SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – The Navy gymnastics team continued completing tasks on its 2019 checklist of success as the Mids cruised to a 10.5-point victory at the ECAC Championship on Saturday. Coming in as the defending champions of the meet, the Mids used standout turns on the pommel horse, parallel bars and high bar to distance itself from the five-team field. After the final touch at Springfield's Blake Arena, Navy was victorious with 401.15 points.
 
The rest of the field at the ECAC Championship consisted of Army in second place at 390.65, William & Mary in third with 388.55 points, Springfield in fourth at 383.15 and Illinois-Chicago at 373.65.
 
Individually, Navy was led by four individual title winners and 15 All-ECAC performances on the day. Lucas Beltran (Jr., Corpus Christi, Texas), Ben Provost (Jr., South Hadley, Mass.), David Toussaint (So., Warren, Ohio) and Josh Williams (Fr., Cypress, Texas) all placed first in individual events at the contest as Beltran was the vault champ, Provost the high bar champ, Toussaint the pommel horse champ and Williams the tri-champ on the rings.
 
"The guys battled adversity from the start, but focused on the task at hand and repeated as the conference champions," exclaimed head coach Kip Simons. "Our bus broke down on the way to the arena today, but this group of guys are on a mission this year and they're not done yet. We're now onto the NCAA Championships with a top-10 finish as our goal."
 
As a team, Navy posted a 68.9 on the floor exercise, a 68.15 on the pommel horse, a 65.55 on the rings, a 69.0 on the vault, a 64.45 on the parallel bars and a 65.1 on the high bar.
 
The Mids recorded four top-five individual performances from their high bar and parallel bars and pommel horse lineups to lead the way. The duo of Provost and Cash Buske (Fr., Madison, Wisc.) stood out on the high bar as Provost came in first with a score of 13.65 ahead of his teammate in second place at 13.25. Ryan Orce (Jr., Gainesville, Fla.) and Ryan McVay (So., Roseville, Calif.) were right in the mix with respective scores of 13.2 and 13.15 that placed them fourth and fifth, respectively. 
 
Orce was atop Navy's effort on the parallel bars as he was edged by just 0.05 points in the battle for the event crown by Army's Matthew Davis, 13.15 to 13.10. Max Gerber (So., Dix Hills, N.Y.) was one spot back of Orce in third with a 13.0 score. Christian Correale (Sr., Harrisburg, Pa.) and Dhiren Lutchman (Fr., Beltsville, Md.) rounded out the Mids' run of four gymnasts in the top-five as Correale was fourth at 12.9, while Lutchman tied for fifth at 12.8.
 
Toussaint was dominant on the pommel horse as he cleared the 25-gymnast field by 0.20 points. The sophomore was awarded a score of 14.25 by the judges to finish ahead of Orce, who placed second at 14.05. Competing in his first conference championship meet, Dan Clark (Fr., Avon, Mass.) came in fourth with a 13.7-point score. Another Massachusetts native, Jake Carlson (So., Lakeville, Mass.) tied for fifth with a 13.4-point routine.
 
Navy's floor exercise and rings teams both netted two top-four results on Saturday. The junior duo of Beltran and Frank Bradley (Jr., McLean, Va.) posted identical scores of 14.3 on the floor exercise to tie for second place. Williams and Orce were the leaders on the rings for Navy as Williams recorded 13.85 points to tie with Army's Elliot Herman and William & Mary's David Watkins for first place. Orce capped the high-scoring quartet with a 13.7 that ranked fourth. The fifth-place gymnast on the rings, William & Mary's Jacopo Gliozzi was 0.4 points back with a 13.3.
 
Beltran captured the vault crown with a score of 14.5 that surpassed the field by 0.25 points. Bradley was the Mids' second finisher as he came in eighth with a 13.85. 
 
Provost, Toussaint and Beltran are now two-time ECAC Champions as all three Midshipmen defended their 2018 titles.

In the all-around competition, McVay netted 77.5 points to come in third place. Springfield's Stephen Lewis came in first with 79.35 points to edge Army's Matthew Davis, who recorded a total of 79.05 points. McVay scored 13.2 on the floor exercise, 12.75 on the pommel horse, 12.3 on the rings, 13.45 on the vault and 12.65 on the parallel bars, in addition to his previously mentioned, 13.15 on the high bar.

After the meet, Simons was recognized as the ECAC Coach of the Year, while assistant coaches Craig Holt and Colin Payne were honored as the 2019 ECAC Assistant Coaches of the Year.
 
"We will go back to work Monday and prepare to battle on the national stage," said Simons. "I'm so proud of the work this team has done so far. We're having success because of the work they're doing Monday through Friday."
 
Navy's season will continue in two weeks at the NCAA Championship Meet. The Mids came into the day ranked tenth in the nation with a 400.6 qualifying average and will increase that number with Saturday's performance. The qualifying meet is set for Friday, April 19 in Champagne, Illinois. The event at the University of Illinois will have two qualifying sessions that will be determined this coming week. The championship finals are set for Saturday, April 20.