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                         February 6, 2004

Gymnastics 3rd in Open; Lee ties for 1st on rings

By Mady Salvani
Army Athletic Media Relations

Junior Brian Lee shattered his career high on still rings in tying defending NCAA champion Kevin Tan for first-place honors in the individual finals at the 13th Annual West Point Gymnastics Open Saturday evening at Christl Arena. Senior Nate Whitten and freshman Mike Oliveira added third-place finishes on pommel horse and parallel bars, respectively.

No. 2 Penn State defended its title for the seventh straight year in besting a star-studded field of nationally-ranked schools at the 13th Annual West Point Gymnastics Open Jan. 30. Host and No. 11 Army finished behind No. 7 Nebraska in claiming the bronze medal for the second consecutive year and third time in meet history before a crowd of 1,417 at Christl Arena.  

Saturday, Tan, ranked No. 1 in the country on rings, performed ahead of Lee and turned in a 9.825 to better the mark of 9.725 he registered in winning the preliminaries Jan. 30. Lee followed with an equally strong routine and was also awarded a 9.825 in earning a share of the title with Tan behind his career-high performance in drawing closer to the school record (9.9). Ranked second nationally, Lee was runner-up to Tan in the prelims with a 9.7.  

Lee is the fifth Black Knight to be crowned a champion at this event, and the first to claim the title on still rings. The last to earn a title was John Robella on floor exercise two years ago. Lee, qualifying for the individual finals in three events, placed eighth on the high bar (8.3) and tied for that spot on parallel bars (8.0).  

Whitten and Oliveira turned in Army’s second best placings at the Open in claiming the bronze in their events. Whitten, who was third both days on pommel horse, registered a 9.0 in trailing Penn State’s Zachary Roeder’s winning mark of 9.6. Oliveira tied for third on parallel bars with an 8.5 after tying for fifth place in the preliminary round with a season-best 8.7. Kyle Welsh rounded out the four Black Knights who qualified for the finals in five of the six events. The Army sophomore finished eighth in floor exercise (8.3) after tying for sixth place in the preliminaries.  

Penn State’s Roeder and Nebraska’s Mace Patterson were double winners. Roeder was first on floor exercise (9.25) and pommel horse (9.6), while Patterson captured high bar (9.6) and parallel bars (8.8).  

“I was happy with the performance of our team members in the finals,” said Army head coach Doug Van Everen. “It was great for Kyle (Welsh) and Mike (Oliveira) to gain the experience and opportunity to compete against such a high caliber of athletes.  

“Brian (Lee) had to think about his performance after the mark set by Kevin Tan, but went in mentally and physically prepared and had an exciting performance. Nate (Whitten) was consistent all the way through.”

Army returns to action at the All-Academy Championships (Houston, Texas) Feb. 14 where they will look to defend their title for the fourth straight year.