Aug. 24, 2016 ANNAPOLIS, Md. - Second-year head coach Kip Simons announced on Wednesday the 2017 schedule for the Navy Gymnastics team. Coming off a bid in the NCAA Championships for just the second time in program, Simons will have his Midshipmen squad challenged with a 13-meet slate, with 10 regular season competitions and three postseason events. Navy's season will kick off on Friday, January 13 with two days of action at the West Point Open.
After the Mids compete in team and individual final action at Army's season-opening meet on that first weekend, it will be time for the team to head home for its own season-opening event, the annual Navy Open on Saturday, January 21. The host Midshipmen are the two-time defending champions of the meet after turning in a dominant 11.4-point victory over the field in 2016.
The following Saturday will begin the Mids' slate of head-to-head dual meet with a home matchup against long-time Eastern Intercollegiate Gymnastics League (EIGL) rival William & Mary on January 28. The two EIGL squads split a home-and-home series in 2016 as each team earned a victory in its home gym.
Bragging rights and the 2017 Star will be on the line the next weekend when Navy travels back north to West Point for a head-to-head matchup with Army on Feb. 4. The Mids earned the 2016 Star with a 419.3-413.75 victory over the Black Knights in Annapolis. Strong ring and vault rotations gave the host Navy team a lead that it would hold onto for the win, the 35th all-time in the series.
Navy's third matchup of the early season against Army will occur seven days late in San Antonio at the annual All-Academy Championships. The Mids, Black Knights and Falcons of Air Force will face off for service academy superiority. Last year in Atlanta, Air Force was victorious with a score of 427.35, though Navy was close behind with a school-record 424.1-point output.
On February 25, dual action for the Mids gets picked back up as they host the Big Ten's Penn State. The Nittany Lions competed alongside the Mids at the NCAA Championships last April and finished fifth overall. This will be the 55th all-time head-to-head meeting between the schools and first since 2002. Over the past 14 years though, the teams have met in tri-meets or at multi-team opens.
A pair of road EIGL matchups dot the following weekend as Navy heads south to Williamsburg, Virginia and the campus of William & Mary on Friday, March 3. Two days later, the Mids will go head-to-head in Massachusetts with a meet at Springfield College.
Saturday, March 11 will mark the Senior Day meet for a pair of Midshipmen; team captain Wyatt LaPointe and two-time NCAA Championship competitor Jonny Tang. The Mids will face off versus William & Mary and Temple at the MacDonough Hall gym for the final time in 2017.
The last regular season meet occurs on the road on Saturday, March 18 when Navy travels to Colorado for a non-conference matchup versus NCAA Championship participant and service academy rival, Air Force. This competition will be the first time that Simons will have his current Navy squad face off with Air Force, a program he led from 2005-06 to 2014-15.
The Mids' run of postseason championship action begins the following Friday with the first of two-days of competition at the USAG Collegiate Championships in Seattle, Washington. Hosted by the University of Washington, Navy will take on a prospective 10-team field with Air Force and Army slated to compete.
Two weeks later on Saturday, April 8, the ECAC Championships will be on tap for Navy. Illinois-Chicago will host the event between EIGL schools; Army, Navy, William & Mary and Springfield.
The 2017 season wraps up on the weekend of April 21-22 at West Point with the NCAA Championships. Navy will be looking to repeat its 2016 achievement of qualifying as a team, but if not, a select number of gymnasts will be considered as at-large qualifiers for the national competition.
2017 Navy Gymnastics Schedule
Friday, Jan. 13 - at West Point Open (Team)
Saturday, Jan. 14 - at West Point Open (Ind. Finals)
Saturday, Jan. 21 - Navy Open
Saturday, Jan. 28 - William & Mary
Saturday, Feb. 4 - at Army West Point (Star Meet)
Saturday, Feb. 11 - at All-Academy Championships (San Antonio)
Thu.-Sat., Feb. 16-18 - Winter Cup (Individuals, Las Vegas)
Saturday, Feb. 25 - Penn State
Friday, March 3 - at William & Mary
Sunday, March 5 - at Springfield
Saturday, March 11 - William & Mary / Temple
Saturday, March 18 - at Air Force
Friday, March 24 - at USAG Collegiate Championships (Team, Seattle, Wash.)
Saturday, March 25 - at USAG Collegiate Championships (Ind. Finals, Seattle, Wash.)
Saturday, April 8 - at ECAC Championship (Chicago, Ill.)
Fri.-Sat., April 21-22 - at NCAA Championships (West Point)
