March 19, 2009

ANNAPOLIS, Md. - The No. 14 Navy gymnastics team (14-3) will round out its 2009 regular season with a tri-meet against No. 13 Temple and No. 18 Army at McGonigle Hall in Philadelphia this Saturday at 2 p.m.

Navy's Last Meet ... March 8 at William & Mary, Penn State
• Despite posting a season-high team score on March 8, the Navy gymnastics team fell to host William & Mary and Penn State at Kaplan Arena. The Midshipmen scored 336.45 points as team, while the Nittany Lions produced a 347.85-point showing and the Tribe racked up 340.05 points. William & Mary topped their season-high score by nearly five full points, which also came at home back on Feb. 8 in the State Open.
• Penn State boasted the highest team score in each of the six disciplines, while the Midshipmen and Tribe each placed second in three events. Navy landed second as a team on the vault (59.8 points), parallel bars (55.75 points) and high bar (55.65 points).
• Dylan Parrott tied for first place on the high bar with Penn State's Noah Shaham, the nation's fourth-best gymnast on the apparatus. The duo each earned a 14.95-point score from the judges. Parrott also finished fourth on the floor exercise with a score of 14.7 points.
• Team captain Adam Stanton and James Godfrey each won an event for the Mids on Sunday. Stanton produced a stellar 14.5-point showing on the pommel horse and Godfrey executed a 14.25-point routine on the parallel bars.

2009 Among Program's All-Time Winningest Seasons
• Navy's 14 victories in 2009 ranks as the fifth-most by the Midshipmen in the program's 88-year history. The Mids also defeated 14 teams in 2000 and '04. Navy set a school-record with 20 victories in 1995 and '02, followed by 18 wins in 1998 and 17 triumphs in 2001.

Ten-Win Seasons Under Fukushima
• With Navy's convincing Star Meet victory at Army on Feb. 7, 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).

Haven't We Met Before?
• Familiar faces will be meeting in McGonigle Hall on Saturday, as Navy will face Army for the fourth time this season and Temple for the third time in 2009.
• In each of the previous-three meetings, the Midshipmen scored well above their service-academy counterparts. At the West Point Open, Navy topped Army, 329.15-317.75, followed by a 330.05-318.3 win over the Black Knights on their home equipment in the Star Meet. The two teams met again at the All-Academy Championship, with Navy winning the title for the second-straight year and defeating Army, 335.6-312.9.
• Navy also topped Temple in their previous-two meetings this winter. At the West Point Open, the Mids defeated the Owls, 329.15-328.05. In the Navy Open, the Midshipmen defeated the Owls, 332.5-326.35.
• The Midshipmen will take on Army and Temple at the ECAC Championship in West Point, N.Y., on April 3-4.

Scouting Temple
• Temple is hosting its final home meet of the year on Saturday after dropping a 347.55-332.3 decision against Penn State two weeks ago in Philadelphia.
• The Owls are ranked 13th nationally with an average team score of 336.817 points, helped greatly by its 345.6-point outburst at Springfield on Feb. 21. Temple has averaged a 330.683 team score on its home equipment this season, scoring 332.55 and 332.3 points in its last-two home meets.
• Scott Bloomfield leads the ECAC and is ranked 14th nationally on the vault with an average score of 15.767 points. Pat McLaughlin also paces the conference on the parallel bars with an average mark of 14.367 points. Adam Al-Rokh ranks fifth in the conference in the all-around by virtue of his fourth-place averages on the pommel horse and still rings.

Scouting Army
• Army heads into its final regular season weekend following a fourth-place showing against Iowa, William & Mary and Springfield in West Point last Saturday. The host Black Knights produced a team score of 317.5 points.
• The Black Knights come into the weekend with an average team score of 317.85 points to rank 18th nationally. Army has progressively improved its team tally in road meets, with its highest score away from home coming against Springfield on March 8 with a 317.15-point showing.

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

Event       Navy        Army        TempleFloor Exercise  56.817 (13th)   53.233 (19th)   56.567 (14th)Pommel Horse    54.717 (13th)   52.783 (16th)   55.667 (10th)Still Rings 55.133 (16th)   52.900 (19th)   56.733 (12th)Vault       60.667 (15th)   59.167 (18th)   61.267 (11th)Parallel Bars   55.300 (12th)   50.600 (19th)   55.567 (10th)High Bar 56.100 (10th)   51.683 (19th)   54.617 (15th)Team Score  336.033 (14th)  317.850 (18th)  336.817 (13th)

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 Andrew Faulk ranks 20th nationally and second in the ECAC with an average score of 83.45 points. His best event is on the vault, where he has excelled with an average score of 15.683 points to rank third in the conference.
• Fellow all-around competitor Dylan Parrott is second in the conference with a six-event average mark of 83.267 points. He ranks first in the ECAC and 12th in the country on the high bar with an average score of 14.833 points. The Navy sophomore also finds himself ranked third in the conference on the floor exercise with an average performance of 14.833 points.
• Team captain Adam Stanton ranks third in the ECAC on the pommel horse with an average score of 14.333 points.

Honors Rolling in for Navy Gymnasts
• The following is a list of honors bestowed upon Navy gymnasts for their athletic excellence this winter:
Dylan Parrott - USAG Collegiate Division National Gymnast of the Week (Jan. 24-25, Feb. 14-15); ECAC Gymnast of the Week (Jan. 24-25)
Andrew Faulk - USAG Collegiate Division National Gymnast of the Week (Feb. 28-March 1); ECAC Rookie of the Week (Feb. 7-8, Feb. 28-March 1)
Bobby Ryerson - ECAC Rookie of the Week (Feb. 14-15)

Amazing Recovery Drives Navy Gymnast (Annapolis Capital)
• To read the feature story about Navy gymnast Andrew Faulk written by Bill Wagner for the Annapolis Capital on March 12, 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 begin postseason competition with the USAG Collegiate Division Championship at Kaplan Arena in Williamsburg, Va., next weekend. The team and all-around competition will take place on Friday at 7 p.m., followed by the individual event finals on Saturday at 7 p.m.
• Last season, the Midshipmen won the USAG Collegiate Division Championship and seven gymnasts earned All-America distinction.