Army West Point Athletics
Army West Point
West Point Open (Individual Finals)
Gymnastics Well Represented in Finals of West Point Open
January 17, 2015 | Men's Gymnastics
Jan. 17, 2015
WEST POINT, N.Y. - Six Army gymnasts competed in the final round of the West Point Open on Saturday evening from Christl Arena at West Point, concluding the event with six top-five finishes.
Six gymnasts qualified for nine events, with Jesse Glenn on the vault, high bar and floor exercise; Connor Venrick on pommel horse and still rings; Leo Genders on high bar and floor; Nathan Goff on high bar; Chris Short on parallel bars and Andre Hufnagel on pommel horse.
“I think we did really well as a team this weekend, we wanted to finish in the top two and we wanted to put a good amount of guys in the individual finals, and we accomplished both of those things,” said head coach Doug Van Everen. “There are still a lot of things that we can work on and we’re going to work on so that we can take this momentum and move forward into our upcoming championships.”
Genders kicked things off for Army on the floor exercise, earning the team’s top score of 14.500 for a fourth-place finish. The sophomore also competed on the high bar, as the Black Knights’ only competitor, taking fourth place with a score of 13.350.
Glenn, who was crowed the all-around champion for the third consecutive year following Friday’s competition, took part on the floor exercise and vault, electing to sit out of the high bar despite being the top individual qualifier. He earned fifth on floor with a score of 14.400 and also took fifth on vault with a mark of 14.400.
Competing on the pommel horse and still rings, Venrick, the reigning pommel horse champion, took third on the apparatus with a score of 14.450. He followed that up with fifth-place finish on the rings with a score of 14.150.
Short took eighth place on parallel bars with a score of 13.000, while freshman Hufnagel took eighth on pommel horse with a score of 10.300 and Seth Cannon was the seventh-place finisher on floor with a score of 14.150.
“We had a number of guys with good performances this weekend, Nathan Goff was phenomenal in just his second collegiate meet,” added Van Everen. “Jesse is always solid for us and we had a number of upperclassmen and even plebes with good outings.”
Penn State gymnasts claimed five of the six top spots, with Temple’s Jakob Welsh earning the individual title on parallel bar as the only non-Nittany Lion at the top an event.
Army will continue the 2015 season on Jan. 30 when they travel to Nebraska for a dual meet with the Huskers. They’ll follow that up with a trip to service-academy rival Air Force on Feb. 1 before heading to the All-Academy Championships in Houston, Texas on Feb. 7. Visit www.goARMYsports.com for up-to-date information and follow the Black Knights on Twitter @Army_Gymnastics.
Players Mentioned
