WILLIAMSBURG, Va. – Kicking off a two-meet weekend on Friday night, the Navy gymnastics team recorded a strong effort with a 400.0-392.55 victory over William & Mary in Williamsburg. Competing at William & Mary's Kaplan Arena, the No. 8 Midshipmen were led by gymnasts collecting four events wins versus the No. 15 Tribe. As a team, Navy posted significantly higher scores on the pommel horse and high bar rotations to help the squad to the 7.45-point victory over its ECAC rival.
 
Ryan Orce (Jr., Gainesville, Fla.), Josh Williams (Fr., Cypress, Texas), Lucas Beltran (Jr., Corpus Christi, Texas), Cash Buske (Fr., Madison, Wisc.) and Ben Provost (Jr., South Hadley, Mass.) all collected event wins for Navy on Friday night as Orce recorded the highest score on the pommel horse and Williams was the top-scorer on the rings. Beltran was the vault winner, while Buske and Provost tied for top billing on the high bar. 
 
As a team, Navy scored 67.35 points on the floor exercise, 66.55 on the pommel horse, 65.40 on the rings, 70.20 on the vault, 63.80 on the parallel bars and 66.7 on the high bar. 
 
"This team is getting better and better each week," remarked head coach Kip Simons. "We had some new guys in the lineup and they got the job done. We are focusing on the postseason four weeks from now and I'm pleased with our progress. Coming away with another conference win on the road and breaking 400 was the goal for tonight. We'll now regroup and get the troops ready for Sunday afternoon against another conference rival, Springfield."
 
Navy's pommel horse lineup helped the visitors jump ahead early as three Midshipmen finished in the top-five. Orce and David Toussaint (So., Warren, Ohio) went one-two in the standings with respective scores of 14.50 and 14.35. Those two Mids cleared the Tribe's Spencer Schrandt, the next closest gymnast, by 0.60 points. Dan Clark (Fr., Avon, Mass.) made it three Navy competitors in the top-four with a score of 12.9.
 
The Mids were equally as proficient on the vault and high bar with three of the top-five scores on each apparatus. On the vault, Beltran tied, William & Mary's Jack Hasenkopf for top honors with a 14.2-point result. Right behind Beltran and Hasenkopf was the Navy duo of Nehemiah Baker (Fr., Oak Ridge, N.C.) and Frank Bradley (Jr., McLean, Va.) who each were rewarded with scores of 14.1.
 
Navy's high bar corps swept the top-three positions over William & Mary as Buske and Provost each turned in 13.85-point efforts. Ryan McVay (So., Roseville, Calif.) rounded out the series of high performances with a third-place score of 13.6. The fourth-place gymnast on the high bar, Andrew Lyubovsky was 0.55 points back of McVay with a 13.05.
 
Williams earned a hard-fought slim victory on the rings as the freshman edged the Tribe's Jacopo Gliozzi, 13.7-13.65. His freshman classmate Baker placed fifth overall with a score of 13.2.
 
Two Midshipmen also finished in the top-five on the floor exercise as Provost and Toussaint came in back-to-back with scores of 13.95 and 13.9 that were good for second and third place, respectively.
 
On the parallel bars, McVay recorded Navy's top score with a 13.3-point mark. Max Gerber (So., Dix Hills, N.Y.) was the second Mid in the standings with a 12.9, that placed him sixth overall.
 
Navy will have a quick turnaround and a couple hundred miles of travel ahead of them as the Mids will be back in action on Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. at Springfield College.