March 21, 2015 COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - The Navy gymnastics team finished competition at the USA Gymnastics Collegiate Championships at the Air Force Academy on Saturday with the individual event finals. Five Midshipmen competed in the finals and three earned USAG All-America honors by placing amongst the top six in their respective events.
The duo of Mitchell Larios (Jr., Frisco, Texas) and Jonny Tang (So., Malvern, Pa.) led Navy's effort as both gymnasts garnered All-American accolades in two events. Larios started his strong performances on Saturday early as he finished second in the floor exercise with a 15.05 score. He came in just 0.05 points shy of Air Force's Josh Ramos. Larios earned his second All-American finish on the parallel bars as he took fifth place with a 13.95 effort. The Texas native nearly earned a third accolade on the vault as he finished in seventh at 13.7, 0.3 points shy of the podium.
Tang took All-American honors on the parallel bars and high bar. He finished ahead of Larios on the parallel bars as he was fourth at 14.0. Tang's second accolade came from the high bar as he recorded a 14.5 for second place. The sophomore fell just 0.1 points shy of William & Mary's Michael Dietz, who won the title at 14.6. Tang was a three-time winner at the 2015 USAG Championships as he was first in the all-around on Friday night.
Navy's third All-American was Eric Viscardi (Sr., Marietta, Ga.), who finished in fourth place on the floor exercise at 14.4.
Thomas Goodell (Sr., Hopkinton, Mass.) and Joshua Steves (Sr., Houston, Texas) also competed on Saturday, but both just missed making the podium on the rings. William & Mary's Jeremiah Reynolds was sixth at 14.15, while Goodell (14.0) and Steves (13.8) finished in seventh and eighth, respectively.
The Midshipmen will continue their postseason action next weekend with the ECAC Championships at Army. Beginning on Friday, March 27 at 2 p.m., Navy will look to earn the automatic bid into the NCAA Championships from the conference competition. The team and all-around championship will be held on Friday before the individual event finals go off on Saturday at 1 p.m.