"Grit!"

That was the word head coach Charley Nelson used to describe his team's effort at the ECAC Championships Saturday afternoon.

From setting a season high in the team high bar score, to personal high scores in several events, to establishing the highest overall team score of the season in the campaign's final meet, grit was evident from start to finish at the conference meet.

"They finished the day hitting 15 of 15, and there were only three missed routines all day.  What a fantastic finish to the team portion of the season," Nelson continued.  The Flames scored 373.650 points, more than three full points ahead of their previous best effort.

In earlier meets, brilliance on one apparatus would be offset by a fall on another.  In Springfield, Mass. on Saturday, the Flames' execution scores were consistently between 8.3 and 9.4, with only one mark below 7.4.

Sam Montague had top-10 finishes on floor and all-around.  Kaleb Booth tied Montague on floor.  Colin Schwartz was seventh on pommel horse, while Nick Smiley took eighth on parallel bars.  Xan Weaver joined Montague on the all-around podium.

Navy won the team title, finishing ahead of Army by over 10 points.  William & Mary took third, Springfield placed fourth, and the Flames took fifth place.

Rotation 1 – Pommel Horse

• Colin Schwartz turned in the team's highest score in the anchor position with a 13.350.  His routine had the third highest difficulty score of the entire meet, and he was rewarded for his execution with a mark of 8.250.
• Michael Peluso led off the meet by scoring 11.600.
• Eric Barnd and James Strevey each were just 0.050 behind Peluso.

Rotation 2 – Still Rings

• Weaver had a very solid set and scored a team high 12.850.
• Sam Montague established a career high, scoring 12.600.  Wes Diveney had the same score.
• Nick Smiley added an 11.250 to the team's total.

Rotation 3 – Vault

• Paul Burney matched his season best mark with a 13.800.
• Booth finished just a tenth behind Burney.  Montague scored 13.400.
• Weaver set a new season high with his score of 13.050.

Rotation 4 – Parallel Bars

• Smiley scored 12.650 to lead four Flames with scores well above 12.
• Montague earned 12.450, and Weaver was right behind with 12.400.
• Schwartz scored 12.350 after earning execution marks above 9 from both judges.

Rotation 5 – High Bar

• Paul Burney had the team's highest score of the season.  He punctuated his routine with a gorgeous stick and earned a mark of 12.750.
• Montague had tight releases throughout his routine, which earned 12.300.
• Weaver posted a score of 12.200.

Rotation 6 – Floor

• Montague and Booth each scored 13.850 to wrap up the meet.
• Weaver's 13.100 was a personal season high.
• Smiley scored 12.800.

All-Around

• Montague totaled 76.600 and placed fifth in the conference.
• Weaver had a season high 74.850 and took sixth.

Up Next

• The NCAA Championships will take place starting April 19 at Illinois-Champaign.
• UIC will have several individuals in contention to qualify as individual event or all-around specialists.
• The Flames will play, as Nelson put it, "a waiting game" until conference meets across the country are finished, scores are tabulated, and teams and individuals get selected for nationals.