Feb. 2, 2010
Three members of the Air Force men’s gymnastics team will represent the Academy at the prestigious 2010 Winter Cup Challenge on Feb. 4-6. Junior Nash Mills, sophomore Joel Uptmor and freshman Tory Brown will compete against some of the nation’s best gymnasts at the annual event in Las Vegas, Nev. The meet begins with the preliminary round on Thursday, Feb. 4.
Meet Notes 03: at Winter Cup Challenge 
MEET INFORMATION
The 2010 Winter Cup Challenge is designed to determine the 15 gymnasts who will make up the 2010 U.S. Men’s Senior National Team. In addition to some of the nation’s top collegiate gymnasts, the meet will feature three members of the 2008 Olympic Team, five members of the 2009 World Championships team, 11 members of the senior national team and 13 members of the junior national team.
SCHEDULING 101
The 136 competitors will be divided into three sessions, which will all take place on Thursday, Feb. 4 at the Las Vegas Sport Center. The Air Force contingent will be in the second session, which is slate to begin at 3 p.m. (PST). The trio will begin on the high bar and advance to the floor exercise, pommel horse, still rings, vault and parallel bars. The top 42 gymnasts from Thursday’s action, based on the Men’s Program Committee points ranking system, will advance to the finals, along with the top three gymnasts on each event.
SCOUTING THE COMPETITIO
N Tory Brown, Nash Mills and Joel Uptmor will be paired with two gymnasts from Illinois-Chicago and three club gymnasts. Other gymnasts in the second session include gymnasts from Michigan, Stanford, Illinois, Oklahoma, Arizona State, Nebraska, Penn State and several club teams.
DID YOU KNOW?
With the selection of Nash Mills, Joel Uptmor and Tory Brown to the 2010 Winter Cup Challenge, Air Force matched, in just one year, the total number of gymnasts that have been invited to the Winter Cup over the past 20. Only Joel Miller (1992) and Jeff Andersen (2004) have competed at the Winter Cup, although Greg Stine (2007) was invited, but had to withdraw due to injury.
RANK YOU VERY MUCH
As a team, the Falcons are ranked among the nation’s top-10 in a pair of events. Air Force is ranked ninth on the pommel horse (52.650) and vault (61.700).Individually, Nash Mills is ranked eighth nationally on the vault with an average of 15.775.
FALCONS BLAST VAULT RECORD
During the Falcons’ Jan. 30 meet at Minnesota, junior Nash Mills posted a career-best 15.850 on the vault to match the Academy standard and pace the Falcons to a program-best team score of 62.200. Mills’ mark, which tied the current record set by Devin Menefee last season, was one of three top-10 scores for Air Force on that event, as Joel Uptmor (15.700) and Menefee (15.600) finished sixth and 10th, respectively.
DID YOU KNOW?
In just two meets this season, Air Force has accounted for two of the top three team vault scores in Academy history.
CANTER CAN…
Senior Garrett Canter posted the Falcons’ best finishes during the Minnesota Quad Meet (Jan. 30). Canter placed eighth on the parallel bars with a career-best mark of 13.850 – the 13th-best score in Academy history, before tying for eighth on the high bar with a score of 13.450.
WHAT’S AHEAD FOR THE FALCONS
Air Force returns to team competition on Saturday, Feb. 13, when it travels to Aliso Viejo, Calif., to take on its service academy rivals Army and Navy in the annual All-Academy Championships.
