Air Force Takes Fourth at ASU Invitational

TEMPE, Ariz. – The 13th-ranked Air Force men's gymnastics team capped a busy 24-hour stretch with a fourth-place finish at the Arizona State Invitational in Tempe this afternoon (March 9). The Falcons, who competed at Stanford last night, tallied a 377.250 today to finish third amongst NCAA-level teams and fourth in the full six-team meet, which was held at the Sun Devil Fitness Center on the ASU campus.

Penn State, which is ranked fourth in the nation, won the meet with a score of 402.100. Ninth-ranked Navy (390.200) and 14th-ranked Arizona State (384.650) finished second and third, respectively, while Air Force (377.250), the Sun Devils' B team (328.100) and NorCal United (282.000) rounded out the field.

Senior Lukas Texeira picked up the Falcons' best individual finish of the day, as he finished second on the high bar with a score of 13.750. Sophomores Ethan Esval and Zach Polen also placed amongst the top five of the 30-gymnast competition, as Esval finished third on the still rings (13.900) and Polen took fourth on the parallel bars (13.150).

Backed by Esval's third-place score of 13.900, the Falcons placed two within the top five of the still rings and their entire rotation finished within the top half of the overall field. Fellow sophomore Frankie Valentin tied for fifth with a score of 13.600, while freshman Max Stergiades finished ninth (13.400) and a pair of Falcons – Texeira and Polen – tied for 11th with matching scores of 13.150.

Valentin was the Falcons' top finisher on the floor exercise (13.350, eighth) and pommel horse (12.550, 10th), while also placing amongst the top half of the field on the vault (13.550, 14th) and high bar (12.800, 13th), and Texeira added a 14.100 on the vault to round out the Falcons' list of event leaders (sixth).

Sophomore Allen Shadan and freshman Nathan Reed earned top-10 finishes on the parallel bars, as they tied for sixth (12.900) and ninth (12.500), respectively, while senior Christian Kalustian added an eighth-place score of 13.350 on the high bar. Freshman Collin Hickey finished among the top half of the field on the floor exercise (12.750, 15th) and vault (13.700, 12th), while senior Ryan Girouard finished 11th on the floor exercise (13.250) and sophomore Scott McMurray finished 13th on the pommel horse (12.200).

Air Force returns to action on March 17, when it travels to Minneapolis to face sixth-ranked Minnesota.

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Players Mentioned

Ethan Esval

Ryan Girouard

Collin Hickey

Christian Kalustian

Scott McMurray

Zach Polen

Nathan Reed

Allen Shadan

Max Stergiades

Lukas Texeira

Frankie Valentin

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