Air Force Academy
Illinois, with UIC
Air Force Splits Friday Night Triangular
3/9/2018 12:00:00 AM | Men's Gymnastics
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Air Force junior Jonah Urlaub collected a pair of top-three finishes to lead the 11th-ranked men's gymnastics team to a second-place score of 389.050 at the Illinois Triangular on Friday, March 9. Seventh-ranked Illinois won its home meet with a score of 405.700, while Illinois-Chicago, ranked 18th in the national standings, placed third with a total of 359.900.
With third-place scores on the floor exercise (13.800) and vault (career-best 14.200), Urlaub helped Air Force record a top-three finish on five of the six events. Senior Jonathon Fornoff scored a 13.900 to take third on the parallel bars, while fellow senior Fletcher Braunton earned the same placement on the still rings (13.800). Junior Lukas Texeira rounded out the Falcons' list of third-place finishers, as he registered a 13.000 to tie for that placement on the high bar.
Urlaub paced the Falcons to three of the top-five scores on the floor exercise, as classmates Eric Klein and Christian Kalustian placed fourth (13.650) and fifth (13.550), respectively. Freshman Frankie Valentin collected a pair of top-five finishes, as he led the team on the pommel horse with a fifth-place score of 12.850 and added a mark of 14.100 to finish fifth on the vault. Classmate Ethan Esval rounded out the Falcons' list of top-five finishers, as he scored a 13.650 to finish fifth on the parallel bars.
The squad's Midwest road swing continues on Sunday, March 11, when they travel to Iowa City to take on sixth-ranked Minnesota and ninth-ranked Iowa at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
Players Mentioned
