2015 Schedule

ANNAPOLIS, Md. - The Navy gymnastics team announced its schedule for the upcoming 2015 season on Monday. Returning a veteran squad with 11 letterwinners from their 2014 campaign, the Mids are slated to compete at 10 events. Navy will begin its season on Friday, January 16 with two days of action at the West Point Open.

"An important key to our success or failure in 2015 will be the combined performance of our senior and freshmen classes," acknowledged Navy head coach Dr. Sho Fukushima. "The seniors must spearhead the leadership and performance for the team, while the freshmen must help fill the big whole left with Chris Junghans' graduation."

"The core of Navy's power has to come from the junior and sophomore classes as they make up two-thirds of the roster. This group has had an additional year to improve their skill difficulties and mastery level. Team unity may be the key to reaching all of our goals in 2015."

Navy kicks off its season on January 16 with the two-day West Point Open. Hosted by Army, the Mids will be in team competition on Friday night before the top scoring individuals battle for event honors on Saturday night.

The following Saturday, January 24, the Mids will host their annual Navy Open at Macdonough Hall. Penn State, William & Mary, Temple and Springfield are all scheduled to compete at the open. Two of the five teams in the field qualified for the 2014 NCAA Championships as the Nittany Lions finished sixth and the Tribe 12th.

Navy's lone head-to-head home meet in 2015 will be on Sunday, Feb. 1 as the Mids welcome the Tribe of William & Mary. The back end of the home-and-home between the two programs will occur a month later on Sunday, March 8 in Williamsburg, Va.

A trip to Houston for the All-Academy Championships on Saturday, February 7, will split a stretch of four dual meets in seven weeks for Navy. The Mids will look to improve on its second place finish from 2014, in which Air Force came in first and Army finished third.

Dual action will pick right back up the following weekend when the Mids travel to West Point to defend its 2014 Star Meet victory on Saturday, Feb. 14. This past season in Annapolis, Navy won its fifth Star Meet in six years with a 442.3 to 420.1 victory over Army.

"If we are to have a repeat performance and defeat Army in the Star match in 2015 we will need these new plebes to steadily contribute to the power of the team and moreover, all of our returning gymnasts upgrade their performance level to the next notch," explained Navy head coach Dr. Sho Fukushima about the schedule's most important head-to-head meet of the year.

After their return trip to William & Mary on March 8, the Mids' final regular season dual meet is scheduled for Saturday, March 14 in Springfield, Mass. versus the Springfield College Pride. Navy fell by five points in last season's meeting in Springfield.

The championship portion of the Mids' schedule begins with the USA Gymnastics Collegiate Championships. Hosted by Air Force, Navy will take part in the team event on Friday, March 20 before the individual champions are decided on Saturday.

The same format applies to the action the next weekend in West Point for the ECAC Championships. The team and all-around titles will be determined on Friday, March 27, while the individual titles will be up for grabs on Saturday, March 28.

The final event for the Mids in 2015 will be the NCAA Championships. The three days of championship action begins on Thursday, April 9 with the Qualifying Meet. The team, all-around and individual finals will on April 10 and 11, respectively. The 2015 NCAA Qualifying Meet and Championships will take place in Norman, Oklahoma on the campus of the University of Oklahoma.