Fullerton’s McNulty Narrowly Misses Winning Individual Championship
Cal State Fullerton senior Shawn McNulty scored a 9.80 on the rings Saturday night to just miss winning an NCAA individual gymnastics championship before a crowd of 4,918 in the Bob Devaney Sports Complex at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln.
McNulty tied for second with Paul Fishbein of Illinois-Chicago Circle. They finished five-hundreths of a point behind champion Mark Diab of Iowa State.
Titan senior Scott Picquelle, Friday’s top qualifier on the pommel horse with a score of 9.90, finished sixth on Saturday with a 9.40. Sophomore Ric Draghi scored a 9.65 to finish second in the vault.
By placing in the top six, McNulty, Picquelle and Draghi won All-American honors. A fourth Fullerton gymnast, sophomore Russell Lacy, was seventh in the floor exercise with a 9.55.
“All four guys in the finals hit their sets and I’m extremely proud of all of them.” Fullerton Coach Dick Wolfe said. “McNulty trained really well all year and missed being national rings champion by only five hundreths of a point.”
In the team competition, Ohio State scored 285.35 points to beat Nebraska (284.55) and Penn State (283.050) to win the national championship.
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