NavySports.com - Official Athletic Site for Navy Athletics

Midshipmen Travel to USAG Collegiate Championship

Navy finished second out of five teams at last year's champiosnhip

	Senior team captain Sean Blackman is a two-time USAG Collegiate All-American on the still rings

March 23, 2007

ANNAPOLIS, Md. - The Navy gymnastics team will begin its postseason action this weekend when it heads to the USAG Collegiate Championship at William & Mary's Kaplan Arena on Saturday and Sunday afternoon.

The Midshipmen finished the 2007 regular season with a 9-11 record following a third-place showing at Temple's tri-meet with Army. Navy scored 193.2 points, while host Temple tallied 206.15 points and Army collected 199.6 points.

This weekend's trip will be Navy's second visit to Kaplan Arena in 2007, as it took on William & Mary and Penn State in a tri-meet on March 3. The Midshipmen finished third on that afternoon with 191.7 points, highlighted by a 34.95-point performance in the floor exercise.

The Midshipmen will travel to this weekend's championship with six USAG Collegiate All-Americans returning from last year's second-place showing in Ithaca, N.Y.

Highlighting the cast of returning gymnasts is junior Christopher Tam (Draper, Utah), who is twice a collegiate division All-American in the all-around and picked up collegiate All-American honors on the floor exercise and parallel bars last season. This year, Tam enters the meet ranked as the 14th-highest scoring gymnast nationally in the all-around and ranks 19th on the high bar in the country. Last weekend at Temple, he tied for first on the high bar with an 8.85 and finished the day with a 49.3-point performance in the all-around.

Classmate Brandon Cook (Longmont, Colo.) had an impressive showing at last year's championship, winning the floor exercise and placing third on the vault to earn USAG Collegiate All-America status in both events. Once again this year, Cook has been Navy's most consistent scorer in both disciplines, posting an 8.5 or higher during each meet in the floor exercise and better than an 8.0 on the vault in all of his tries. He has also become stronger in the high bar event this season, emerging with a par of 8.2-pointe performances on the year.

Accounting for Navy's other event title at last year's USAG Collegiate Championship was sophomore Adam Stanton (Centennial, Colo.), who topped the field on the pommel horse. Stanton enters the championship following a season-best 8.75-point showing against Temple and Army last weekend.

Looking to capture collegiate All-America honors for the second-straight year in two events will be sophomore Joseph Atzenbeck (Broomfield, Colo.). Atzenbeck placed third on the pommel horse and fifth on the parallel bars one year ago in Ithaca, N.Y. He has served the Midshipmen well in three events going into this weekend, as he has been a solid scoring factor on the high bar. The Navy sophomore has earned an 8.0 or higher from the judges more than four times in each of the three disciplines this year.

Senior team captain Sean Blackman (Fayetteville, Ga.) continues to work his way back after missing the first-half of the season and is aiming for his third-straight collegiate All-America honors on the still rings. He finished second at last year's championship and has bounced back with three scores above an 8.0 in four meets this season.

Rounding out the contingent of returning USAG Collegiate All-American gymnasts for Navy is junior Isaac Olson (Spokane, Wash.), who placed second on the high bar at last season's championship. Like Blackman, Olson has been working his way back after missing several meets during the year. However, the Navy junior appears ready to make another run at the title this year, as he scored an 8.5 against Temple and Army last week.

Following this weekend's action, the Midshipmen will head up to Philadelphia to compete at the ECAC/EIGL Championship on March 31-April 1. Last season, Navy scored 203.775 points to finish second in the conference championship hosted in Macdonough Hall.