Army Wins 2005 EIGL Championship; First Title in 43 Years

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (March 25, 2005) - Army head coach Doug Van Everen was elated Friday evening when his men's gymnastics team accomplished what he knew they were capable of doing all season - capture the ECAC EIGL Alpha Factor Gymnastics Championships. It is the Black Knights first ECAC title in 43 years and 12th overall.

The victory earned the top-seeded and No. 11 ranked Black Knights the automatic team bid to the 2005 NCAA Men's Gymnastics Championships that Army will be hosting atWest Point, April 7-9. It is also the second straight year they earned a berth to the NCAA Championships.

Army won the meet with a 214.025, over three points ahead of No. 14 Temple's runner-up score of 210.975. No. 12 William & Mary was third (210.35), while defending champion and No. 13 University of Illinois atChicagofinished a distant fourth (209.5). No. 15 Navy was fifth at 202.25 in rounding out the top five schools in eight-team field.

"We just went in there and dominated," said an ecstatic Van Everen after finishing runner-up the previous two years. "It was up and down at first. We started on vault and did a good job, butTempledrew to within a point after we finished floor exercise, but we were tough, fought hard and kept hitting our routines. It was great to get the job done."

Sophomore Mike Oliveira earned his first EIGL title with a winning mark of 8.95 on parallel bars as Army concluded competition on Saturday. 

Oliveira was runner-up in the preliminary round on parallel bars with a 9.0, but moved up a spot in the individual finals to become the 14th Black Knight to win an Eastern title under head coach Doug VanEveren. It is also the fifth straight year that Army has crowned an Eastern champion.

The sophomore fromGlastonbury,Conn., who qualified to compete in three individual events, was also fourth on high bar with an 8.6 and sixth on floor exercise (8.75), bettering his preliminary round finishes where he was eighth in both.

It is the 12th time and first since 1962 that Army has won the ECAC/EIGL Cup. The Black Knights have won the title outright 10 times, while sharing it twice (1937 and 1950).

ECAC EIGL Alpha Factor Gymnastics Championships
Hosted bySpringfieldCollege

Team Results:
1) Army 214.025
2) Temple 210.975
3) William & Mary 210.350
4) Ill.-Chicago 209.500
5) Navy 202.250
6)Springfield201.200
7) James Madison 191.400
8) MIT 180.350.