WEST POINT, N.Y. - The Navy gymnastics team started its 2017 campaign on Friday night as one of seven competitors in the West Point Open. Taking on a talented field, the young Midshipmen squad compiled a score of 391.25 to rank fifth overall in the meet at Army's Christl Arena. Senior Jonny Tang (Malvern, Pa.) led the team and a group of seven freshmen who made their collegiate debuts on Friday with a fifth-place standing in the all-around competition and two bids into Saturday's individual event finals.

No. 5 Penn State finished atop the team standings with a 412.35-point effort to hold off No. 7 Nebraska (410.6) by less than two points. The host Army Black Knights came in third at 393.55, while Arizona State finished just ahead of Navy in fourth place with a 392.75. Springfield College and Temple rounded out the field with respective scores of 390.55 and 372.25.

Tang spearheaded the Mids' effort with strong rotations on the floor and pommel horse. In the floor exercise, the senior posted the fourth-highest score of the night with a 14.05. Freshmen Lucas Beltran (Corpus Christi, Texas) and Frank Bradley (McLean, Va.) aided Navy's floor exercise effort with identical 13.4 scores. Tang's pommel horse routine was tied for ninth-best overall at 13.4. Trevor North (Fr., Johnstown, Ohio) was Navy's second-highest scorer with a 13.0-point result.

Both of Tang's performances earned him a spot into the event finals.

Navy saw three more of its gymnasts qualify for Saturday's final action as Tanner West (Fr., Cypress, Texas), Ryan Orce (Fr., Gainesville, Fla.) and Noah Beeman (Jr., Dayton, Ohio) all posted high enough scores.

West led a strong performance by Navy's rings lineup that combined for a 67.3-point score. West finished tied for fifth amongst the field and tops for the Mids with a 14.0 result. Wyatt LaPointe (Sr., Mechanicsburg, Pa.) and Tang barely missed qualifying with respective scores of 13.6 and 13.35.

Orce was the highest placing Mid on the parallel bars as he posted a 13.55 to earn his way into the finals.

Beeman has himself in contention for an event title on Saturday courtesy of his performance on the high bar. The junior all-arounder notched a 13.45 to rank fifth. Two other Mids, Tang and West finished in the top-15 with scores of 13.25 and 12.9, respectively.

Navy's highest-scoring rotation was the vault as the five-man counting lineup netted a 68.5-point result. The Mids top-four scores were within 0.4 points with Beltran's 14.0 leading the way.

As a team, Navy posted a 65.7 on the floor exercise, 63.3 on the pommel horse, 67.3 on the rings, 68.5 on the vault, 62.6 on the parallel bars and 63.85 on the high bar.

In the final standings of the all-around competition, Tang placed fifth with an 80.3-point score, while Beeman closed out his day with a 74.9 to rank 16^th. Penn State's Michael Burns was the overall champion with a final total of 82.7 points.

"We were very solid on the pommel horse, rings and vault tonight," remarked head coach Kip Simons. "We encountered some of the growing pains that come with graduating a 10-person class and competing as a team for the first time. I'm excited about the potential of this young squad, but we need to mature quickly. Adjustments will be made and we'll be ready to battle next week."

Tang, West, Orce and Beeman will all represent Navy in the event finals on Saturday night that kick off at 7 p.m.