ANNAPOLIS, Md. - Coming off an exhilarating victory over Army in the 2022 Star Meet last Saturday, the Navy gymnastics team is focused on service academy supremacy this weekend as the Mids will be travelling to Frisco, Texas for the 2022 All-Academy Championship. A tri-meet between the No. 7 Mids, No. 10 Army Black Knights and the No. 13 Air Force Falcons, the All-Academy Championship is scheduled as part of the three-day 2022 Valeri Liukin Invitational, one of the largest's amateur competitions in the United States. Navy has won each of the past three All-Academy Championships. First touch for the combatants is set for 8 p.m. ET (7 p.m. local in Frisco) on Saturday night. 

Live stats will be available via RoadToNationals. Additionally, Navy's Facebook page will provide live coverage on Saturday. NAVY GYMNASTICS on Facebook.

Prior to last Saturday's 397.25 to 379.55 victory over Army in a head-to-head matchup, the Mids and Black Knights met earlier this season at the multi-team West Point Open on January 14. One of six teams competing at Army's Christl Arena, the Mids turned in a score of 391.45 that challenged Penn State for the team title as the Nittany Lions netted 393.65 points. The podium for the team standings consisted of Penn State in first, Navy in second and the host Army Black Knights in third with 388.65 points. 

Last Time Out: Navy vs. Army, February 5
Navy dominated Army from start-to-finish on its way to a 17.7-point victory in the 2022 edition of the Star Meet before a raucous crowd at Halsey Field House. Coming into Saturday's contest against their service academy rival with a season-high of 391.45 points, the Mids (2-0) were hitting in all facets of their game plan this afternoon and posted a 397.25 score versus a 379.55 for the Black Knights (1-2). Navy outscored Army in all six events as a team, including 3.0-plus point advantages on the pommel horse, rings and high bar. This win by the Mids was the fourth straight in their series versus the Black Knights.

Strong throughout their lineup, five different Mids placed first in their individual events. Competing for a Star for the first time in his career, freshman Isaiah Drake relished the added pressure and dominated all meet with an all-around score of 82.15 and first place results on the floor exercise, parallel bars and high bar. That all-around score is the second highest by any collegiate gymnast this season. Additionally, he was second on both the pommel horse and vault, and fifth on the rings. His breakout performance was backed up by individual wins by Ronan McQuillan on the pommel horse, Josh Williams on the rings and Connor Van Loo on the vault. Fellow freshman Riley Rose helped Navy seal the victory as he joined Drake atop the leaderboard of the high bar in his only event of the day.

For their individual efforts, Drake and Van Loo were honored with a trio of awards at the national and conference level. Drake was voted by the College Gymnastics Association as the National Gymnast of the Week, as well as the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Gymnast of the Week. Van Loo joined his teammate in the ECAC's weekly announcement as he was named the conference's Specialist of the Week. 

As a team Navy posted 66.95 points on the floor exercise, 64.85 on the pommel horse, 66.4 on the rings, 71.1 on the vault, 63.55 on the parallel bars and 64.4 on the high bar.

Comparing the Squads
(2022 averages)

	Navy	Individual Leader	Army	Individual Leader	Air Force	Individual Leader
All-Around	390.78	Drake, 79.93	377.82	Davis, 76.75	344.45	--
Floor Exercise	65.5	Drake, 13.37	63.5	Davis, 13.25	52.5	Braunton, 12.20
Pommel Horse	61.9	McQuillan, 13.24	58.7	Mitchell, 12.29	59.8	Hoopes, 13.50
Rings	66.6	Williams, 14.01	63.8	Davis, 13.63	62.4	Braunton, 13.18
Vault	69.6	Van Loo, 14.46	69.2	Davis, 14.08	60.7	Braunton, 14.05
Parallel Bars	63.6	Lutchman, 12.97	61.6	Davis, 12.53	62.0	Zavel, 12.83
High Bar	63.7	Drake, 13.23	61.0	Perez, 12.76	47.1	Braunton, 12.60

Most Recent All-Academy Championship: February 13, 2021
Coming in as winners of the past two All-Academy Championships, Navy left little up for debate on Feb. 13 as the Mids rolled to a 16.1-point victory over the field of service academy programs. Competing in-person versus the No. 11 Air Force Falcons and No. 13 Army Black Knights at Army's Gross Center, the No. 10 Midshipmen posted a score of 395.20 versus 379.10 points for the Falcons and 377.85 for the Black Knights. Navy dominated in all facets of the competition as the team posted higher scores on five of the six events and tied for top honors on the sixth.
 
The quartet of David Toussaint ('21), Ryan McVay ('21.), Travis Keller ('21) and Giovanni Gambatese ('23) all picked up individual event wins, while Syam Buradagunta ('24) placed top-10 in a team-high four events. Toussaint was the highest scoring service academy gymnast on Saturday on the floor exercise, while McVay did the same on the pommel horse. Keller was the top-scorer on the vault with a career-high 14.95 effort. Gambatese closed out the Mids' victory with a 1.05-point margin of victory on the high bar.
 
As a team, Navy scored 69.05 points on the floor exercise, 65.45 on the pommel horse, 63.3 on the rings, 72.4 on the vault, 63.45 on the parallel bars and 61.55 on the high bar.