April 3, 2009
WEST POINT, N.Y. - Navy's Dylan Parrott (So./Rockwell, N.C.) won the all-around competition to lead the 13th-ranked Midshipmen to a second-place finish at the ECAC Championship on Friday night at Army's Gross Sports Center.
Illinois-Chicago won the team title and claimed the automatic berth to the NCAA Qualifying Meet with a score of 341.05 points, just ahead of Navy's season-high 340.2 points. However, the Midshipmen finished far enough ahead of William & Mary (338.45 points) and Temple (338.1 points) that they will jump ahead of both schools in the final national qualifying average ranking and earn the final at-large team spot in the NCAA Qualifying Meet.
The Midshipmen won more events, three, than any other school at the meet on Friday night. The Mids boasted the highest score on the pommel horse (season-high 55.55 points) and high bar (season-high 57.5 points), while tying Springfield for first-place honors on the floor exercise (56.45 points).
Navy's performance was thanks in large part to Parrott's all-around performance in which he topped the field with a six-discipline cumulative score of 85.25 points, a career high and 0.35-point better than Illinois-Chicago's second-place mark from Andrew Stover. Parrott, who came into the meet 17th-ranked all-around gymnast in the country, became the first Navy gymnast to win the all-around since Gerald Haran helped the Midshipmen win the team crown in 1988.
Parrott topped all gymnasts on the high bar with an impressive 15.1-point routine, 0.15-point above his previous season high in winning the event at William & Mary with Penn State. The Navy sophomore also finished second on the floor exercise with a score of 14.7 points and tied for eighth on the parallel bars with a 13.7-point mark from the judges. All together, Parrott scored at least a 13.4 or higher in all-six events on Friday evening.
Fellow all-around gymnast Andrew Faulk (Fr./San Antonio, Texas) placed sixth with a cumulative tally of 83.45 points. He registered Navy's other individual top score on Friday, topping the field with a superb 15.95-point showing on the vault. He also tied for ninth on the high bar with a score of 14.0 points.
Joseph Atzenbeck (Sr./Broomfield, Colo.) delivered season-high performances in two events. The Navy senior landed second overall on the pommel horse with a 14.65-point routine and placed third on the high bar with a 14.6-point score from the judges.
Team captain Adam Stanton (Sr./Centennial, Colo.) matched his season-high mark of 14.3 points on the still rings to place seventh. He also tied for eighth on the parallel bars with a score of 13.7 points. Classmate Ken Lee (Sr./Rockville, Md.) tied his season high on the vault with a 15.3-point showing to finish 10th overall. He also landed in 10th place on the pommel horse (13.65 points) and still rings (14.0 points).
Two other Midshipmen finished among the top-eight competitors in an event. James Godfrey (Sr./Columbia, S.C.) landed fourth on the floor exercise with a score of 14.4 points and Trey James (Sr./Matthews, N.C.) placed eighth on the pommel horse with a 13.7-point routine.
Navy's qualifiers for the ECAC Individual Event Finals will compete tomorrow night at 6 p.m. in the Gross Sports Center.
2009 ECAC CHAMPIONSHIP
TEAM SCORES
1. Illinois-Chicago - 341.05
2. Navy - 340.2
3. William & Mary - 338.45
4. Temple - 338.1
5. Springfield - 333.35
6. Army - 318.35
7. MIT - 316.7
INDIVIDUAL EVENT QUALIFIERS
FX - Dylan Parrott, James Godfrey
PH - Joseph Atzenbeck, Trey James
SR - Adam Stanton
V - Andrew Faulk
PB - Adam Stanton, Dylan Parrott
HB - Dylan Parrott, Joseph Atzenbeck
