Gymnastics Hosts Air Force Friday Evening

WEST POINT, N.Y. – The Amy West Point men's gymnastics team, idle since finishing runner-up at the annual West Point Open two weeks ago, returns to the dual meet circuit Friday evening hosting service-academy rival Air Force at Gross Sports Center.

Action gets underway at 6 p.m. and fans unable to attend can follow the action on a live stream provided on Army West Point's website at GoArmyWestPoint.com/watch. Live updates will also available on Twitter @ArmyWP-Gym.

THE SERIES
The Black Knights, ranked No. 13th in the latest College Gymnastics Association (CGA) Coaches' Poll, hold a 20-16-0 lead in the all-time series that began in 1962-63 with Army defeating Air Force in the inaugural match.

Of late, the Falcons, currently ranked No. 9, have commanded the series as Army heads into the 37th meeting looking to record its first win over Air Force since claiming a road decision in 2007.

While the Black Knights' last home win over the Falcons was in 2006, their last home match against Air Force in 2014 went down to the final event with Army trialing by just 1.25 points. Air Force outscored the Black Knights 68.85-68.3 on high bar to escape with a 417.85-416.05 decision.

The loss was Army's seventh straight in the series, but the closest since a 331.35-331.30 defeat to Air Force at the start of the Falcons run in 2008. This year's meet is expected just as close with the Black Knights in the hunt for a different ending.

HOW THE TEAMS STACK UP
"The one event we are concerned about is still rings," says Army head coach Doug Van Everen. "So our job is to make certain we have a big-enough advantage on the rest of the events, where we are strong. Whoever has the best hit percentage is going to win the meet."

In addition to a strong upper class contingent, Army boasts a solid freshmen class as the Black Knights have one of the strongest teams under Van Everen.

"Freshman Cole Casanova has done extraordinarily well and he will be doing all-around again for use," noted the coach who is in his 26th year at the helm. Elliot Herman is another plebe who is doing great, and both are helping us quite a bit along with the rest of our freshman class.

"Air Force has more depth than us and has posted a better score than we have so far, but we are good and we are going to do well. We just have to hit our routines.

"At the WP Open we had an 11-point lead over Navy going into pommel horse and then we had a lot of problems and then another as well on the rings. If we do a normal job like we did at Penn State on pommel horse, then we would have scored around 425 at the WP Open, and that is basically where Air Force is."

	ARMY	AIR FORCE
SCORE AVERAGE	409.875	425.225
FLOOR EXERCISE	70.300 (No. 13)	72.850 (No. 6)
POMMEL HORSE	65.350 (No. 14)	70.150 (No. 4)
STILL RINGS	64.575 (No. 18)	70.400 (No. 9)
VAULT	71.650 (No. 13)	73.275 (No. 5)
PARALLEL BARS	67.675 (No. 13)	68.875 (No. 12)
HIGH BAR	70.325 (No. 8)	69.675 (No. 10)
CGA RANKING	13th 409.875	9th 425.225

Though Air Force has a top ranking in five of the six team events, the Black Knights have a higher average on high bar (70.325) that ranks eighth nationallyl to AF's 68.875 (No. 10). Army also scored a higher season mark on parallel bars (70.15) to the Falcons' 69.15.

Floor exercise and vault scores are close between the two teams, while Air Force has outpointed Army by over three points on pommel horse and still rings. Army has the advantage on high bar, which will be the final event of the night as the Black Knights show a 70.325 average to the Falcons' 69.675.

FLOOR EXERCISE: Sam Kusnitz recorded Army's top score of 14.7 followed closely by Jesse Glenn at 14.65. Air Force's Tim Wang has scored a 15.1 with the second best mark of 14.8 recorded by Denis Aurelius.

POMMEL HORSE: Air Force's Wang is ranked third nationally (14.975 average) with a 15.1 season high. Arinn Wade checks in with a14.525 average with Army's colors carried by Nathan Goff and Glenn who have scored marks of 14.4 and 14.1, respectively.

