Men’s Gymnastics Places Second at James Madison Open

Tribe Edges Navy, Avenges Season Opening Loss

02/03/07 10:00PM

HARRISONBURG, Va. - William and Mary senior Chuck Portz (Humble, TX) saved his best for last, as his season-best 8.30 mark on the pommel horse on the College’s last performance of the afternoon pushed the Tribe’s team score to 189.40, just past 14th-ranked Navy (188.80) and into second-place in the five-team field at the James Madison Open.

The 13th-ranked Illinois-Chicago Flames captured the team title at the event with a score of 193.30, while Portz’s late heroics helped the Tribe gain some measure of revenge over the Midshipmen, who defeated the College in the two team’s season opening dual (1/13). Springfield College (179.75) and James Madison (158.70) rounded out the field in fourth and fifth place, respectively.

The Tribe’s record now sits at 5-5 on the year, with three of its losses coming against teams currently ranked in the national top 10 (with No. 2 Penn State, No. 6 Minnesota and No. 9 Temple).

As a team, the College’s highlight of the evening came on the vault, as it posted a team season-best mark of 31.050. Individually, sophomore Sloan Crawford (Burlington, Ontario) led the way in the event, as he flew to his season-best mark (8.20) and finished second overall.

The Tribe claimed a pair of individual event titles on the afternoon, as Portz’s mark on the pommel was the meet’s best and junior Andrew Hunt (Upper Black Eddy, Penn.) spun to his season-best effort in winning the parallel bars with a score of 8.80. Hunt also turned in a solid effort on the high bar, flying to a mark of 8.25 and placing fourth overall.

Sophomore James Prim (Hendersonville, NC) had a solid afternoon as well, as he turned in the team’s second-highest individual score (8.65) overall on the afternoon and placed third on the rings. In a foreshadowing of the big-ending to come, sophomore Richard Pearson (Baton Rouge, La.) kick-started the Tribe’s evening of competition by powering to a season-best effort of 7.85 in the lead-off position on the rings.

On week removed from putting up a career-best effort in the all-around, the College’s promising freshman Derek Gygax (Stevensville, Md.) was solid in placing fourth overall with a six-event total of 45.05. Another positive performance came on the floor exercise, as talented junior Dave Locke (Natick, Mass.) continues to work his way back from multiple off-season injuries and posted a season-best 8.50 performance on the floor exercise.

The College will have two weeks to prepare for its next event, as it will open its home schedule on Saturday, February 17th, with a dual-meet against James Madison starting at 7:00 pm.