Gymnastics: Men set season-best team score

  • Published
  • By Valerie Perkin
  • U.S. Air Force Academy Assistant Athletic Media Relations Director
CHICAGO (AFNEWS) --  Backed by top three finishes from junior Greg Stine of Houston and sophomore Josiah Loeser of Alvin, Texas, the No. 16 Air Force men's gymnastics team set a new season-best team score of 194.850 in a dual meet with No. 14 Illinois-Chicago March 9.

UIC won the meet with a score of 203.100, but the Falcons' 194.850 was an improvement of nearly two points from its previous best mark set last weekend. In addition, Air Force set season-high team scores on the floor exercise, still rings and high bars, while matching its season-best score on the pommel horse.

For the second straight week, Stine cleared the nine-point plateau on an event. Tallying a score of 9.300, Stine picked up first-place honors on the still rings. That is the best individual score this season on any event for the Falcons.

Stine also finished third on the high bar with a season-best 8.400 and picked up fourth-place honors on the floor (8.750) and pommel horse (8.100). In addition, he finished fifth on the vault with a total of 8.150.

Highlighted by a third-place, career-best score of 8.300 on the parallel bars, Loeser finished within the top half of the field in three events. He also placed fourth on the vault (8.250) and sixth on the still rings (8.000).

Sophomore Jacob Schonig of Los Gatos, Calif., was one of four other Falcons to finish with the top half of the field. Scoring his second-best finish of the season, Schonig earned an 8.900 on the still rings to take third.

Junior Brian Boardman of Naperville, Ill., and freshman Garrett Canter of Tallahassee, Fla., tied for fifth on the pommel horse with matching scores of 7.850, while Canter also notched a sixth-place on the parallel bars (7.900). In his first action in three weeks, junior Kevin Murphy of The Woodlands, Texas, rounded out the top-six scorers with a 7.950 on the high bar.

The two schools will face off again March 11 at the UIC Physical Education Building in Chicago.

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