CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – The Navy gymnastics team concluded its 2019 season in fine fashion as four of its top gymnasts had the opportunity to compete in the finals of the NCAA Championship on Saturday night. Led by Ryan McVay's (So., Roseville, Calif.) 17th-place result on the high bar, two Midshipmen placed in the top-25 in the nationwide event that was held at the University of Illinois' State Farm Center.
 
McVay was the first Midshipmen to see action on Saturday night as he competed in the high bar. In one of the cleaner routines of the night, the sophomore recorded an 8.733 on the execution, seventh-best of 44 gymnasts on the apparatus, on his way to an overall score of 13.333 that ranked 17th in the field. McVay ended tied with Penn State's Favian Valdez.
 
Ryan Orce (Jr., Gainesville, Fla.) on the parallel bars was Navy's second highest finishing gymnast in the championship finals as he posted a score of 13.133 that tied for 25th overall with Penn State's Michael Burns and Oklahoma's Yul Moldauer. The junior executed his routine to 8.233 precision on his way to his final total.
 
Navy's youngest competitor, freshman Dan Clark (Avon, Mass.) got the chance to test himself against the best on pommel horse. Like his other two teammates, clean execution was the calling card of his routine as he was graded out a 8.533 in that category on his was to 13.033 final score. Clark ranked 30th overall.
 
The Mids' final gymnast entered in competition on Saturday night was David Toussaint (So., Warren, Ohio), who came in 43rd place with a score of 12.266 on the floor exercise. Toussaint was the only Mid to compete on Saturday with prior NCAA Championship Finals experience as he qualified last year on the pommel horse.
 
"Three of our four athletes were out there on the big stage for the first time tonight," remarked head coach Kip Simons. "I expect them to use this experience as motivation for next year.
 
"We're going to celebrate this season for a few days then we'll begin focusing on next season."
 
In the team finals, No. 2 Stanford pulled off the upset and scored 415.222 points to unset the four-time defending champions, No. 1 Oklahoma. The Sooners came in second at 414.556. The rest of the standings saw Nebraska finish in third (407.489), Michigan (406.354) in fourth, Illinois (405.358) and Penn State (399.725) in sixth. Always up for the challenge, Navy faced off with both Oklahoma and Penn State during the 2019 regular season as preparation for its program-best 10^th-place result in Friday's NCAA Championship Qualifying Meet.