Air Force Finishes Second at Rocky Mountain Open

Jan. 17, 2015

USAF ACADEMY, Colo. - Highlighted by a record six top-three finishes, the 11th-ranked Air Force men's gymnastics team opened the 2015 season with a second-place finish at the annual Rocky Mountain Open on Saturday (Jan. 17) at the Academy's newly-renovated Cadet West Gym.

Recording a team score of 427.150, the Falcons finished second at the Rocky Mountain Open and defeated former conference opponent Nebraska for just the second time in the last decade. The combined score is also the highest season-opening score ever for Air Force, bettering last year's RMO score by over four points.

Senior Nick Gaudlip collected a pair of top-three finishes for the Falcons, recording scores of 14.850 to take third on both the floor exercise and high bar. Air Force earned two of the top-three placements on the floor, as classmates Corbin Palmer scored a career-best 14.950 to finish second on that event.

The Falcons also earned a runner-up finish on the still rings from fellow senior Gared Chapman who scored a 15.300 to finish second to the two-time defending national champion on that event. Air Force earned its additional top-three finishes from classmate Josh Ramos, who scored a 14.650 to tie for third on the parallel bars, and sophomore Aaron Nubine, who collected the third-highest score of the night on the vault with a 14.750.

With that tally, Nubine paced the Falcons to four top-10 finishes on the vault. Junior Denis Aurelius tied for sixth with a score of 14.650, while Palmer and Ramos tied for eighth with matching scores of 14.600.

Air Force accounted for at least three top-10 finishes in every event.

Aurelius also tied for seventh on the floor exercise with a score of 14.600, while sophomore Chase Cannon (seventh, 14.350) and Ramos (10th, 13.750) added additional top-10 scores for Air Force on the high bar. Freshman Jonathon Fornoff tied for sixth on the parallel bars with a 14.500, while Gaudlip earned a 10th-place tally of 14.250. A pair of freshmen earned top-10 finishes on the still rings, as Dimitri Floryance and Fletcher Braunton placed seventh (14.600) and ninth (14.350), respectively. Sophomore Tim Wang scored a 14.100 to tie for sixth on the pommel horse, while Ramos and Cannon tied for ninth with matching scores of 13.900.

Top-ranked Oklahoma captured its 16th straight Rocky Mountain Open title with a score of 441.550, while Air Force and 10th-ranked Nebraska (420.150) rounded out the top three. Arizona State scored a 395.100 to take fourth and club newcomer Southern California United finished fifth with a 364.300.

Backed by a pair of first-place finishes from Allan Bower (vault, 15.150; parallel bars, 14.950), the Sooners swept the individual event titles. Colin Van Wicklen (floor exercise, 15.150), Mike Reid (pommel horse, 15.350), Michael Squires (still rings, 16.300) and Jacoby Rubin (high bar, 14.850) rounded out Oklahoma's event winners, while Arizona State's Thomas Hanson took first in the all-around (77.250).

Air Force heads out on the road next weekend, when it travels to Minneapolis on Saturday, Jan. 24, to take on seventh-ranked Minnesota.

Complete Results

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