April 2, 2009

ANNAPOLIS, Md. - The No. 13 Navy gymnastics team will look to win its 14th conference title in program history this weekend when it heads to the ECAC Championship at Army's Gross Sports Center in West Point, N.Y. The team and all-around competition will take place on Friday at 6 p.m., followed by the individual event finals on Saturday at 6 p.m.

Postseason Implications of the ECAC Championship
• The winner of the ECAC Championship, alongside the Big Ten Championship, will earn automatic bids as teams to the NCAA Qualifying Meet on April 16 in Minneapolis, Minn.
• In addition, the top-10 teams with the highest national qualifying average will earn a spot at the NCAA Qualifying Meet. The national qualifying average is calculated by taking a team's four-highest scores - no more than two coming in home meets - then adding those three scores to double the team's score at the conference championship.
• Finally, the top-six gymnasts in the all-around and on each specific event not associated with those 12 teams will also advance to the NCAA Qualifying Meet. The same national qualifying average calculation will be used to determine the advancing gymnasts.

Tight Competition Expected at this Year's Championship
• Navy enters this year's ECAC Championship as the third-ranked team in the conference. However, the Midshipmen are one of four teams bunched among the top in the conference, separated by fewer than three points.
• Illinois-Chicago comes into the weekend ranked atop the conference with an average score of 337.683 points, followed by William & Mary's 335.467 points, Navy's 335.133 points and Temple's 334.85 points. Springfield ranks fifth with an average tally of 329.717 points, proceeded by Army's 317.35 points and MIT's 315.533 points.
• Navy produced a stellar 13-2 record this fall against ECAC schools this winter. Both of Navy's losses came on the road - at William & Mary and at Temple - with both schools scoring above 340.0 points.

In Order to Reach the NCAA Qualifying Meet as a Team...
• Navy, just like every other team in the ECAC, controls its own destiny. The winner of the ECAC Championship will claim the automatic bid to the NCAA Qualifying Meet.
• However, if the Midshipmen are unable to claim their 14th all-time conference title and punch their ticket with an automatic berth, there are scenarios in which it can claim the 10th-highest national qualifying average and a team entry to the national qualifying meet.
• If top-ranked Illinois-Chicago were to win the team title on Friday night, Navy would need to score at least 0.5-point higher than William & Mary and not be outscored by Temple by more than 0.425-point.
• If William & Mary were to come away as team champions, Navy would need to outscore Illinois-Chicago by at least 3.825 and not be outscored by Temple by more than 0.425-point.
• If Temple were to win the ECAC team title, the Midshipmen would need to score at least 3.825 points higher than Illinois-Chicago and outscore William & Mary by at least 0.5-point.

Navy in the ECAC Rankings
• Navy comes into the weekend ranked among the top-four teams in all-six events. The Midshipmen are ranked second on the high bar, behind only Illinois-Chicago, after boasting the highest conference average for much of the year. The Mids own the third-highest average team score on the floor exercise, trailing just William & Mary and Springfield.
• The Midshipmen have at least one gymnast ranking among the ECAC's top-five competitors in five of the six disciplines. Andrew Faulk and Dylan Parrott, who rank fourth (16th nationally) and fifth (17th nationally) in the conference in the all-around, respectively, headline the list. Faulk ranks fifth on the vault, while Parrott is first on the high bar (11th nationally) and second on the floor exercise. Team captain Adam Stanton leads the ECAC on the pommel horse (15th nationally) and ranks fifth on the parallel bars.

Last Weekend at the USAG Collegiate Division Championship
• Navy's Dylan Parrott finished fourth in the all-around and placed among the top-four competitors in two events to lead the Midshipmen to a second-place finish at the USAG Collegiate Division Championship last Friday at Kaplan Arena.
• Host William & Mary won its 13th USAG Collegiate Division team title with a score of 337.15 points. Navy's 333.75 points were good for second place, followed by Air Force's 332.75 points, Springfield's 328.95 points and MIT's 313.3 points. The Midshipmen boasted the highest team score on the parallel bars with a 54.9-point performance. The Mids produced the second-highest mark on the floor exercise (55.35 points), pommel horse (55.4 points), still rings (55.9 points) and high bar (53.85 points).
• Parrott led the Midshipmen with a fourth-place score of 81.3 points in the all-around. The Navy sophomore placed first on the parallel bars with a 14.05-point routine and finished fourth on the floor exercise with a similar 14.05-point showing. Team captain Adam Stanton (Sr./Centennial, Colo.) posted Navy's other top performance on Friday night. Stanton landed first on the pommel horse with an impressive 14.85-point score and also scored 14.3 points on the still rings for sixth place.
• One day later, Parrott and Joseph Atzenbeck each won an event to highlight Navy's efforts at the USAG Collegiate Division Championship individual event finals. Stanton earned All-America distinction in two events on Saturday. Stanton placed third on the pommel horse with a 13.55-point routine and earned a 14.2 from the judges on the still rings to finish fifth. Andrew Faulk and Trey James each were named All-Americans by the USAG. Faulk landed second on the floor exercise, behind only his teammate Parrott, with a score of 14.35 points. James came in fourth on the high bar with a 13.75-point performance.

2009 Among Program's All-Time Winningest Seasons
• Navy's 15 victories in 2009 ranks as the fifth-most by the Midshipmen in the program's 88-year history. 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).

Honors Rolling in for Navy Gymnasts
• The following is a list of honors bestowed upon Navy gymnasts for their athletic excellence this winter:
Joseph Atzenbeck - USAG Collegiate Division All-American (parallel bars, high bar)
Andrew Faulk - USAG Collegiate Division All-American (all-around, floor exercise); USAG Collegiate Division National Gymnast of the Week (Feb. 28-March 1); ECAC Rookie of the Week (Feb. 7-8, Feb. 28-March 1)
Trey James - USAG Collegiate Division All-American (high bar)
Dylan Parrott - USAG Collegiate Division All-American (all-around, floor exercise, vault); USAG Collegiate Division National Gymnast of the Week (Jan. 24-25, Feb. 14-15); ECAC Gymnast of the Week (Jan. 24-25)
Bobby Ryerson - ECAC Rookie of the Week (Feb. 14-15)
Adam Stanton - USAG Collegiate Division All-American (pommel horse, still rings)

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...
• Pending the results of this weekend's ECAC Championship, the Midshipmen will either go as a team or send individuals to the NCAA Qualifying Meet in Minneapolis, Minn., on Thursday, April 16.
• Those that qualify from that meet will advance to the NCAA Championship on Friday, April 17, for the team and all-around competition. The upper echelon of gymnasts in each discipline will move onto the individual event finals on Saturday, April 18.