March 21, 2009
PHILADELPHIA - The No. 14 Navy gymnastics team concluded its regular season with a second-place finish at No. 13 Temple's tri-meet with No. 18 Army on Saturday afternoon in McGonigle Hall.
Host Temple scored 340.8 points - more than eight points higher than any home meet this year - to win the meet. The Midshipmen (15-4) placed second with 323.6 points and the Black Knights finished third with 317.15 points.
Team captain Adam Stanton (Sr./Centennial, Colo.) won one event and finished among the top-five gymnasts in two others. Stanton tied for first with Temple's Jesse Kitsen-Abelson on the pommel horse with a score of 14.2 points. Stanton placed fifth on the still rings courtesy of his 14.25-point performance and tied for fifth on the parallel bars, alongside teammate James Godfrey (Sr./Columbia, S.C.), with a 13.7-point routine.
Joseph Atzenbeck accounted for Navy's other individual event title on Saturday. He topped the field on the high bar with a solid score of 14.2 points.
Two other Mids had overall top-five scores. Andrew Faulk (Fr./San Antonio, Texas) landed third on the high bar with a score of 13.9 points. Aaron Ingram (Fr./Battle Ground, Wash.) placed fifth on the floor exercise with a 13.3-point showing.
The Midshipmen will begin postseason action next weekend when they head down to Kaplan Arena in Williamsburg, Va., for the USAG Collegiate Division Championship. The defending champions will compete for their second-straight team title on Friday at 7 p.m., before the individual event finals on Saturday at 7 p.m.
