CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – The Navy gymnastics team had a solid showing in the team portion of the NCAA Championship meet on Friday. Taking part in the first of two six-team qualifying sessions at the State Farm Center on the campus of the University of Illinois, the No. 10 Mids netted 393.123 points to place fifth overall. The team's effort was spearheaded by four individual event final qualifiers; David Toussaint (So., Warren, Ohio) on the floor exercise, Dan Clark (Fr., Avon, Mass.) on the pommel horse, Ryan Orce (Jr., Gainesville, Fla.) on the parallel bars and Ryan McVay (So., Roseville, Calif.) on the high bar.
 
"We learned what it takes to battle from behind today," remarked head coach Kip Simons. "We haven't been down like that all year so it was a real test for the guys to dig deep into their soul and finish the meet strong to come in fifth and get past Cal."
 
In the team standings for session one, No. 3 Michigan (408.389 points), No. 2 Stanford (407.588) and No. 7 Nebraska (405.723) all advanced to Saturday's NCAA Championship Finals. No. 6 Minnesota (396.059) placed fourth with the No. 10 Mids (393.123) right behind. A late meet push by Navy helped the team overtake sixth-place No. 11 California (390.859).  
 
With the conclusion of session two on Friday evening, Navy officially came in 10th of 12 teams as its 393.123 was over nine points better than No. 12 Army (383.855), the sixth-place team of the night meet. No. 1 Oklahoma (419.191), No. 4 Illinois (410.324) and No. 5 Penn State (404.287) advanced out of the second session.
 
As a team, Navy scored a 68.065 on the floor exercise, a 61.264 on the pommel horse, a 66.299 on the rings, a 68.331 on the vault, a 63.965 on the parallel bars and a 65.199 on the high bar.
 
The Mids started on the vault on Friday and received solid results from the first three gymnasts to race down the lane and hit the vault. After Toussaint recorded a 13.666, Travis Keller (So., Centreville, Va.) was next up and notched at 13.833. Frank Bradley (Jr., McLean, Va.) led Navy's vaulting lineup with a 14.166 score that tied for 17th overall. Bradley just missed qualifying for tomorrow's championship meet by 0.04 points as Air Force's Frankie Valentin got the final transfer spot with a 14.200.
 
Navy's parallel bars lineup was next to step up on the platform and came through with a quartet of top-20 results. Orce earned his way into Saturday's finals with a 13.666-point routine that ranked sixth overall. In his first-ever NCAA meet, Dhiren Lutchman (Fr., Beltsville, Md.) was up to the challenge as he knocked out a 13.133-point performance that saw him 13th in the standings. That score by Lutchman was his third-highest of 2019. Christian Correale (Sr., Harrisburg, Pa.) and McVay placed back-to-back in 19th and 20th, respectively with scores of 12.866 and 12.800.
 
Navy's turn on the high bar was its most successful of the day in terms of event rankings as the Mids' 65.199 was fourth-best, ahead of Cal's 63.599 and Minnesota's 62.733. Championship qualifier Ryan McVay led the way with the ninth-best score on the apparatus with a 13.466. Freshman Cash Buske (Madison, Wisc.) nearly made it two Midshipmen qualifiers on the high bar as he placed 15th with a score of 13.333. Minnesota's Michael Harris edged Buske by 0.067 points as he scored a 13.400. Max Gerber (So., Dix Hills, N.Y.) gave Navy a third gymnast in the top-20 as he came in 20th at 12.900.
 
Invigorated by the performance of their teammates on the high bar, Navy came around to the floor exercise and made up 1.234 points (68.065-66.831) on California as it looked to overtake the Bears in the second half of the meet. Toussaint executed his routine to near perfection and matched his career-high with a 14.400 score to tie for third overall in the field of 35 gymnasts. Bradley turned in the second-best score for the Mids on Friday as he placed 22nd with a 13.666.
 
The pommel horse was Navy's penultimate event in the qualifying session. Leading off for the Mids, freshman Dan Clark was locked in and hit a 13.133-point routine that ranked him ninth. Toussaint followed up his floor exercise outing with a 12.633 on the pommel horse. He placed 15th overall and missed the final transfer spot by 0.2 points. McVay came in close behind his teammate in 17th at 12.566.
 
Navy's comeback attempt to unseat California was completed on the rings as the Mids' lineup was consistent as a five-man team could be with all gymnasts scoring between 13.4 and 13.0 points and finishing within seven spots of each other in the individual standings. Orce was the top-scoring Navy competitor on the rings as he netted 13.400 points. Correale and Josh Williams (Fr., Cypress, Texas) were right behind with scores of 13.333 and 13.300, respectively. Jake Carlson (So., Lakeville, Mass.) rounded the quartet of Mids in 21st, 22nd, 23rd and 24th place with a 13.266-point effort.
 
In total, Navy made up 4.266 points over California in the final four events.
 
In the all-around competition, McVay came in sixth place overall with 78.464 points, the second-best score of his career. The sophomore's hopes of qualifying for Saturday in the six-event discipline were dashed by just 0.367 points as California's Aaron Mah came in with a 78.831. Overall, McVay scored a 13.233 on floor, 12.566 on the pommel horse, 13.166 on the rings, 13.233 on the vault, 12.800 on the parallel bars and 13.466 on the high bar.
 
Friday marked the final collegiate competition for senior team captain Christian Correale. Along with Mark Pickar (Libertyville, Ill.) and Mitchell Fornek (Oswego, Ill.), Navy's Class of 2019 has been a part of four straight NCAA Championship appearances (2016-2019). Prior to accomplishing that initial qualification in 2016, Navy hadn't been in the premier national meet since 2009.
 
"Our plebes were rock solid today," commented Simons. "The future of NMG is bright, I'm really happy for our senior class. They left it all out there today. It was an emotional afternoon for everyone."
 
The NCAA Championship Finals are scheduled to begin at 7:00 p.m. (ET) on Saturday night. The quartet of Toussaint, Clark, Orce and McVay will be competing for the right to earn NCAA All-American status versus gymnasts from the six teams that qualified for the team finals, as well as select individual qualifiers.