Gymnasts Head to NCAA Championships

WEST PONT, N.Y. – The Army West Point gymnastics team has a date this weekend in Columbus, Ohio, for the NCAA Championships where the Black Knights will be looking to crown a champion or two along with cop All-America honors.Army will be competing individually at the two-day meet inside St. John Arena hosted by Ohio State on Friday, April 15th and Saturday, April 16th.

The meet opens with two qualifying rounds on Friday with the team finals, all-around winner and individual event finals decided on Saturday. The Black Knights will compete in the Session 1 Championship Qualifier on Friday at 1 p.m. which features No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 4 California, No. 5 Minnesota, No. 8 Penn State, No. 9 Nebraska and No. 12 Navy.

Army and Navy were co-ECAC (Eastern College Athletic Conference) champions, but the Midshipmen won the tie-breaker for the automatic bid to the NCAAs based on a higher away score.

ARMY'S INDIVIDUAL QUALIFIERS
Leading the way is senior Jesse Glenn, a finalist for the Nissen-Emery Award, who will be competing as an all-arounder along with freshman Cole Casanova. Glenn ranks first among the five individual qualifiers with an average of 85.963 and Casanova is second (85.90).

Glenn heads into the NCAAs ranked No. 1 nationally on high bar with an average of 15.288. His career high 15.45, which is an Army school record, is tied for the fifth highest score recorded this season. Glenn is also ranked 26th on floor exercise (14.8), 27th on pommel horse (14.475) and 28th on vault (14.813).

The Army senior is coming off a strong performance at the ECAC Championships where he defended his titles for the third straight year on all-around and high bar along with claiming his first crown on floor exercise.

Casanova is among the top 50 on floor exercise (14.45), still rings (14.175) and vault (14.475) and lists 53rd on pommel horse (13.725).

Multiple event qualifiers are juniors Sam Kusnitz and Leo Genders, along with sophomore Nathan Goff. Kusnitz met the standard in four events - floor exercise (14.563), vault (14.588), parallel bars (13.788) and high bar (14.45). He is the top qualifier in two of those events - floor exercise, where he broke the school record this season with a 15.35, and vault.

Genders ranks first among the qualifiers on high bar with a 14.625 average and lists second on floor exercise (14.50). Goff is listed third on parallel bars (13.85) and is second behind Genders on high bar (14.55) where the two are ranked 22nd and 26th nationally, respectively.

Rounding out the rest of Army's field is Seth Cannon on floor exercise (13.963), Elliott Herman, still rings (14.063), Joe Pritt (14.40, listed second) and Ryan Wilson (14.263) on vault.

Overall, Army has two qualifying as all-arounds (Glenn, Casanova), three on floor exercise (Kusnitz, Genders, Cannon), vault (Kusnitz, Pritts, Wilson) and high bar (Genders, Goff, Kusnitz), two on parallel bars (Goff, Kusniz) and one on still rings (Herman).

Cannon and Wilson also earned spots as alternates on parallel bars (13.619) and still rings (13.963), respectively.

NCAA SESSIONS:
Three teams and the top three all-around competitors not on one of the qualifying teams, plus the top three individuals on each event not already qualified on a team or as an all-around competitor, will advance from each pre-qualifying session to the finals sessions on Saturday.

TICKETS
Tickets can be purchased by visiting .ohiostatebuckyes.com. All Session and single session tickets for the NCAA Men's Gymnastics Championships are on sale at the Athletic Ticket Office, online at ticketmaster.com or by calling 1-800-745-3000.

An all-session passes can be purchased for $20 for adults or $12 youth/student/senior citizen. Single-session passes can be purchased for $12 or $7 for youth/student/senior citizen.

HOW TO FOLLOW
NCAA.com will be live streaming the two-day NCAA Championships
Live stats will be provided via sportsincbus.com

Visit goArmyWestPoint.com for up-to-date information and follow the Black Knights on Twitter @ArmyWP_Gym for updates.

ARMY LAST TIME OUT
The Black Knights are coming off a dominant performance at the ECAC Championships where they claimed their second straight team title (first time since 1952 and just the fourth time in school history) as they co-shared the title with Navy. The Black Knights set school marks on floor exercise (73.85) and high bar (73.20) in the meet along with posting season highs for team score (423.40) and vault (72.95).

