score of 93.525 to sit in seventh place following two complete rotations.
Air Force moved onto the balance beam, where sophomore Lisa Wong got the Falcons going with a score of 9.550 - a mark just .100 shy of her career high. Dudley came away with the highest Air Force score of the night, tallying a 9.575. Freshman Katie Shetley rounded out the squad's top three finishers, as she scored a 9.450. The Falcons remained in seventh after three rotations with a cumulative score of 139.775.
The Falcons concluded the night on the floor exercise, with Wong posting an opening score of 9.500. Despite technical problems with the sound system that caused three separate starts and her music to fade in and out during the performance, Boudreaux scored a solid 9.500. Dudley followed that with a 9.600, while senior Abbey Rogers closed out the rotation with a team-leading total of 9.625.
Dudley amassed an all-around score of 38.200 to claim the first USAG All-America honor of her young career, as she tied for seventh with Temple's Kaitlyn Watson.
Boudreaux will represent the Falcons during the individual event finals on Saturday, April 11, when she competes on the uneven bars. The junior tied for sixth with her tally of 9.575 during tonight's preliminaries. Action for the event finals starts at 1 p.m. (EST) at Moore Field House at Southern Connecticut State.
Players Mentioned
