
Air Force Places Fourth at MPSF Championships
3/28/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Gymnastics
USAF ACADEMY, Colo. - Highlighted by top-three finishes from freshman Arinn Wade and sophomore Chase Cannon, the 10th-ranked Air Force men's gymnastics team wrapped up its home season this evening (March 28) with a fourth-place finish at the 2015 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championships.
Wade was the runner-up on the pommel horse and Cannon finished third on the high bar, as the Falcons recorded multiple podium finishers for the second straight year. Wade tallied a score of 15.400 - a mark just 0.200 off of his own Academy record - to become the second Air Force gymnast in as many years to earn a podium finish on that event, while Cannon recorded the second-highest score in Air Force history (15.200) to earn the program's first top-three finish on the high bar.
Wade was one of two Falcons to place within the top-10 of the pommel horse standings, as sophomore Tim Wang added a seventh-place score of 14.700.
The Falcons accounted for top-10 finishes on three additional events. Sophomore Aaron Nubine tallied a score of 15.350 (a mark just 0.050 off of his Academy record) to tie for fifth on the floor exercise, while senior Greg Chaput finished eighth on the parallel bars (season-best 14.800) and junior Denis Aurelius finished ninth on the still rings (14.600).
In addition to his third-place finish on the high bar, Cannon also shared the team lead on the vault, as he and junior Josh Pyne recorded matching marks of 14.500 to tie for 12th in the overall standings. That score is a season-best for Cannon, who competed in just his fifth vault of the year.
In his first collegiate all-around, senior Josh Ramos scored an 83.900 to finish sixth in the standings. That mark, which included his first still rings routine since the inital meet of his freshman year, is the eighth-highest all-around total in program history.
Top-ranked Oklahoma won its 14th conference title with a score of 447.400, while third-ranked Stanford placed second with a 437.150. California, ranked eighth in the national standings, finished third with a 432.700, while the 10th-ranked Falcons rounded out the field with a 425.100.
The Falcons are off from competition until April 9-11, when they travel to Norman, Okla., for the 2015 NCAA Championships. The list of qualifiers to the national meet will be announced next week.