ANNAPOLIS, Md. – In matchup of two teams ranked in the preseason top-10, the defending NCAA Champions, the Stanford Cardinal defeated the Navy Midshipmen, 398.25 to 384.30 in a virtual meet on Wednesday. Competing through the Virtius platform, the Mids (2-2) at Macdonough Hall and the Cardinal (2-1) at Burnham Pavilion, the teams mixed-and-matched their lineups in a unique mid-week matchup. Resting some of their leading gymnasts, who led them to the 2021 All-Academy Championship on Saturday, Navy had six freshmen in action on Wednesday as the program's depth was on display.
 
Individually, sophomore Giovanni Gambatese (Pewaukee, Wisc.) led the youthful lineup with an event win on the high bar. Amongst, the freshmen in action, Caleb Hickey (Fr., Carthage, N.C.) turned in a pair of top-five results on the floor exercise and the parallel bars. Additionally, Erik Engelke (Fr., Henrico, Va.) placed third on the rings, while John Wendeborn (Fr., Tomball, Texas) ranked fourth on the pommel horse and Matthew Rosendahl (Fr., Upperco, Md.) was fifth on the vault.
 
"We are grateful to have had the opportunity to compete against one of the best teams in the country tonight," remarked head coach Kip Simons. "We focused on our depth chart tonight, which will pay off down the stretch as we head into the postseason. I could not have been more proud of the way our 'next men up' performed tonight. We've had 22 of our 23 athletes raise their hands to represent the Naval Academy and we've only had three meets so far. It's a marathon of a season and we're only at mile five. Matt, Ian, Caleb, Erik, Syam and John have brought into the process and it showed in their performances tonight. Now we'll begin preparation for a tough conference rival on Sunday."
 
As a team, Navy scored 64.8 points on the floor exercise, 60.7 on the pommel horse, 63.45 on the rings, 68.4 on the vault, 64.6 on the parallel bars and 62.35 on the high bar.
 
The Mids were less than a point off of the Cardinal's score on the high bar and just 1.25 points back on the parallel bars. Gambatese's event victory on the high bar led Navy as he turned in a 13.4-point effort to hold off Stanford's Riley Loos, who scored a 13.3. Cash Buske (Jr., Madison, Wisc.) led a run of three straight Navy gymnasts as he placed fifth with a 12.4, ahead of Hickey and Syam Buradagunta (Fr., Westborough, Mass.), who tied for sixth at 12.25.
 
Navy's parallel bars lineup was spearheaded by Dan Clark (Jr., Avon, Mass.), who posted the day's fourth-best score of 13.05. Hickey and Gambatese finished back-to-back in fifth and sixth with respective scores of 13.0 and 12.9.
 
Gambatese collected two more top-six results on the vault and rings. His vault performance led the Mids' lineup on Wednesday as he placed fourth with a 14.0. In his collegiate debut, Rosendahl turned in a 13.85 vault, good for fifth place. On the rings, Gambatese's fifth-place score of 12.85 was bettered by his teammate Engelke, who came in third at 12.95.
 
During the floor exercise rotation, Connor Van Loo (So., Freeland, Mich.) was the Mids' top scorer with a 13.3 routine that placed him fourth in the field, just 0.25 points ahead of Hickey, who ended up in fifth.
 
On the pommel horse, Wendeborn made his collegiate debut in fine fashion as he led Navy's lineup with a fourth-place result of 12.4.
 
Other debuts for Navy on Wednesday, included Ian Dinmore (Fr., Odenton, Md.), who competed on the floor exercise, pommel horse and rings and Brendan Fritz (Jr., Hunt Valley, Md.), who turned in a routine on the floor. Additionally, Henry Greene (Jr., New York, N.Y.) made his season debut on the rings.
 
Navy will be back in action on Sunday against fellow ECAC adversary William & Mary. The Mids and Tribe will go head-to-head at Kaplan Arena in Williamsburg, Va. beginning at 2 p.m.