2012 Army Gymnastics Guide

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HISTORY to nationals. Sivulka, who won an Eastern title on pommel horse, just missed the finals at the national meet in placing 11th. Marshall tied for 16th in the all-around and Lewis ranked 36th on floor exercise. 1996-99 WITH VAN EVEREN In 1995, Marshall and Sivulka ranked among the national leaders and once again qualified for the NCAA Regionals. Sivulka held the nation’s top spot on the pommel horse into late March. He tied for first place at the EIGLs in defending his title. In spite of shattering his school mark at regionals, Sivulka fell short of qualifying for the NCAAs. Marshall competed on vault and the allaround in his second trip to the NCAAs. He finished two spots shy of All-America honors after placing eighth on the vault. He was 20th in allaround. Ranked nationally in all-around scoring since his freshman year, Marshall listed as high as second in the country and in the Top 10 in the six individual events. After winning the all-around title at the Eastern meet, the first Black Knight since 1939 to do so, Marshall injured his ankle on his dismount on high bar in the first event during competition at the NCAA East Regional meet. Limited to competing only on the pommel horse, he placed ninth overall and second among the individual qualifiers, good enough to earn an NCAA bid where he finished 35th. Marshall became the second gymnast inducted into the Army Sports Hall of Fame in November 2005. Ben Hayward wrote the headlines the next three years. In 1997, he won the Eastern title on the pommel horse and qualified for the East Regionals along with team captain Peter Gizzi, Mike Bush and freshman Jason Delmarty. Ben Hayward went on to finish runner-up on the horse at regionals to earn a trip to the NCAAs, marking the fifth straight year Army sent a representative to the national competition. There, he copped All-America honors following a fifth-place finish, becoming just the eighth Black Knight to earn that certificate on the horse and first since Olympian Gar O’Quinn in 1958. In 1999, Hayward captured his third straight pommel horse title and freshman Troy Pazcoguin was named the ECAC “Rookie of the Year.” Hayward closed out his career by qualifying for the NCAA East Regional for the fourth straight year and was joined by Pazcoguin and Delmarty. Hayward tied for fourth on the horse at regionals and Pazcoguin shared 14th place on the parallel bars as both qualified for the NCAA Championships. It was the second trip to the na-

Army All-American ringmen Brian Lee (left) and Jon Aaronsohn (right) meet at 2005 NCAAs hosted at West Point.

The 2004 team went 10-4 and finished runner-up at the 2004 ECAC Championships.

tionals for Hayward, who at one point ranked first in the nation on the horse. At the NCAAs, Hayward tied for 13th place on the horse and Pazcoguin shared 36th on parallel bars. 2000-05 WITH VAN EVEREN In the first year of the new millennium, the Black Knights sent six gymnasts to the nationals in a new format that had the East and West regions competing together. Scott Harris and John Robella ranked third in the East on floor exercise and parallel bars, respectively, and Pazcoguin (vault) was seventh in 2000. A new scoring format posed a difficult chal-

2012 Army Gymnastics Media Guide

lenge of lower scores and more difficult routines, but Army thrived as a record-high eight Black Knights qualified for the 2001 NCAA Championships along with posting an 8-3 dual mark. Army’s contingent was the second-largest among the 56 individual qualifiers. Pazcoguin, making his third straight NCAA appearance, advanced to the preliminary round where he tied for fifth. Earlier he was crowned an Eastern champion on vault and was runnerup on high bar, leading Army to a fifth-place finish at the ECAC Championships. In 2002, Army defeated Air Force in dedicating its new facility, Lou Gross Sports Center, in

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