Air Force Academy

March 28, 2007

Competing in its final team competition of the 2007 season, the No. 16 Air Force men's gymnastics team travels to Berkeley, Calif., for the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championships on Saturday, March 31. The Falcons will match up with No. 3 Oklahoma, No. 4 Stanford, No. 8 California and No. 10 Nebraska.

Weekly Release 10 - at MPSF Championships
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YOU LOOK FAMILIAR: Air Force has faced Nebraska on three occasions already this season, while competing against Oklahoma twice. The three programs opened the season at the Rocky Mountain Open, where the Sooners, Huskers and Falcons took first, second and third, respectively. The trio matched up for the same order of finish the very next weekend at an Oklahoma tri-meet. Nebraska also defeated the Falcons in Lincoln at their final dual meet of the season. The Falcons have only met Cal once this year and have yet to face off with Stanford.

HISTORY 101: Air Force has accounted for four conference champions in its 51-year history ... although those winners all came during the Falcons' days in the Western Athletic Conference. Joel Miller claimed WAC titles on the still rings in 1990 and 1991, while Paul Comeau (1989 pommel horse), Scott Hamilton (1990 vault) and Michael Cline (1991 floor exercise) also earned the league's top honors.

STINE EARNS ANOTHER HONOR: After winning three USA Gymnastics national titles last weekend, junior Greg Stine was named the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Gymnast of the Week, the league office announced on March 26. This is the second such honor for Stine, who also earned the distinction on March 6.

RACKING THEM UP: Junior Greg Stine captured three USAG national titles during the two-day meet on March 24-25. One day after claiming his second career all-around (49.550) title, Stine won the floor exercise and still rings with matching scores of 9.300. Becoming the first Air Force gymnast to claim three USAG event titles in a single championship, Stine increases his career total to an Academy-best five USAG national titles.

QUITE THE OUTING: With five USAG All-America honors, Greg Stine was one of six Falcons to earn such a distinction. As a team, the Falcons accounted for 11 USAG All-America citations. It is the highest number of Falcons to earn USAG All-America honors since 2001, when seven gymnasts earned that distinction. In addition, the 11 total honors are the most ever for an Air Force squad.

ALL-AMERICAN HONOREES: Jacob Schonig earned a third-place finish on the still rings, while Tyler Sickles claimed the same placement on the high bar. Brian Boardman finished fifth on the vault, while Brennan Wolford tallied a sixth-place mark on the floor exercise. In addition, Wolford earned USAG All-America honors based on his fourth-place performance in Saturday's all-around competition, while senior Kurt Antonio claimed his honor with a fifth-place mark.

JUST JAKE: Sophomore Jacob Schonig earned a third-place finish on the still rings to claim the first USAG All-America honor of his career. Schonig, who is in just his second year of competitive gymnastics, scored an 8.800 on the rings for the third-place finish. That comes one day after he finished second in the event preliminaries with a career-best tally of 9.350. Since beginning gymnastics as a freshman last year, Schonig has improved his still rings score by two points!

TOP HALF OF THE PACK: The Falcons scored 191.300 to take third in the six-team "varsity division" of the USAG Championships. Host William and Mary won its seventh straight USAG title with a score of 199.850, while Navy took second with 198.000. The top three programs easily distanced themselves from the rest of the field, as Springfield (179.750), MIT (176.850) and James Madison (160.450) finished fourth, fifth and sixth, respectively.

THE SCOREBOOK: The USAG Championship meet marked the fifth time in six meets that the Falcons have cleared 190 points. Air Force nearly matched that mark meet during the only other meet of that stretch, as they tallied a 189.950 at the Southwest Cup

COMING UP: The NCAA will announce its selections for the 2007 national championships on Tuesday, April 3. Following that announcement, any invited Falcons will travel to State College, Pa., for the National Qualifier on Thursday, April 12.  The team, all-around and individual finals will be held April 13-14 at Recreation Hall on the campus of Penn State.