Gymnastics Rolls To Win Over Air Force

Friday, January 29

West Point, N.Y.

6 PM

Army West Point

422.65

417.00

Air Force

Gymnastics Rolls To Win Over Air Force

January 29, 2016 | Men's Gymnastics

WEST POINT, N.Y. – The Army West Point men's gymnastics team snapped an eight-year losing streak to Air Force as the No. 13 Black Knights dominated the meet from start to finish in beating the ninth-ranked Falcons, 422.65-417.00, at Gross Sports Center Friday evening.

The Black Knights (1-1) captured five of the six team events and walked off with four individual victories led by plebe Cole Casanova, who claimed the all-around title (84.3), along with winning floor exercise (14.65), setting career marks in both events.

Senior Jesse Glenn tied his career mark on pommel horse (14.7) and junior Leo Genders broke his career high on high bar (14.8) in rounding out Army's winners.
Army won the team scoring in floor exercise (72.55-68.75), pommel horse (70.35-67.7), vault (72.35-72.0), parallel bars (67.45-67.25) and high bar (70.9-69.45). The only event the Black Knights lost was still rings (71.85-69.05).

"The fun part about today's meet is that the team was relentless from one event to the next, from one routine to the next," commented head coach Doug Van Everen. "Everyone just wanted it and the team did not stop, they kept pushing forward and that is what made it happen. I was so glad we kept pounding on them. Eight years of Air Force beating us is way too much."

Air Force (0-2) was ranked ahead of Army in all but one of the events as the Falcons were fourth on pommel horse, fifth on vault, sixth on floor exercise and 12th on high bar. The Black Knights listed No. 13 on floor, parallel bars and vault and were 14th on pommel horse. The lone event Army had a higher average was on high bar where the Black Knights listed eighth and the Falcons 10th.

"It was by far the one of the most exciting college athletic events I have been in," said Casanova following his first service-academy meet, "but at the same time it was grueling and we had to fight for everything."

The Black Knights started off the meet posting the top four scores on floor exercise led by Casanova's 14.65, breaking his former mark of 14.25 set at the West Point Open, with fellow plebe Seth Cannon shattering his previous best (also at the West Point Open) posting a 14.6 in claiming runner-up honors.Glenn's 14.55 earned third place honors and junior Sam Kusnitz' 14.5 rounded out the top four scores as the Black Knights took a 72.55-68.75 lead.

Glenn led the way on pommel horse besting Air Force's Tim Wang, who came into the meeting ranked third nationally, 14.7-14.65 for medalist honors. Freshman Andrew Hufnagel took third with Nathan Goff and Casanova tying for fifth place as the Black Knights claimed four of the top six scores to pull ahead 142.9-136.45.

Army knew coming into the meet that still rings would be its toughest event and it proved correct as Air Force bested the Black Knights by over two points, 69.05-71.85. But it wasn't enough to overcome Army's lead as Air Force trailed 211.95-208.30 after three events, and it proved the closet the Falcons would draw.

Though Air Force claimed the individual winner in the next two events, vault and parallel bars, Army's depth proved key as the Black Knights edged the Falcons 72.35-72.00 on vault and 67.45-67.25 on parallel bars to head into the final event in front 351.7-347.55.

Glenn and sophomore Ryan Wilson tied for runner-up honors posting identical 14.6s on vault with Casanova and Kusnitz sharing fifth place (14.4) as Army kept it close with just two parallel bars and high bar remaining.

Goff turned in a strong performance in the final two events, claiming runner-up honors in both behind a 13.9 on parallel bars and a 14.35 on high bar. Kusnitz tied with Casanova for Army's second highest scores of 13.6 in tying for fifth place on parallel bars as Army held on to nip the Falcons by two-tenths of a point to head into the final event leading by over three points.

The Black Knights were dominant on high bar with four of their five scores in the 14-point range led by Genders' 14.8 and Goff's 14.35. Glenn, Army's record holder in the event, did not compete as his teammates locked it up with a 70.90 mark to Air Force's 69.45 for the Black Knights' first win over the Falcons since 2007 and first home victory at Gross since 2006.

"It is an awesome win," noted a smiling Glenn. "Air Force has always beaten us; they are a good team and ranked up there with a lot of the top teams in the country. It was nice to beat them and it shows that we have progressed to a higher level.

"We have a tight team and more depth than we have had in the previous years, so we can interchange people here and there as we need to. If someone is hurt, we can throw someone in, and we did that a lot today on more events than one and it worked out.

"It gives us a lot of confidence going into the Navy now because after the last meet (West Point Open)," continued Glenn. "We knew we had a lot of potential, but didn't deliver, and now everything is starting to click and we are starting to pull it all together. "

Army heads to Annapolis, Md., next week to take on Navy in the annual Star match.