Air Force Travels to Chicago for NCAA Championships
4/19/2018 12:00:00 AM | Men's Gymnastics
Meet Notes 10: at NCAA Championships 
The 11th-ranked Air Force men's gymnastics team wraps up the 2018 campaign this weekend, when it travels to Chicago for the NCAA Men's National Collegiate Gymnastics Championships on April 20-21. The Falcons, who are making their eighth-straight team appearance at the championship site, will open competition in the first of two National Qualifiers on Friday, April 21, at the UIC Pavilion.
MEET INFORMATION
The 2018 NCAA Men's National Collegiate Gymnastics Championships will be held at the UIC Pavilion on the University of Illinois at Chicago's campus. Two national qualifying sessions will be held on Friday, April 20, while the team and individual event finals will take place on Saturday, April 21. All-session passes are $30 for adults and $25 for youth, while single-day tickets are $15 for adults and $10 for youth. The NCAA is scheduled to provide live stats and video of all three sessions at ncaa.com.
LET'S MEET THE TEAMS
The afternoon session of the NCAA Qualifier will feature No. 2 Minnesota, No. 3 Michigan, No. 6 Stanford, No. 7 Nebraska, No. 10 Navy and No. 11 Air Force, while the evening session includes top-ranked Oklahoma, No. 4 Illinois, No. 5 Ohio State, No. 8 Penn State, No. 9 Iowa and No. 12 California. In addition, event specialists from William and Mary, Springfield, Illinois-Chicago and Army West Point will compete in one of the two qualifying sessions.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
With a mark of 409.463, Minnesota holds the highest National Qualifying Average of the first qualifier and is ranked second in the national standings. Michigan is ranked third with a NQA of 408.588, while Stanford and Nebraska are listed sixth (407.775) and seventh (407.175), respectively. Navy is ranked 10th with a NQA of 401.550, while Air Force rounds out the session with a No. 11 ranking and a national qualifying average of 396.625. Individually, Michigan's Jacob Moore leads the nation on the floor exercise (14.638) and Nebraska's Anton Stephenson holds the top NQA on the vault (14.938).
AIR FORCE IN THE RANKINGS
Air Force is ranked 11th in the NCAA with a National Qualifying Average of 396.625. The Falcons are also listed among the nation's top 10 on the still rings (ninth, 67.650), parallel bars (10th, 65.650) and pommel horse (10th, 65.213). Individually, Lukas Texeira is ranked sixth on the high bar with a NQA of 14.050 and Fletcher Braunton is listed 12th on the still rings with a mark of 13.988.
HISTORY 101
Air Force is making its eighth straight team appearance at the NCAA National Qualifier. Prior to the 2011 season, when the current streak began, the Falcons hadn't sent a full squad to any level of the national meet since 1998, when it qualified to the NCAA West Regional (the current national qualifier replaced the regional meets in 2000). Overall, Air Force had made 14 appearances at the NCAA Championships (1961-62-63-64, 1970, 1972-73, 2011-12-13-14-15-16-17), with its best finish (sixth) coming at the 1972 championship meet.
HISTORY 201
A total of 11 Falcons have claimed All-America status at the NCAA Championships, including Jim Weaver (1962 tumbling), Doug Reynolds (1964 tumbling), Terry Higgins (1966 parallel bars), Bill Ritter (1972 floor exercise), John Tomich (1983 vault), Joel Miller (1992 still rings), Tim Hess (1993 floor exercise), Greg Stine (2008 still rings, 2008 all-around), Tim Wang (2014 pommel horse, 2016 pommel horse, 2017 parallel bars, 2017 all-around), Denis Aurelius (2016 still rings) and Arinn Wade (2016 pommel horse).
