Tribe Qualifys Nine Individuals for NCAA Championships

04/03/07 10:34PM

WILLIAMSBURG, Va. - The College of William and Mary’s men’s gymnastics squad will send nine individuals to the upcoming NCAA Championships held on the campus of Penn State University begining on April 12.

While the Tribe failed to make the 12-team championship field for only the second time in the last six years, the team’s nine individuals will compete in a total of 12 events. Individuals qualify for the event by virtue of their season average, which is a combination of average scores from select home and away competitions. The top six individuals on each event, who are not competing in team portion of the event, are invited to the NCAAs.

Sophomore Sloan Crawford (Burlington, Ontario, Canada) comes into the NCAA event as the top individual qualifier on the floor exercise with a season average of 8.94. Junior Dave Locke (Natick, Mass.) and freshman Josh Fried (Gwynedd Valley, Pa.) will also compete on the floor exercise, as their season averages qualify them as the fourth and fifth individuals, respectively, for the event.

Junior Andrew Hunt’s (Upper Black Eddy, Pa.) season average of 8.62 makes him the nation’s top individual qualifier on parallel bars. Senior Dave Ridings (Parkton, Md.) will join Hunt on the event, as his season average of 8.44 is the second best individual qualifying mark.

Sophomore James Prim (Hendersonville, N.C.) will compete on the pommel horse, as he comes in as the second ranked individual, with a season average of 8.45. Sophomore Richard Pearson (Baton Rouge, La.) will join Prim on the horse, as his average of 8.22 brings him into the meet as the fourth ranked individual. Prim will also compete on the rings with junior teammate Aaron Ingram (Holden, Mass.), as Prim carries the nation’s third best individual qualifying mark (8.8) and Ingram is fifth (8.68).

Locke will also compete on the vault, as he comes into the competition as the second ranked individual (8.37) and Hunt will be the team’s lone competitor on the high bar (5th, 8.53).

Freshman Derek Gygax (Stevensville, Md.) rounds out the list of qualifiers for the College, as he will compete in the all-around.