STILL RINGS: Air Force's team captain Denis Aurelius is ranked No. 12 nationally (14.75 average) with Fletcher Braunton and Wang each in the 14-point range. Army's freshman own three of its top scores thus far with Elliot Herman the leader with a team high score (14.3) followed by Ryan Wilson's 13.855 and Cole Casanova's 13.8.

VAULT: Wang is the Falcons' leader on vault and heads into the meet ranked third nationally with a 15.275 average. He equaled the school mark in that even last recording a 15.35. Christian Kalustian is 10th (15.025) followed by Aurelius (14.65).

Glenn and Kusnitz have each posted season highs of 14.7 followed by Ryan Wilson with a 14.6 making this event a close one as the teams battle for key points heading into the final two.

PARALLEL BARS: Army's Glenn and Air Force's Casey Branin have each posted 14.4s in this event. Black Knight Nathan Golff is close behind at 14.25 follow by Kusnitz' 14.0 with Air Force looking to Wang and Arin Wade, who have posted marks of 14.3 and 14.0, respectively, as the teams challenge for vital points in the meet.

HIGH BAR: Army school record-holder Jesse Glenn is ranked No. 13 in the nation on vault (14.7 average) with a season high 14.9. Leo Genders checks in at No. 16 (14.575) behind a season best 14.65 followed by Goff's top score of 14.3.

Air Force's Tim Wang list 22nd with a 14.45 average followed by Chase Cannon (14.1) and Arinn Wade (14.075).

Similar to 2014, this event could decide the fate of the meet.

ARMY (0-1) LAST TIME OUT: The Black Knights are coming off runner-up honors at the West Point Open after edging Navy, 416.35-415.80, for that spot for the second straight year. Penn State captured the meet with a winning mark of 424.85.

Senior Jesse Glenn and junior Leo Genders tied for second on high bar (14.5) and cow Sam Kusnitz was runner-up on floor exercise (14.7) in the team scoring. Glenn also earned a share of third on floor exercise and tied for sixth on parallel bars.

Cole Casanova's third-place performance in the all-around (82.200) earned the Army plebe Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Rookie of the week honors.

Army's team score on parallel bars (70.15) and vault (72.50) are the fifth and sixth best marks in program history since the scoring system was overhauled in 2006.

Seven Black Knights advanced to the individual finals with Kusznitz earning the silver on vault (14.7) and Goff claiming a pair of thirds on pommel horse (14.4) and high bar (14.3).

Army opened the season taking on reigning Big 10 champion Penn State, raked No. 10 in the latest poll, on the road where the Black Knights fell 424.45-403.40. Glenn captured high bar with a score of 14.9 in leading Army to a 70.20 team mark.

AIR FORCE LAST TIME OUT: The Falcons fell to Nebraska, 434.300-425.950, in their first dual competition of the season. Junior Tim Wang's winning performance on vault of 15.35 tied the school record. The all-arounder also earned runner-up honors on pommel horse (15.1) and high bar (14.75) and was third on parallel bars (14.3).

Senior Denis Aurelius won still rings (14.95) along with runner-up honors on vault by Christian Kalustian (15.05).

The Falcons also finished second at their own invite, the Rocky Mountain Open won by NCAA defending champion Oklahoma (currently No. 1 nationally) who posted a 448.55 followed by Air Force's 424.70.

UP NEXT: Army heads to the road for an ECAC conference match against arch-rival Navy in Annapolis, Md., next Saturday (Feb. 6). The Midshipmen, currently ranked 12th, competed at the West Point Open and finished third behind the second-place Cadets.

Then Army, Air Force and Navy will face each other again on Saturday, Feb. 13^th, in Atlanta, Ga., for the annual All-Academy Championships.

Gymnastics Hosts Air Force Friday Evening

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Players Mentioned

Cole Casanova

Leo Genders

Jesse Glenn

Nathan Goff

Sam Kusnitz

Ryan Wilson

Army West Point Athletics