Air Force Academy

The men are back from their trek to Southern California, which turned out to be very hectic and disappointing.

We flew into Los Angeles International and drove up to Santa Barbara on Thursday and went to their gym and had a great workout -- much like the workouts we had had all week long. On Friday night we did not compete like we had been practicing, and lost to both Nebraska and Santa Barbara. Nebraska won the meet handily, but the competition between Santa Barbara and us was very close. C3C (So.) Aaron Jackson (49.40) and C2C (Jr.) James Hayes (48.95) had excellent all-around meets. C2C Stephen Sistare (9.1) and C1C (Sr.) Andrew Fisher (9.05) broke the nine barrier on rings and vault respectively. On floor exercise: Third- Jackson, Sixth- C1C Levi Torkelson. Pommel Horse: Third-Torkelson, Sixth-Hayes. Rings: Second-Sistare. Vault: Second-Fisher, Fifth-Jackson. Parallel Bars: Fifth-C2C Matt Kenkel, Sixth-Fisher. High Bar: Sixth-Jackson.

Immediately after the meet, we headed for Laguna Hills and arrived at midnight after a very exciting drive on the California freeways.

Tim Klempnauer and the US Gymnastics Training Center hosted the second annual Service Academy Championships in conjunction with the Palm Tree Classic. The facility - Aliso Viejo High School - was excellent, and Tim and his staff did a superb job of running the meet. I feel this was a win-win situation for club and collegiate gymnastics.

We were the defending Service Academy Champions after winning last year. This meet was extremely close with Army winning and Navy second. The spread between first and third was on two points and we were in the meet right to the finish. A good effort, but it is no fun coming up short in this meet. We did win our share of events, but depth caught up with us in the end. Floor Exercise: First-Jackson, Third- Torkelson. Pommel Horse: First-Torkelson. Rings: First-Sistare, Third-Kenkel. Parallel Bars: First-Torkelson, Second-C2C Scott Lewis. High Bar: Second-Lewis. Jackson (48.85) and Hayes (48.20) both did well all around. We are already working on getting the trophy back next year, but first have a lot to do this year!

Up next, UC Santa Barbara will be here for two meets this weekend: 7:30 p.m. on Friday, February 23rd, and at 2 p.m. on Sunday, February 25th. We will host a Kid Force clinic immediately following the meet on Sunday.

Men's Schedule remaining:

7:30 PM, Fri, Feb 23: vs. UC Santa Barbara
2:00 PM, Sun, Feb 25: vs. UC Santa Barbara (Kidforce clinic)
2:00 PM, Sun, Mar 4: @ Nebraska
7:00 PM, Thu, Mar 8: vs Stanford & Michigan State
7:00 PM, Fri, Mar 16: Iowa & California @ Berkeley, CA
7:00 PM Fr-Sa, Mar 23-24: MPSF Champs @ Berkeley, CA
Thu-Sat, Apr 5-7: NCAAs @ Columbus, OH
Fri-Sat, Apr 13-14: USAGs @ Davis, CA