Air Force to Travel to Two Weekend Meets
2/16/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Gymnastics
Feb. 16, 2011
After a three-week hiatus from team competition, the No. 11 Air Force men's gymnastics team returns to action this weekend with a pair of competitions. The Falcons begin their busy weekend on Friday, Feb. 18, in Minneapolis, Minn., where they will face ninth-ranked Minnesota. Air Force will then travel to Aliso Viejo, Calif., on Sunday, Feb. 20, to face No. 13 Army and No. 14 Navy at the All-Academy Championships.
Meet Notes 05: at Minnesota; at All-Academy Championships 
MINNESOTA MEET INFORMATION
The Falcons will compete in their third dual meet of the season on Friday, Feb. 18, when they face the Golden Gophers at 7 p.m. (CST) at the Sports Pavilion. Minnesota is coming off of 336.500-330.100 victory over Big Ten opponent, Iowa, last weekend and it currently ranked ninth in the nation with a three-score average of 340.517. The Gophers will webcast the meet on their internet pay-per-view service, the Gold Zone. Links can be found at www.gophersports.com.
ALL-ACADEMY CHAMPIONSHIPS MEET INFORMATION
The All-Academy Championships will be held in conjunction with the annual Palm Tree Classic Gymnastics Meet in Aliso Viejo, Calif. The meet is slated to begin at 1:30 p.m. (PST) and will be held at the gymnasium on the campus of Soka University of America. The Falcons' opponents, 13th-ranked Army and 14th-ranked Navy, faced each other last weekend, as the Mids recorded a 324.1-322.800 victory over the Black Knights.
HISTORY 101
Although the official championship meet was cancelled last year due to Navy's forfeiture and Army's weather-related travel issues, Air Force defeated both service academies during the year to claim its first Academy title since 2000. Army has claimed the most AAC titles, with seven consecutive titles from 2001-07, while Air Force (2000, 2010) and Navy (2008-09) have each won two.
RANK YOU VERY MUCH
As a team, the Falcons are ranked among the nation's top 10 in a pair of events. Air Force is ranked 10th on both the still rings (54.633, three-score average) and vault (61.200, three-score average). Individually, James Okamoto is tied for 15th on the pommel horse with a three-score mark of 14.167, while Nash Mills is tied for 19th on the vault with a three-score average of 15.500.
BROWN LEADS FALCONS AT WINTER CUP
Tory Brown had a strong showing at the Winter Cup Challenge on Feb. 3, recording three top-four finishes and two career-best scores. During the first preliminary session, Brown placed third on the high bar with a career-best 13.650. He also added fourth-place scores on the vault (15.100) and parallel bars (career-best 13.750). His high bar mark is a personal improvement of 0.250 and is the 14th-best high bar score in Academy history, while his parallel bars tally is a 0.200 improvement and ranked 18th on the program's all-time list.
MORE NEWS FROM WINTER CUP
Nash Mills claimed a pair of seventh-place finishes at the Winter Cup, taking that placement on the still rings (13.300) and high bar (12.950). In his Winter Cup debut, James Okamoto tied for ninth on the pommel horse with a score of 12.200.
WHAT'S AHEAD FOR THE FALCONS
Following the All-Academy Championships, the Falcons are off from competition until the beginning of March, when they travel to Chicago for a pair of quad meets. On Friday, March 4, Air Force will face Stanford, Illinois and host Illinois-Chicago at 7 p.m., before the Falcons and Flames return to action on Sunday, March 6, to face Temple and Ohio State. Both meets will take place at the Physical Education Building on the UIC campus.
