Air Force Takes Second at All-Academy Championships

WEST POINT, N.Y. – With a score of 379.100, the Air Force men's gymnastics team finished second at the All-Academy Championships this afternoon (Feb. 13) in New York. With a pair of runner-up finishes, senior Frankie Valentin led the Falcons during their annual meet against their service academy counterparts.

Valentin, who earned runner-up honors in the all-around with a season-best score of 75.650, accounted for his highest scores of 2021 in four of the six individual events, including another second-place finish on the still rings (13.100) and top-five marks on the floor exercise (13.700) and vault (14.350).

Freshman Oliver Zavel and sophomore Troy Jenkins also accounted for second-place marks, as Zavel scored a career-best 12.800 to tie for second on the high bar and Jenkins posted a career-best 13.800 to earn that same placement in his first floor exercise routine of the year.

Junior Collin Hickey accounted for the team's top finish on the vault, as he posted a career-best 14.550 – the fifth-best score in Air Force history – to tie for third. Classmate Noah Everett and senior Ethan Esval rounded out the squad's list of top event finishers, as Everett scored a 13.050 to finish fourth on the pommel horse and Esval posted a 12.400 to tie for eighth on the parallel bars. Senior Allen Shadan added a fourth-place finish on the still rings (12.850), while freshman Garrett Braunton earned a pair of fifth-place scores following career-best marks on the floor exercise (13.700) and vault (14.350).

Hickey, Braunton and Valentin helped the Falcons to a new progam-best team total of 71.350 on the vault - adding nearly one point to the previous mark that had stood since 2017.

Navy defended its All-Academy title with a score of 395.200, while Air Force and Army West Point finished second (379.100) and third (377.850), respectively. The Falcons and Black Knights will face each other once more this season during a virtual meet on March 19, but Air Force returns to team competition one week earlier, when it travels to California for a conference dual with California on March 13.

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