ANNAPOLIS, Md. - The Navy gymnastics team's season culminates this weekend at the 2022 NCAA Gymnastics Championship. Hosted by the University of Oklahoma at the Lloyd Noble Center, the two-day competition with national glory on the line begins on Friday night with the Qualifying Meet for the Mids and concludes on Saturday with the team and event finals. Navy comes in with momentum as the Mids have claimed postseason titles at the USAG and ECAC Championships to help the program earn its highest-ever seed at the NCAA Championship at number seven. Coming in with a national qualifying average of 397.425, the No. 7 Mids will taking part in the second of two Qualifying Meets on Friday with No. 2 Oklahoma (411.163), No. 3 Michigan (410.675), No. 6 Ohio State (400.638), No. 10 Air Force (388.825) and No. 11 Army (385.325) in the 8 p.m. (ET) pod. The top-three finishing teams from each of the two qualifying sessions, 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. ET, and select individuals will advance to compete in Saturday's championship finals at 7 p.m. This is the sixth consecutive time that Navy will be participating in the national championship event (the 2020 championship was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic). 

The University of Oklahoma will be providing live stats and video throughout the two-day event. The schools' SoonerSports Network will host a full live program, as well as offer standalone coverage of each apparatus. On Saturday for the team and event finals, the full program will stream over the SoonerSports streaming network and the Stadium College Sports Central television station. The individual apparatus cams will also be available on Saturday via SoonerSports.TV.

The top-three all-around competitors not on one of the top-three qualifying teams from the session, plus the top-three individuals on each event not already qualified on a team or as an all-around competitor, will advance from Friday's qualifying round to Saturday's finals. 

Navy under Kip Simons at the NCAA Championship 
Since taking over the program prior to the 2016 season, Simons and Navy Men's Gymnastics have been making waves on the national scene each and every year. In his first season at the helm, the Mids earned just the second-ever berth in the NCAA Championship in program history, the first and only prior berth was in 2009.
    2016: Navy finished 12th of 12 teams
    2017: Navy finished 11th of 12 teams
    2018: Navy finished 11th of 12 teams
    2019: Navy finished 10th of 12 teams
    2020: NCAA Championships cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic; Mids were 5th in the team point standings at time of cancellation
    2021: Navy finished 11th of 12 teams

NMG on Day 2 of the NCAAs
Under Simons' guidance, Navy has had 14 different Midshipmen advance from the qualifying meet and showcase their talents in the Championship Finals in 22 separate events ...
    2016: Jonny Tang (AA), Connor Gonzales (R) and Eric Poletti (R)
    2017: Jonny Tang (AA), Lucas Beltran (FX, VT)
    2018: David Toussaint (PH), Lucas Beltran (VT), Frank Bradley (VT), Trevor North (PB) advanced
    2019: David Toussaint (FX), Dan Clark (PH), Ryan Orce (PB) and Ryan McVay (HB) advanced
    2021: Ryan McVay (AA), David Toussaint (FX, PH), Josh Williams (FX, R), Jake Carlson (PH), Connor Van Loo (VT) and Giovanni Gambatese (HB)

Navy at the 2021 NCAA Championship
The Navy gymnastics team had a solid showing in the team portion of the 2021 NCAA Championship qualifying meet on Friday afternoon. Taking part in the first of two six-team qualifying sessions at the Maturi Pavilion on the campus of the University of Minnesota, the No. 9 Mids netted 390.90 points to place fifth overall in the pod. The team's effort was spearheaded by six individual event final qualifiers on five different apparatus. David Toussaint and Josh Williams each qualified for two event finals, while Ryan McVay earned a spot in Saturday's all-around competition.

In the team standings for session one, No. 4 Nebraska (408.623 points), No. 1 Oklahoma  (406.190) and No. 8 Illinois (400.721) all advanced to Saturday's NCAA Championship Finals. No. 5 Ohio State (394.956) placed fourth with the Mids 3.966 points back in fifth place (390.90). The 12th seed in Friday's competition, William & Mary finished off the pace in sixth with 371.256 points.
 
