Meet Results

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. - The Navy gymnastics team began postseason action on Friday with a third-place finish at the USAG Collegiate Championships. Competing against a 10-team field at Springfield College's Blake Arena, the Mids recorded a score of 412.85. Navy finished behind the seven-time defending champions Air Force (425.35) and Army West Point (413.85).

The rest of the top five in the field of varsity and club teams included William & Mary in fourth place at 405.1 and Arizona State, a club squad, in fifth at 403.65.

Individually, Navy had six different gymnasts record top-eight results and subsequent spots in Saturday's individual event finals. All-around performer, Jonny Tang (Jr., Malvern, Pa.) led the way with a fourth-place finish in the all-around on Friday and qualifying scores for the floor exercise, rings, parallel bars and high bar event finals on Saturday. Eric Poletti (Sr., Lancaster, Pa.) finished top-eight in the rings and high bar, while Connor Westrick (Sr., Waterford, Wisc.) duplicated that feat on the pommel horse and parallel bars.

Single-event qualifiers included Michael Dorsey (Sr., Hollywood, Fla.) on the pommel horse and Mitchell Larios (Sr., Frisco, Texas) and Andy Jones (So., Reading, Mass.) on the vault.

"We fought all day and I was proud of the effort shown by the team," remarked head coach Kip Simons. "Today was great preparation for our conference meet next weekend. We'll have great representation in Saturday's event finals after some really good individual routines."

As a team, the Mids scored a 68.45 in the floor exercise, 66.4 on the pommel horse, 68.85 on the rings, 71.15 on the vault, 67.95 on the parallel bars and 70.05 on the high bar.

Navy's vaulting lineup led the way on Friday as Jones and Larios finished fourth and fifth in the overall standings with scores of 14.55 and 14.5, respectively. Tang and David Frick (Sr., St. Johns, Fla.) gave the Mids four gymnast with 14.0-plus performances with respective scores of 14.2 and 14.1. As a team, Navy's 71.15 score was the highest five-man score at the championship.

The Mids' rings team was the second-highest ranking lineup with its 68.85 result trailing only Air Force's 69.5. Poletti led Navy and the entire competition with a 14.55 score. He goes into Saturday as the number one seed. Tang was the second Midshipmen to qualify on the rings, as the junior posted a 13.75 score. Connor Gonzales (Sr., Glen Ellyn, Ill.) barely missed making the individual finals with a 13.7 result. Wyatt LaPointe (Jr., Mechanicsburg, Pa.) was the Mids' fourth-highest scorer at 13.5.

Tang equaled Poletti's standing as a number one seed on the floor exercise after recording a score of 14.85. Larios and Noah Beeman (Dayton, Ohio) helped Tang in Navy's effort on the floor with 14.2 and 13.85 scores, respectively.

The Mids' high bar team recorded just its second 70.0-plus score of the season with a 70.05 result on Friday. Poletti and Tang's event final qualifying routines and subsequent scores of 14.55 and 14.45 led the way for Navy. Beeman also posted a strong score with a 14.0 effort.

The parallel bar and pommel horse teams recorded similar results with scores of 67.95 and 66.4 and two individual qualifiers each. On the p-bars, Tang and Westrick finished back-to-back with 14.15 and 14.1 respective scores. On the pommel horse, Westrick and Dorsey were the Mids' two qualifiers with scores of 14.05 and 13.75. Beeman finished right behind Dorsey with a 13.7 score from the judges.

In the all-around competition, Tang finished in fourth place with 83.25 points. In addition to his vault, rings, floor exercise, high bar and parallel bars scores, he notched a 11.85 on the pommel horse. Air Force's Tim Wang was the all-around champion with 88.15 points on Friday.

The individual event finals for the championship where more USAG Collegiate All-American accolades will be on the line begins on Saturday at 1 p.m. Live free video for the finals will be provided by Springfield. Click here for the link ... LIVE VIDEO

Navy Event Finalists on Saturday

Floor Exercise: Tang (1st)
Pommel Horse: Westrick (6th), Dorsey (8th)
Vault: Jones (4th), Larios (5th)
Rings: Poletti (1st), Tang (6th)
Parallel Bars: Tang (7th), Westrick (8th)
High Bar: Poletti (5th), Tang (6th)