Feb. 12, 2009

ANNAPOLIS, Md. - The No. 11 Navy gymnastics team (10-1) will aim to win its second-consecutive All-Academy Championship against No. 16 Air Force (2-7) and No. 18 Army (1-7) this Saturday night at 7 p.m. PT (10 p.m. ET) in the Multnomah Athletic Club at Portland, Ore.

All-Time at the All-Academy Championship
• Navy won its first All-Academy Championship last season in Laguna Beach, Calif., scoring more than eight points higher than Air Force and 12 points higher than Army. The win for the Midshipmen snapped Army's seven-year winning streak at the annual event. Air Force came away victorious in the inaugural championship in 2000.

Navy Off to One of Best Starts in School History
• Navy's 10-1 start to the 2009 season ranks as one of the best in school history. The 1983 and 1988 squads both began the year with stellar 10-1 marks before finishing their seasons with records of 11-1 and 11-3, respectively.
• Fifteen Navy gymnastics teams in the past recorded perfect seasons but did not take on more than seven schools in a given year. The Midshipmen last achieved that feat in 1961, as they finished 7-0 and won the EIGL. Navy registered six-straight undefeated seasons from 1922-27 and 1929-34, winning 24- and 32-consecutive meets during those spans, respectively.

Ten-Win Seasons Under Fukushima
• With Navy's convincing Star Meet victory at Army, head coach Dr. Sho Fukushima registered his 10th 10-win season in his 18-year career in Annapolis. Prior to Fukushima's arrival, the Midshipmen had boasted 10-win campaigns only in 1983 (11), 1987 (10) and 1988 (11).

We Meet Again
• Navy will see familiar faces in Portland, Ore., on Saturday, as the meet will be the third against Army and second against Air Force this season. In each of the previous meetings, the Midshipmen have come out on top. In its first-two competitions at Army, Navy outscored its hosts in the West Point Open, 329.15-317.75, and in the Star Meet, 330.05-318.3. During the first meeting between Navy and Air Force in the Navy Open, the Midshipmen defeated the Falcons, 332.5-324.1.

Scouting Air Force
• The No. 16 Air Force Falcons come into Saturday's meet with a 2-7 record after defeating service-academy foe Army in Colorado Springs two weeks ago, 329.1-309.6. Air Force has seen its score rise in each of its last-three meets, with its home finale against the Black Knights signaling a season-high performance. All-around gymnast Nash Mills was named the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Gymnast of the Week after winning the parallel bars (13.95) and all-around (81.35) against Army.

Scouting Army
• The No. 18 Army Black Knights will make the trek out to the West Coast with a 1-7 record on the year following its 330.05-318.3 loss on its home equipment against Navy in the Star Meet last Saturday. Army's team score against the Mids was its highest of the year, 0.35-point better than its effort in the West Point Open. In their only road meet of the year at Air Force, the Black Knights scored 309.6 points in a loss to the Falcons. Last Saturday at home, Ty Smith placed third in the all-around with an 80.4 and topped the Black Knights on the floor exercise (13.65), high bar (13.2) and still rings (13.3).

Stacking Up the Field
• Below is a list of each school's average score and national ranking for every event:

Event       Navy        Air Force   ArmyFloor Exercise  55.733 (12th)   54.412 (16th)   52.562 (18th)Pommel Horse    53.533 (9th)    51.300 (14th)   51.100 (15th)Still Rings 53.867 (14th)   54.587 (13th)   51.150 (20th)Vault       58.850 (15th)   58.387 (17th)   58.262 (18th)Parallel Bars   53.033 (12th)   53.562 (11th)   49.725 (19th)High Bar 55.550 (9th)    52.000 (15th)   51.000 (17th)Team Score  330.567 (11th)  324.250 (16th)  313.800 (18th)

Navy's Last Meet: Navy 330.05, Army 318.3 (Star Meet - Feb. 7)
• Navy's Andrew Faulk and Dylan Parrott combined for three individual event titles and boasted the top-two all-around scores to lead the Midshipmen to a convincing 330.05-318.3 victory over Army in the Star Meet last Saturday in the Gross Sports Center. The No. 10 Midshipmen (10-1) won the individual title in each of the six disciplines, three of which they registered the top-three scores. Navy also sported a higher team score than No. 18 Army (1-7) in five of the six events, three of which were by a margin greater than two points.
• Navy won the N-Star for the second-consecutive year and third time over the last-four seasons. The victory also snapped a five-meet skid in Star Meet action against Army in West Point.
• In his first-career Star Meet, Faulk won the vault competition with an impressive 15.3-point routine and won the all-around with a season-best score of 81.35 points. He also finished second on the floor exercise with a 13.95-point routine and scored a 13.15 on the high bar to finish fourth. His fellow all-around gymnast, Parrott, won the floor exercise and high bar with scores of 14.4 and 14.45 points, respectively. He also delivered a 13.1-point second-place routine on the parallel bars to help produce his all-around score of 80.85 points that landed him just behind Faulk.
• Team captain Adam Stanton also won two events and finished second. Stanton topped the field on the still rings and parallel bars with scores of 14.0 and 13.2 points, respectively. He also came up with a 13.7-point showing on the pommel horse to place second on the apparatus. Navy's other individual event title came from Joseph Atzenbeck on the pommel horse, where he executed a strong 14.6-point routine.

