Feb. 1, 2008

ANNAPOLIS, Md. - The Navy men's gymnastics team will face some strong competition on Saturday when it heads up to McGonigle Hall in Philadelphia to take on Temple and Ohio State, beginning at 7 p.m. The Midshipmen (5-1) are ranked 11th nationally, while the host Owls (4-1) are ninth and the Buckeyes (3-4) own a seventh-place ranking.

Last weekend in Annapolis, Navy bested defending USAG Collegiate Division champion William & Mary and Springfield in the Navy Open. The Midshipmen rallied from a narrow deficit going into the final rotation to post a team score of 336.9 points, 3.8 better than William & Mary's second-place 333.1-point tally.

Navy's performance one week ago signified a 4.65-point improvement in its team score over the previous week's action. The Midshipmen also boasted the highest team scores on the floor exercise (57.8 points), still rings (55.8 points) and parallel bars (56.65 points).

Coming into this Saturday's tri-meet, the Mids are ranked among the nation's top-11 teams in three events. Navy's 55.5-point average on the high bar ranks 10th, while its 56.65-point mark on the floor exercise and 52.95 points on the pommel horse are both 11th-best in the country.

Individually, Navy's Adam Stanton (Jr./Centennial, Colo.) remains ranked among the nation's top-20 gymnasts on the pommel horse. Stanton placed second on the apparatus one week ago with a score of 13.5. For the year, he owns a 13.917 average among his three routines to find himself 19th nationally.

Brandon Cook (Sr./Longmont, Colo.) delivered stellar performances on both the floor exercise and vault last Saturday. He produced a 15.25-point score in a near flawless floor exercise routine to distance himself from eventual second-place performer David Locke's 14.85 from William & Mary. Three rotations later, he earned a 15.15 from the judges on the vault to finish only 0.30-point off Locke's effort two rotations before. In both events, Cook's starting value was a 15.8. He heads to Philadelphia on Saturday ranked 24th nationally on the floor exercise and 31st on the vault.

Christopher Tam (Sr./Draper, Utah), the USAG Collegiate Division national gymnast of the week, ranks 24th in the country with an all-around average mark of 81.075 points. Tam played a significant role in Navy's come-from-behind win last Saturday, as he was the final gymnast to compete on the high bar, the team's final event. The Navy senior came up with a solid 14.75-point performance from a 15.2-point start value to propel the Mids to victory. His effort on the high bar also upped his all-around score to 81.0, tops among all gymnasts on the day.

Following Saturday night's meet, the Midshipmen will return home to host Army in the annual Star Meet on Saturday, Feb. 9, starting at 3 p.m. Earlier this year at the West Point Open, the Mids scored 2.15 more points than the Black Knights.