Tribe Pair Earn USA Gymnastics Collegiate National Titles

Eight Tribe Gymnasts Earn 12 USAG Collegiate All-American Honors

03/29/08 9:23PM

Springfield, Mass. - The College of William and Mary’s 11th-ranked men’s gymnastics squad had a pair of seniors in Dave Locke (Natick, Mass.) and Andrew Hunt (Upper Black Eddy, Pa.) earn USA Gymnastics Collegiate National Titles this evening during the individual portion of the USAG Collegiate Championships, held at Spring-field College’s Blake Arena.

Locke claimed the gold on the floor exercise, posting a score of 15.05, which easily outdistanced the second-place mark of Navy’s Dylan Parrott (14.850). Locke nearly claimed another title on the evening, as he was just edged out on the vault, a discipline he won at the event last season, by just .15 points, scoring a 15.25 (with the winning vault being a 15.400 by Washington’s Jeff Crockett). The team tri-captain will end his career at the event with a total of six USAG honors, including the two titles.

Hunt, a fellow tri-captain, claimed the high-bar with a mark of 13.30 and kept his career record in this event perfect, as he has advanced to four individual event finals and won them all. He previously had won the high bar title during his sophomore year of 2006, when he also claimed the parallel bar crown. Last season, he earned the gold on the parallel bars and the four career USAG Collegiate crowns ranks second in school history to only the six earned by Ramon Jack-son between 2003-2006.

Sophomore James Prim (Hendersonville, NC) and senior Aaron Ingram (Paxton, Mass.) each earned a pair of USAG Collegiate All-American honors. Prim finished second on the rings (14.80) and fourth overall on the pommel horse (14.20), while Ingram was fifth on both the pommel (13.85) and parallel bars (13.85). By earning the pair of honors, Ingram will graduate with a total of four career USAG Collegiate certificates.

A pair of Tribe freshman in Chris Valeska (Wexford, Pa.) and Alex Egerter (Sacramento, Calif.) rounded out the individual awardees for the College on the evening, as the pair each earned their first career USAG Collegiate honors. Valeska competed what was an outstanding weekend on the floor exercise by rolling to a mark of 14.25 to finish fourth, while Egerter flew to a mark of 14.50 on the vault and finished sixth.

Friday evening, sophomore Derek Gygax (Stevensville, Md.) earned the Tribe's first USAG Collegiate All-American certificate of the weekend, by claiming third in the all-around.

The Tribe’s next action of the season might also be its most important, as it will travel to the United States Military Academy and contest for the Eastern College Athletic Conference Championship, starting with the team competition on April fourth. The winner of the meet claims not only the Intercollegiate Gymnastics Championship Trophy by the all-important automatic bid to the NCAA Team Championships, which begin April 17 at Stanford University.