WEST POINT, N.Y., April 13, 2010 – The 68th NCAA Men’s Gymnastics Championships kick off this weekend at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, N.Y. Inside the Holleder Center, April 15-17, 12 teams will via for the title of national champion. In addition, individual titles in the all-around and all six apparatus are on the line.

The University of Oklahoma’s Steven Legendre, reigning NCAA all-around, floor exercise and vault champion, looks to defend his titles against a strong field that includes fellow National Team member and the University of Illinois’ Paul Ruggeri, the 2009 NCAA horizontal and parallel bars champion, and the University of Illinois’ Daniel Ribeiro, the 2009 pommel horse champion. Other current national team members competing are: Kyle Bunthuwong/University of California-Berkeley, Alex Buscaglia/Stanford University, Chris Cameron/University of Michigan, Jake Dalton/University of Oklahoma, Tim Gentry/Stanford University, Glen Ishino/University of California-Berkeley, Alex Naddour/University of Oklahoma, and Brandon Wynn/Ohio State University.

Stanford, currently ranked fourth, is set to defend its 2009 team title. The other 11 schools in the team competition are: Ohio State University, Pennsylvania State University, Temple University, University of California – Berkeley, University of Illinois, University of Illinois – Chicago, University of Iowa, University of Michigan, University of Minnesota, University of Nebraska, and University of Oklahoma.

The teams and gymnasts who qualified as individual competitors are listed below.

All 12 teams compete on the first day of competition, Thursday, April 15, in a two-session National Qualifier. The team rankings are based on the National Qualifying Average, which is shown in parentheses. The first session, set to start at 1 p.m. ET, is comprised of No. 1 Illinois (358.030), fourth-ranked and defending national champion Stanford (354.480), No. 5 Ohio State (349.690), No. 8 Penn State (348.340), No. 9 UIC (343.050) and No. 12 Temple (338.340). The evening session, scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. ET, will feature No. 2 Oklahoma (357.410), No. 3 Michigan (356.810), No. 6 California (349.040), No. 7 Minnesota (348.790), No. 10 Nebraska (342.200), and No. 11 Iowa (341.770).

Three teams, the top three all-around competitors who are not on one of the qualifying teams, and the top three individuals on each event who not already qualified on a team or as an all-around competitor advance from each session to the finals. The team and all-around finals are Friday, April 16 at 7 p.m. ET. The individual event finals take place on Saturday, April 17 at 7 p.m. ET.

All-session tickets, which include four competition sessions, are priced at $45, with all-session student tickets available for $20. Single-session tickets for prelims and team finals are $15 for adults and $5 for students and senior citizens. Individual event tickets are $17 for adults and $5 for students. Tickets can be purchased on-line at www.goArmysports.com or by calling the ticket office at 1-877-TIX-ARMY.

The NQA is based on a team’s, an all-around competitor’s and/or an individual event specialist’s four best regular-season meet scores, two of which must be contested at an away meet. The high score is eliminated and replaced with the conference meet score, which is included twice. These five scores are averaged to obtain the NQA.

Results for the Men’s NCAA National Championships will be available following each rotation at www.goARMYsports.com. ESPN2 will broadcast the team and all-around finals in tape delay at 1:30 p.m. ET on Friday, April 23. For more information about the NCAA Men’s Gymnastics Championships, log on to www.NCAA.com.

The 2010 Men’s NCAA Gymnastics Championships Field

Team Competition

Team and Qualifying Score
University of Illinois – 358.030
University of Oklahoma – 357.410
University of Michigan – 356.810
Stanford University – 354.480
Ohio State University – 349.690
University of California-Berkeley – 349.040
University of Minnesota – 348.790
Pennsylvania State University – 348.340
University of Illinois-Chicago – 343.050
University of Nebraska – 342.200
University of Iowa – 341.770
Temple University – 338.340

All-around Qualifiers
1. Ty Evans – Springfield College
2. Derek Gygax – College of William & Mary
3. Nash Mills – U.S. Air Force Academy
4. Andrew Faulk – U.S. Naval Academy
5. Josh Fox – Springfield College
6. Ty Smith – U.S. Military Academy

Individual Qualifiers

Floor Exercise
1. Dylan Parrott – U.S. Naval Academy
2. Josh Fried – College of William & Mary
3. Kip Webber – U.S. Military Academy
4. Jimmy Pezzino – Springfield College
5. Andy Hunter – College of William & Mary
6. Dave Ellis – College of William & Mary

Pommel Horse
1. James Okamoto – U.S. Air Force Academy
2. Garrek Hojan-Clark – U.S. Military Academy
3. Chase Nobles – U.S. Air Force Academy
4. Matt Tocchio – Springfield College
5. Andy Hunter – College of William & Mary
6. Futa Ikeda – College of William & Mary

Still Rings
1. Devin Menefee – U.S. Air Force Academy
2. Dan Klimkowski – U.S. Air Force Academy
3. Joel Uptmor – U.S. Air Force Academy
4. Andy Hunter – College of William & Mary
5. Travis Langham – U.S. Air Force Academy
6. Steve Deutsch – College of William & Mary

Vault
1. Joel Uptmor – U.S. Air Force Academy
2. Devin Menefee – U.S. Air Force Academy
3. Jimmy Pezzino – Springfield College
4. Alex Egerter – College of William & Mary
5. Dave Ellis – College of William & Mary
6. Dylan Parrott – U.S. Naval Academy

Parallel Bars
1. Kyle Bartgis – Springfield College
2. Dylan Parrott – U.S. Naval Academy
3. Alex Egerter – College of William & Mary
4. Matthew Throne – U.S. Air Force Academy
5. Vince Smurro – College of William & Mary
6. Andy Hunter – College of William & Mary

Horizontal Bar
1. Dylan Parrott – U.S. Naval Academy
2. Josh Spencer – Springfield College
3. Garrett Canter – U.S. Air Force Academy
4. Vince Smurro – College of William & Mary
5. Travis Langham – U.S. Air Force Academy
6. Joel Uptmor – U.S. Air Force Academy