Gymnasts Look To Defend ECAC Title

WEST PONT, N.Y. – The Army West Point gymnastics team has been gearing all year long for the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Championships. The team is healthy and ready for the challenge that awaits them this weekend when the Black Knights head to Williamsburg, Va., in the hunt for their second straight title, 14th overall, with the champion earning the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Six teams will descend upon host William & Mary's Kaplan Arena this weekend with the team and all-around finals beginning at 2 p.m. Saturday and the individual event finals (top 10 scores in each of the six events) scheduled for Sunday at 1 p.m. The top six scorers in the event finals earn all-conference honors.

HOW TO FOLLOW: Live stats will be available on the schedule page of Army's website (www.GoArmyWestPoint.com) as well as host William & Mary's athletic site (TribeAthletics.com). Fans can also follow the Black Knights on Twitter (@ArmyWP_Gym).

TICKETS: Tickets for the championship are available through the W&M Ticket Office and can be purchased by on-line or by calling 757-221-3340. Tickets are $12 for adults per day, $6 for children per day 12 and under and free for students of competing schools with a valid student ID.

THE FIELD: In addition to Army and host William & Mary, Navy, Springfield, Illinois Chicago and Temple round out the field.

The defending ECAC champion Black Knights, ranked No. 12 nationally (420.617), head into the meet as the top seed with No. 13 Navy is second (418.417), followed by No. 14 William & Mary (409.133) in rounding out the top three. No. 15 Springfield is fourth with a 405.500 average, No. 18 Temple is fifth (395.983) and UIC is 19th (388.167).

SCOUTING ARMY: The Black Knights are coming off runner-up honors at the USA Gymnastics National Championships with senior Jesse Glenn setting the pace. He became the second gymnast in academy history to be crowned a USA National Champion after capturing medalist honors on high bar. He broke his own school record in that event during the team portion where the Black Knights rallied to overcome Navy for second.

Glenn earned a total of four USAG All-America certifications (top six) in all-around, high bar, parallel bars and vault for a total of nine in his career after claiming five in 2004.

Five Black Knights combined for 10 USAG All-America certificates with Leo Genders (high bar and floor exercise) and Cole Casanova (all-around, still rings) joining Glenn earning multiple honors. Sam Kusnitz (floor exercise) and Seth Cannon (parallel bars) rounded out Army's contingent.

Glenn heads into the meet ranked first in the conference on high bar (second nationally with a 15.20 average) where five Black Knights are ranked in the top six. Leo Genders is second (14.65), Nathan Goff fourth (14.45), Kusnitz fifth (14.433) and Casanova sixth (14.15). Overall that contingent is ranked among the top 51 in the nation.

The all-around leader as well, Glenn is ranked No. 15 nationally (85.633) and first in the ECAC (82.867) with Casanova listed third in the conference (82.917).

Glenn is also ranked second in the conference on floor exercise (14.683), third on pommel horse (14.533) and vault (14.717) and fourth on parallel bars (14.342).

Also among the individual leaders are Kusnitz, third on floor exercise (14.405), fourth on vault (14.583), fifth on high bar and 10th on parallel bars (13.80).

Elliott Herman lists eighth on floor exercise (14.367), Andre Hufnagel is fifth on pommel horse (14.283), Ryan Wilson is sixth on vault (14.433) and Casanova ranks third on still rings (14.233), eighth on vault (14.400) and ninth on parallel bars (13.817

In the team scoring, the Black Knights are ranked No. 12 (420.617) and first in the conference where they also list first on floor exercise (71.130) and high bar (71.00), second on pommel horse (68.783), still rings (67.530), vault (71.670) and parallel bars (67.270).

Glenn is a six-time ECAC champion who is looking to defend his title for the third straight year in all-around and high bar and claim his second straight on vault and parallel bars. He was a four-time champion last year and two-time in 2014.

The last time that Army repeated as an ECAC champion was in the early 1950s when the Black Knights claimed three straight crowns (1950-52).

"We are ready to go, said Van Everen, who is looking to become just the second coachin Army history to earn back-to-back conference titles. "We had a good week of practice and we know what we have to do.

"We are starting on vault and I think it is going to be a good event for us. We want to jump right out and take the lead and keep moving forward the whole meet. We definitely have the best team there, but you have to hit your routines.

Navy, ranked No. 13 and second in the conference, is first on still rings (70.094), vault (71.813) and parallel bars (68.394), while second on floor (70.056), and high bar (68.875).

Army and Navy have competed in the same meet four times this season with the Black Knights finishing ahead of them at the West Point Open and the USAG Championships, where they overcame a four-point deficit to claim runner-up honors. The Midshipmen won the dual match and finished ahead of Army at the All-Academy Championships.

"When we lost to Navy the two times it was because we didn't hit our routines," noted Van Everen. "I am confident that we will hit our routines and we need everyone to contribute in order to have a consecutive conference win."

Vault, parallel bars, floor exercise and high bar are strong events for Army and the addition of Goff on pommel horsewill will add valuable points to that event.. Pommel horse at the beginning of the year along with parallel bars were solid events, but injuries threw some issues Army's way, but the Black Knights are healthy and ready to challenge.

ARMY VS. THE FIELD: The Black Knights are 3-1 in the conference having defeated Springfield twice along with a win over William & Mary, while suffering its lone defeat to Navy. Army also finished ahead of Temple at the West Point Open but did not compete against UIC.

SCOUTING NAVY: At last year's ECAC meet, Navy finished second to Army for its highest finish in the championships since 2009.

The Midshipmen were edged by Army for runner-up honors last week at the USA Gymnastics Collegiate Championships. In the individual event finals, the Mids had six gymnasts qualified in at least one event and all six competitors came away with nine USAG Collegiate All-American honors.

The Mids crowned three champions in Mitchell Larios (vault), John Tang (floor exercise) and Eric Pioletti (still rings). Larios is ranked first in the conference on parallel bars and vault with Poletti and Tang the leader on still rings and floor exercise, respectively.

SCOUTING WILLIAM & MARY: The host Tribe, ranked No. 14 nationally, is third in the conference (404.961) in trailing Army and Navy by over 10 points. William & Mary ranks first in the league on pommel horse (69.133)

The Tribe finished fourth last week at the USA Gymnastics Collegiate Championships where Rob Meyer was crowned the champion on parallel bars. He heads into the meet ranked third (14.4) in the conference with Griffin Antle second on pommel horse (14.153).

William & Mary was third at last year's ECAC Championships.

SCOUTING SPRINGFIELD: The Pride finished fifth at the USA Gymnastics Collegiate Championships, which they hosted last weekend. Jon Zirna, who was runner-up on pommel horse, is ranked first in the league with a 15.033 average and ranks No. 11 nationally. He also earned USAG All-America honors on parallel bars, with Josh Diek claiming his certificate on still rings following a fifth-place finish at the meet,

The Pride finished sixth at last year's ECAC Championships.

SCOUTING UIC: Winless in six dual meets, the Flames' best showing of the season was runner-up honors in a meet hosted by Minnesota. UIC is ranked fifth among the collegiate teams competing at the meet and 19th overall with an average mark of 3865.167 behind club team Temple's 394.308.

Last year UIC posted a 409.35 to finish fourth at the ECAC Championships.

Gymnasts Look To Defend ECAC Title

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Players Mentioned

Seth Cannon

Cole Casanova

Leo Genders

Jesse Glenn

Nathan Goff

Elliott Herman

Andre Hufnagel

Sam Kusnitz

Ryan Wilson

Army West Point Athletics