As a team, Navy scored a 68.298 on the floor exercise, a 63.099 on the pommel horse, a 64.565 on the rings, a 70.165 on the vault, a 60.765 on the parallel bars and a 64.098 on the high bar. The Mids' high bar performance was the third-best in the field, coming in ahead of Illinois (63.965), Ohio State (63.698) and William & Mary (62.531).

The team rounded out its 2021 season in fine fashion as David Toussaint, Giovanni Gambatese and Ryan McVay challenged for All-American status with standout individual performances in the event finals of the 2021 NCAA Championship. One day after posting some of the top scores in session one of Friday's qualifying meet Toussaint, Gambatese and McVay led a group of six Midshipmen competing on the grandest stage of national collegiate gymnastics, as the first two gymnasts came within 0.1 points of finishing in the top-eight, while McVay used a career-best score to come in tenth place.

Team Comparisons
Here is a breakdown of the six teams in session two …

	Oklahoma	Michigan	Ohio State	Navy	Air Force	Army
Seeding	2	3	6	7	10	11
Nat'l Q. Average	411.163	410.675	400.638	397.425	388.825	385.325
Team-High Score	417.300	413.350	407.350	401.850	398.800	388.650

Mids in the Top-20
Navy gymnasts occupy 12 top-20 spots in the individual leaderboards for event rankings ... All-American accolades will be bestowed upon gymnasts that finish in the top-eight of Saturday's all-around and event finals ... (NQA - National Qualifying Average)
    All-Around: Isaiah Drake (3rd nationally, NQA: 79.638 ... High: 82.150)   
    Floor Exercise: Josh Williams (12th, NQA: 13.850 ... High: 14.450
        Syam Buradagunta (14th, NQA: 13.838 ... High: 14.600)    
        Isaiah Drake (15th, NQA: 13.813 ... High: 14.100)
    Pommel Horse: Dan Clark (16th, NQA: 13.431 ... High: 14.150)
        Ronan McQuillan (18th, NQA: 13.313 ... High: 13.750)
    Rings: Josh Williams (3rd, NQA: 14.188 ... High: 14.400)
        Alexander Brown (14th, NQA: 13.763 ... High: 14.100)
    Vault: Connor Van Loo (16th, NQA: 14.450 ... High: 14.600)
    Parallel Bars: Dhiren Lutchman (12th, NQA: 13.888 ... High: 14.200)
    High Bar: Giovanni Gambatese (15th, NQA: 13.400 ... High: 13.600)
        Isaiah Drake (19th, NQA: 13.375 ... High: 13.650)

Last Time Out ECAC Championship, April 2
One week after surpassing the 400-point barrier for the first time in 2022, the Navy gymnastics team continued it ultra-successful run of postseason action with a dominant performance at the ECAC Championship. Taking on a field of No. 11 Army, No. 12 Springfield and No. 13 William & Mary, the eighth-ranked Mids rolled to a 14.8-point victory and a total score of 401.85 at Kaplan Arena on the campus of William & Mary on Saturday. The win was the fourth straight for Navy at the conference championship.
 
The final scoreboard had Navy first with 401.85 points and Springfield College second at 387.05. The host William & Mary squad was third with 385.25 points, while Army placed fourth with a score of 384.85.
 
Navy received contributions from across its roster as Midshipmen gymnasts won individual titles in five of the six events. Isaiah Drake led the Midshipmen contingency atop the podium on Saturday as he finished first on the parallel bars, high bar and in the all-around competition. Seniors Dan Clark and Josh Williams and junior Connor Van Loo also earned gold medals as Clark placed first on the pommel horse, while Williams was the top-scorer on the floor exercise. Van Loo's vault garnered his first career ECAC title.
 
As a team, Navy scored 69.05 points on the floor exercise, 61.2 on the pommel horse, 67.95 on the rings, 70.4 on the vault, 66.3 on the parallel bars and 66.95 on the high bar.