10th-Ranked Air Force Heads to NCAA Championships
4/7/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Gymnastics
The 10th-ranked Air Force men's gymnastics team closes out the current season this weekend, as it travels to Norman, Okla., for the 2015 NCAA Gymnastics Championships on April 9-11. The Falcons, who are making their fifth straight team appearance at the national meet, will open competition in the first of two national qualifying sessions on Thursday, April 9.
Meet Notes 10: at NCAA Men's Gymnastics National Championships 
MEET INFORMATION
The 2015 NCAA Men's Gymnastics National Championships will be held at the Lloyd Noble Center on the University of Oklahoma. All-session passes are $25 for adults and $10 for youth (6-18), while single session tickets are $10 (adults) and $5 (youth). Live scoring and video streaming will be available via SoonerSports.com.
THURSDAY, APRIL 9
1:00 p.m.: National Qualifier, Session 1
7:00 p.m.: National Qualifier, Session 2
FRIDAY, APRIL 10
7:00 p.m.: Team and All-Around Finals | Individual Event Preliminaries
SATURDAY, APRIL 11
7:00 p.m.: Individual Event Finals
LET'S MEET THE TEAMS
The first session of the NCAA Qualifier will feature No. 2 Stanford, No. 3 Penn State, No. 6 Minnesota, No. 7 California, No. 10 Air Force and No. 11 Nebraska, while the second session will include host and top-ranked Oklahoma, defending national champion and No. 4 Michigan, No. 5 Illinois, No. 8 Iowa, No. 9 Ohio State and No. 12 Army. In addition, both sessions will include individual event specialists from Illinois-Chicago, Navy, Springfield and William & Mary.
HOW THIS WORKS
The national qualifier, which consists of two six-team sessions, will be held on Thursday, April 9. The top three teams, top three all-around competitors not on an advancing team, and top three individuals on each event not already qualified on a team or as an all-around competitor from each session will compete on Friday, April 10, at the team finals, all-around finals and event prelims. The top 10 individuals on each event during Friday's meet will advance to the events finals on Saturday, April 11.
SCOUTING THE FIELD
Stanford holds the highest National Qualifying Average of the first session, recording a score of 438.025. The Cardinal also boast a pair of individual leaders in the national standings in Akash Modi (all-around, 89.963; parallel bars, 15.563) and Sean Senters (vault, 15.275). Penn State is ranked third with a NQA of 437.850, while Minnesota and California are listed sixth (433.250) and seventh (431.113), respectively. Air Force is listed 10th with a 427.113 and Nebraska rounds out the session with a #11 ranking and NQA of 421.838.
YOU LOOK FAMILIAR
Air Force has faced all but one of the teams in its national qualifying session. The Falcons, who most recently saw Stanford and California at the MPSF Championships on March 28, opened the season with a victory over Nebraska at the Rocky Mountain Shootout on Jan. 17 and traveled to Minnesota for their first road meet on Jan. 24.
MAKING NOISE ON THE POMMEL HORSE
The Falcons boast a pair of top-five gymnasts on the pommel horse, as Arinn Wade is ranked fourth with a National Qualifying Average of 15.238 and Tim Wang is listed fifth with a 15.000. As a team, the Falcons are ranked fourth with a NQA of 71.563.
AIR FORCE IN THE RANKINGS
Backed by their #4 ranking on the pommel horse, the Falcons are ranked among the nation's top 10 in five of six events. Air Force is listed ninth on the floor exercise (72.838) and vault (72.500), while holding #10 marks on the parallel bars (70.988) and high bar (69.800). Individually, seven Falcons are ranked among the nation's top 20. In addition to the top-five marks from Arinn Wade and Tim Wang on the pommel horse, Chase Cannon is ranked ninth on the high bar (14.888), Aaron Nubine and Denis Aurelius are listed 14th on the floor exercise (14.900) and still rings (14.975), respectively, and Josh Ramos is ranked 19th on the parallel bars (14.675) and 20th on the floor exercise (14.850).
HISTORY 101
Air Force is making its fifth straight team appearance at the NCAA National Qualifier. Prior to the 2011 season, the Falcons hadn't sent a full squad to any level of the national meet since 1998, when it qualified for the NCAA West Regional (the current national qualifier replaced the regional meets in 2000). Air Force has made nine appearances in the team finals of the NCAA Championships (1961-62-63-64-70-72-73), with its best finish (sixth) coming at the 1972 championship meet.
HISTORY 201
Nine Falcons have claimed All-America status at the NCAA Championships, including Tim Wang, who finished fourth on the pommel horse last spring. Jim Weaver (1962 tumbling), Doug Reynolds (1964 tumbling), Terry Higgins (1966 parallel bars), Bill Ritter (1972 floor exercise), John Tomich (1973 vault), Joel Miller (1992 still rings) Tim Hess (1993 floor exercise) and Greg Stine (2008 still rings, 2008 all-around) have also claimed All-America honors at the national meet.
Players Mentioned
