Columbus, Ohio -
The College of William and
Mary's men's gymnastics program had one individual, freshman Landon Funiciello,
advance to the second day of competition at the NCAA Men's Gymnastics
Championships Thursday afternoon in St. John Arena on the Ohio State University
campus.
Competing in the first of two sessions on the day,
Funiciello powered to a school-record score of 15.450 on the rings, making him
the top individual qualifier out of his session. Funiciello compete as an individual during
Friday's team finals, where he will need to place in the top 10 overall to
advance to Saturday's individual event finals.
His score placed him third overall in his session, which
featured six of the 12 total team's vying for the national championship and
select individual qualifiers.
The Tribe had an additional five student-athletes competing
at the event on Thursday.
Senior co-captain Andy Hunter ended his Tribe career by
working a total of four events, with his highest finish coming on the floor
exercise where he posted a score of 14.150 and placed 27th
in the
session. He also worked the pommel
(12.400, 32nd
); rings (14.00, 30th
) and high bar (12.800,
33rd
).
Freshman Daniel Potemski was seventh overall in the
all-around, as he posted a six-event total of 82.450. His best individual event finish came on the
pommel horse, as he scored a 13.350 and placed 21st
overall.
Junior Stephen Deutsch had a solid effort on the rings, as
he scored a 14.100 and finished 27th
, while he also participated on
the pommel. Senior co-captain Dave Ellis
scored a 15.050 on the vault, placing 28th
overall, while classmate
Kris Yeager flowed to a mark of 14.000 on the parallel bars.
Funiciello's chase for his first career all-america honors will
begin tomorrow, with the session starting at 7:00 pm.