Ranking Gymnasts
• Three members of the Navy gymnastics team are ranked in the top-five of the ECAC and/or among the top 20 in the nation in several different events.
• All-around gymnast Dylan Parrott ranks second in the conference with his average score of 81.867. Many of those points come on the high bar and floor exercise, both events in which he tops the ECAC and ranks nationally. The Navy sophomore owns the ninth-best high bar ranking in the nation with a 14.412, while his 14.612 average on the floor exercise ranks his 20th in the country.
• Fresh off his impressive 15.3-point performance on the vault last Saturday at Army, Andrew Faulk ranks third in the ECAC on the apparatus with an average score of 14.983. Teammate Joseph Atzenbeck ranks fourth in the conference on the pommel horse with a 13.683 average following his strong 14.6-point routine last week.

Feature Story: Team Captain Adam Stanton - Academic and Athletic Excellence
• At first glance, senior Adam Stanton looks like your average, clean-cut midshipman. Don't let that fool you. Beneath the uniform lurks 5'8" of rock solid muscle honed by over fifteen years of rigorous gymnastic training. Paired with a voracious determination to succeed, Stanton proves himself to be a formidable competitor.
• For the remainder of the feature story, click here.

NCAA Scoring System
• Last year, the NCAA adopted the international scoring system used during the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The 10.0 is still there, but now that is in addition to the difficulty of the routine and the required elements that a gymnast must perform.
• Theoretically, a gymnast could score up to 19.5 or so, if he did one of the most difficult skills perfectly, but realistically top world-class performers are starting from between 16 and 17. From there the penalties are taken for any mistakes that a gymnast may make. The following should help explain how routines will now be judged at NCAA men's competitions.
• Lets start with the skills and their value; "A" = 0.1, "B" = 0.2, "C" = 0.3, "D" = 0.4, "E" = 0.5, "F" = 0.6 and "G" = 0.7. The difficulty of a routine is determined by adding the 9 best skills plus the dismount. So if a gymnast performs 2 A's (0.2), 3 B's (0.6), 3 C's (0.9) and 2 D's (0.8) his routine difficulty would add up to 2.5.
• Next, the judge looks for the 5 event Element Groups / Worth 0.5 each = 2.5. These are required elements that must be performed in a routine. They include the following:
Floor Exercise (FX): 1) Non Acrobatic Elements 2) Acrobatic forward 3) Acrobatic backward 4) Sideward acrobatic elements 5) Dismount
Pommel Horse (PH): 1) Single leg work 2) Circles, spindles, handstands 3) Side & cross travels 4) Kehres & wendeswings 5) Dismount
Still Rings (SR): 1) Kip & swing elements 2) Swing to handstand 3) Swing to strength 4) Strength & Hold elements 5) Dismount
Parallel Bars (PB): 1) Support on rails 2) Upper arm on rails 3) Long hang swing 4) Swing through hang on both rails 5) Dismount
Horizontal Bar (HB): 1) Long hang swings 2) Flight elements 3) In bar elements 4) El-grip 5) Dismount
• Therefore, 2.5 (added skills value) + 2.5 (5 element groups) + 10 = 15.00 (start value score)
• From this start value score, deduct any technical errors, form breaks (small error 0.1, medium 0.3, large 0.5, fall 1.0) = Final score
• Two different flashing systems must be used to flash both the Start Value and the routine's Final Score independently. The final Scores may be posted as 14.2, 15.5 or 16.1 and will be labeled Final Score on the score flasher. So be sure to catch the Start Value and you can compare performances from there.

Following This Weekend's Action
• Navy will return home to host the last of two home meets of the year on Saturday, Feb. 28, when No. 10 William & Mary (4-1) and No. 15 Springfield (5-6) come back to Macdonough Hall for a second visit this season. The meet starts at 2 p.m. and admission is free with a free shuttle service provided to the Academy from Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium (Note: Fans are reminded that there is a $5 fee to park at the stadium and entry is located at Gate 5 on Taylor Ave.)