ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The Navy men's gymnastics team turned in one of the top performances across the entire 2020 NCAA Gymnastics landscape on Saturday afternoon with a score of 407.8 at its annual Navy Open. Through two weeks of early season action only one team, Oklahoma, has surpassed the 407.5-point mark until the Mids did so this afternoon to the thrill of their fans in Macdonough Hall. Navy outscored its opposition on every event and saw individual Midshipmen gymnasts finish first, second and third on every apparatus.
William & Mary placed second in the team standings with 382.8 points to finish ahead of both Springfield and Temple, who turned in scores of 376.45 and 354.20, respectively.
Lucas Beltran (Sr., Corpus Christi, Texas) led a quintet of Mids, who placed first on their respective events on Saturday afternoon as he won both the floor exercise and vault. Additional winners, included
David Toussaint (Jr., Warren, Ohio) on the pommel horse,
Josh Williams (So., Cypress, Texas) on the rings,
Dhiren Lutchman (So., Beltsville, Md.) on the parallel bars and
Cash Buske (So., Madison, Wisc.) on the high bar.
As a team, Navy scored 69.35 points on the floor exercise, 64.9 on the pommel horse, 65.6 on the rings, 72.8 on the vault, 68.1 on the parallel bars and 68.05 on the high bar.
"What a big day for Navy Men's Gymnastics!" remarked head coach
Kip Simons. "The guy rebounded nicely today after a slow start to the season last weekend.
Lucas Beltran had the best vault of his life. Our plebes stepped up strong today as they continue to impact the depth of our lineup. We went from 10 missed routines last weekend to three. We are looking forward to getting back to work in the gym on Monday."
Starting Saturday's meet on the floor exercise, the Mids came out in strong fashion with four gymnasts posting top-five scores. Beltran was the class of 24-man field with a score of 14.15 to edge his senior classmates
Ben Provost (South Hadley, Mass.) and
Frank Bradley (McLean, Va.) by 0.05 points as they both turned in 14.1-point efforts. After William & Mary's Collin Lillie placed fourth with a 13.8, Williams came in fifth at 13.6. Toussaint rounded the Mids' counting lineup with a seventh-place score of 13.4. Navy's five-man lineup outscored second-place Springfield by 3.4 points.
Following his floor routine Toussaint immediately turned his attention to the pommel horse where he earned a 0.2-point victory, 13.4 to 13.2.
Ryan Orce finished runner-up to Toussaint with that 13.2.
Ryan McVay (Jr., Roseville, Calif.) made it three Mids in-a-row as he graded out at 13.05. A pair of William & Mary gymnasts came in fourth and fifth place before
Jake Carlson (Jr., Lakeville, Mass.) and
Dan Clark (So., Avon, Mass.) went back-to-back in sixth and seventh place with scores of 12.7 and 12.55, respectively. Navy's pommel horse performance really put space between itself and the field with 4.15 points more than William & Mary.
The Mids continued posting three-plus point advantages over the field as the gymnasts in their rings lineup placed first, second, third and fourth overall. Navy's anchor on the rings apparatus, Williams came through with a dominant 13.65-point score that was 0.45 points better than his teammate
Giovanni Gambatese (Fr., Pewaukee, Wisc.), who finished runner-up at 13.2. Carlson and Lutchman capped Navy's run on the top-four positions with scores of 13.1 and 12.95, respectively. Bradley and Orce tied for sixth place with matching 12.7-point outputs.
The second half of the meet was more of the same as the Mids' vault lineup outclassed second-place William & Mary by 3.05 points. Similar to the rings, Navy swept positions one through four. In a competitive top of the table battle, Beltran,
Connor Van Loo (Fr., Freeland, Mich.) and
Travis Keller (Jr., Centreville, Va.) were separated by 0.15 points with Beltran posting a 14.8, Van Loo a 14.75 and Keller a 14.65. Both Van Loo and Keller's vault scores were career-bests. Toussaint placed fourth 0.2 points behind Keller with a 14.45 before Williams made it five Mids in the top-six at 14.15. Bradley tied for seventh place with a score of 14.1.
On the fifth rotation, the Mids turned their focus to the parallel bars. Navy's depth shone in this event as members of its lineup occupied the top five placements, while representing all four academic classes. Lutchman, a sophomore earned the victory with a score of 13.95. The junior pairing of
Max Gerber (Dix Hills, N.Y.) and McVay placed second and third, respectively at 13.6 and 13.5 before Orce, a senior, came in fourth with a 13.1 result. Gambatese's 12.95 score gave Navy the top-five sweep. Saturday was his first collegiate appearance.
Another top-five sweep concluded Saturday's competition for Navy on the high bar. Buske led the Mids' effort as he held off Orce by 0.05 points, 14.0 to 13.95. Gerber registered his second top-three score in as many events as he placed third with a 13.8 on the high bar. McVay and Provost rounded out the top-five with respective scores of 13.2 and 13.1. Gambatese nearly made it six consecutive Mids as he came in seventh at 12.55; he was 0.05 points shy of Temple's Nicolino DiBattista, who placed sixth overall. On the strength of this domination, Navy scored 7.0 points more than second-place William & Mary.
The Mids will continue their run of early-season action with a home dual meet versus William & Mary next Saturday. First touch at Macdonough Hall is set for 2 p.m. on Jan. 25.
