Silver Squad Defeats Blue in Annual Intrasquad Meet
12/3/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Gymnastics
Dec. 3, 2011
USAF ACADEMY, Colo. - Highlighted by a combined share of seven first-place finishes, the Air Force gymnastics "silver" team defeated its "blue" counterparts during the fourth annual Blue-Silver Intrasquad Meet on Saturday, Dec. 3.
Gymnasts from Team Silver (239.050) claimed three of the four women's titles and a share of four of six men's titles to defeat the Silver Squad (237.550). The overall team scores were determined by using the top two individual scores from each team.
Senior Devin Menefee, freshman Nick Gaudlip and classmate Jessica Wallander paced the Silver Squad, as each gymnast collected a pair of first-place finishes. On the men's side, Menefee won the still rings (14.700) and tied for first on the vault (14.900), while Gaudlip took first on the floor exercise (14.200) and high bar (13.800). Wallander paced the women's team with first-place scores on the vault (9.900) and uneven bars (9.600). Sophomore Jessica Hanner, classmate Jen Larsen and freshman Kim McRobbie tied for the top spot on the balance beam with matching scores of 9.650 (final score only counted two).
Freshman Josh Ramos and senior Samantha Jones each collected two wins for the Blue Team. Ramos won the parallel bars (13.800) and tied for first on the vault (14.900) with Menefee, while Jones won the floor exercise (9.800) and tied for the top spot on the uneven bars (9.600) with sophomore Katie Hawthorne and Wallander. Freshman Corbin Palmer rounded out the scoring finishers with a 13.200 win on the pommel horse.
Larsen scored a 38.300 to win the women's all-around, while McRobbie (37.650) and Hanner (37.600) finished second and third, respectively.
Also scoring for the Silver Squad on the men's side were junior James Okamoto and sophomore Mac Ritchie, who finished second on the pommel horse (12.600) and high bar (13.100), respectively.
In addition to his event titles for the Blue Team, Ramos finished second on the floor (13.500). Sophomores Tyler Huebner and Ben Zaiser tied for second on the rings with matching scores of 13.700, while freshman Skyler Awisus took second on the parallel bars (13.700). Jones was the runner-up on the vault (9.800), while Hawthorne and freshman Alexandra Stych tied for second on the floor (9.600).
The preseason meet also helped give the men's and women's coaching staffs an early estimate of their squads. Using the traditional gymnastics scoring, the women's team accounted for a score of 190.650, while the men tallied a score of 320.900.
The men's team officially opens the 2012 season at home on Saturday, Jan. 14, when they host the annual Rocky Mountain Open at 6 p.m. The women also begin competition that day, traveling to Denton, Texas to take on Texas Woman's University.
Players Mentioned
