Williamsburg, Va. - The College of William
and Mary's 14th
ranked men's gymnastics program continued its upward
trending on Sunday afternoon, as it established a team-season best score of
337.60 in downing visiting Navy (330.30) in Kaplan Arena.
The score marked the third time in four events on the year
that the College has improved its team total, with the 337.60 standing nearly
five full points better than its previous season high (332.90 set at Temple on
2/19).
The win improved the College to 4-3 overall, while 15th
-ranked
Navy fell to 8-7.
Overall, it was the Tribe's strength on the rings that
provided the biggest separation, as the College claimed the five positions on
the event and outscored the Naval Academy, 58.10 to 54.60. Leading the College's charge, and providing
perhaps the event's top individual effort, was freshman Landon Funiciello
(Baldwinsville, N.Y), who turned in a big PR on the event with a mark of 15.3,
just a hundredth of a point off of James Prim's school record (15.4).
While not quite as dominant, the team's parallel bar unit
was also outstanding, as the Tribe outscored Navy 54.80 to 52.70, claiming the
top five individual performances on the afternoon. Coming off consecutive freshman of the week
accolades from the Eastern College Athletic Conference, fellow freshman Daniel
Potemski (Round Rock, Texas) tied classmate Funiciello for top honors on the event
(13.80). Tribe Sophomore Kris Yeager
(Lake Oswego, Ore.) finished third overall, with a mark of 13.60.
Overall, Potemski continued to impress, as he posted a
career-best all-around mark of 84.10 and was the team's leading point scorer on
the afternoon. He finished second in the
all-around event (to Navy's Andrew Faulk, 85.60) and set personal records on four
of the six events he competed; floor (14.20), pommel (14.0), rings (13.70) and
vault (15.30).
Senior team co-captains Dave Ellis
(Braintree, Mass.) and
Andy Hunter
(Tallahassee, Fla.) tied for second on the rings with a score of
14.30. The mark was a personal record
for Ellis, who also had a strong showing on the floor exercise where he
finished fourth overall with a mark of 14.1.
Hunter was the team's top competitor on the pommel horse, as he finished
second overall with a personal best score of 14.20, while he finished third
overall on the parallel bars (13.60).
Sophomore Vince Smurro
(Manalapan, N.J.) and junior Dan
Melzar (Franklin, Mass.) rounded out the Tribe's competitors to finish in the
top three, as Smurro placed second overall on the high bar, with a mark of
13.60 and Melzar placed third on the vault with a personal-best effort of 15.0.
The College will continue its season next weekend with a
pair of road events, starting with a dual meet at the United States Military
Academy on next Saturday afternoon (March 12) at 2pm. The team will then travel to Springfield,
Mass., the following day for tri-meet featuring Springfield College and the Air
Force Academy. The event is scheduled
for a 1 p.m. start time.