Senior Jesse Glenn, a finalist for the Nissen-Emery Award and Army's top performer this season, defended his all-around title for the third straight year posting an 86.95, and was the top point producer on high bar after equaling his career high with a 15.45. Junior Leo Genders set a career high 15.2 beating the filed on floor exercised.

Seven Black Knights advanced in 17 events to the individual finals where Glenn captured a pair of ECAC titles to stretch his career total to nine. Named the ECAC Senior Gymnast of the Year (just the second Cadet selected for this honor and first since 2002), Glenn defended his title for the third straight year on high bar (15.10) as Army swept the top three spots with Nathan Goff placing runner-up (14.7) and Leo Genders taking third (14.4) as all three earned All-ECAC honors (top six).

Glenn claimed his first ECAC title on floor exercise (14.3) as he closed his career with three all-around and high bar titles, along with being crowned a champion on vault, parallel bars and floor exercise.

Freshman Cole Casanova was named the ECAC Rookie of the Year, just the sixth Black Knight to earn that honor and third in the last three years joining teammates Sam Kusnitz (2014) and Goff (2015). Casanova competed in three events with a career-high 14.55 earning him fifth place on still rings followed by a sixth on pommel horse (13.55) and tenth on vault (13.15).

Genders finished eighth on floor exercise (13.55) with Elliot Herman, setting a career mark on still rings where he placed seventh. Ryan Wilson just missed equaling his personal best 14.2 on vault with Kusnitz posting a 13.4 in finishing ninth in that event.

Head coach Doug Van Everen repeated as the ECAC Coach of the Year after co-sharing that honor with Navy, while Carmine Giglio and Carl Schrade garnered Assistant Coach recognition for the second straight year which they shared with Navy's staff.

TEAM HIGHLIGHTS

Second at the West Pont Open
Second at USAG Championships
Defeated Air Force for first time since 2007

INDIVIDUAL HIGHLIGHTS HEADING INTO THE NCAAs

Senior Jesse Glenn is ranked No. 1 on high bar (15.288) and No. 9 in all-around (85.963)
- He is also 26th on floor exercise (14.80), 27th on pommel horse (14.475) and 28th on vault (14.813)
Freshman Cole Casanova is second among the all-around qualifiers (83.90)
Junior Sam Kusnitz qualified in four events
- He ranks first on FX (14.563) and V (14.588), third on HB (14.45), fourth on PB (13.788)
Junior Leo Genders is ranked first among the qualifiers on HB (14.625) and second on FX (14.50)
Sophomore Nathan Goff is second among the qualifiers on HB (14.55) and third on PB (13.85
Junior Joe Pritts is second among the qualifiers on V (14.40)
Freshman Elliott Herman is third among the qualifiers on SR (14.063)
Sophomore Ryan Wilson is fifth among the qualifiers on V (14.263) and an alternate on SR (13.963)
Sophomore Seth Cannon is fifth on FX (13.963) and an alternate on PB (13.619)

QUICK POINTS

Nine Black Knights are among the NCAA Qualifiers – four upperclassmen and five underclassmen
Jesse Glenn is a Nissen-Emerey Finalist
- Nine-time ECAC Champion
  Nine-time USAG All-American to include a national title on high bar in 2016
Army gymnasts have earned 49 NCAA All-America certificates
Four are under present head coach Doug Van Evern
Last Black Knight to earn All-America honors was Brian Lee (second) on still rings in 2005
Army has four NCAA National Champions who combined for six titles
- Robert Sears – 1938 Horizon bar/Rope climb; 1939 Rope Climb
  Ray Belardi – 1939 Rope Climb
  John Claybrook – 1952 Rope Climb
  Jon Aarronsohn – 1960 Flying Rings
Army has never had an All-American in all-around, floor exercise or vault
Army will host the 2017 NCAA Championships

Gymnasts Head to NCAA Championships

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Seth Cannon

Cole Casanova

Leo Genders

Jesse Glenn

Nathan Goff

Elliott Herman

Sam Kusnitz

Joe Pritts

Ryan Wilson

Army West Point Athletics

Gymnasts Head to NCAA Championships

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Seth Cannon

Cole Casanova

Leo Genders

Jesse Glenn

Nathan Goff

Elliott Herman

Sam Kusnitz

Joe Pritts

Ryan Wilson

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