NORMAN, Okla. – Competing in its sixth consecutive NCAA Championship, the Navy gymnastics team turned in its best-ever result as the Mids placed fourth in the evening session and seventh overall amongst the 12-team national field at the University of Oklahoma. Aiming to score one of the top-three positions in Friday's second session of qualifying meet action, the Mids scored 399.023 points to finish behind session-winner No. 3 Michigan, runner-up No. 6 Ohio State and the host No. 2 Oklahoma squad. Navy's effort was spearheaded from throughout its roster as nine individuals qualified for Saturday's event finals, including five of whom will be competing in multiple finals on Saturday: Syam Buradagunta (So., Westborough, Mass.), Cash Buske (Sr., Madison, Wisc.), Isaiah Drake (Fr., Los Angeles, Calif.), Connor Van Loo (Jr., Freeland, Mich.), Josh Williams (Sr., Cypress, Texas).
 
The standings from the second session saw the Wolverines place first with 412.890 points, the Buckeyes second with 407.956 points and the Sooners third at 407.290. Rounding out the standings well behind the Mids were the Air Force Falcons with 384.822 points and the Army Black Knights, who posted a score of 376.691.
 
Combined with the scores of the first session, Navy ranked seventh overall trailing Stanford (426.325), Nebraska (411.388) and Illinois (406.691) from session one. The Mids outscored Penn State (397.889), California (394.824) and Springfield (380.523).
 
As a team, Navy scored 67.065 points on the floor exercise, 64.665 on the pommel horse, 66.565 on the rings, 70.332 on the vault, 65.632 on the parallel bars and 64.764 on the high bar. The Mids' pommel horse result was third-best in the session trailing just Michigan (66.498) and Ohio State (65.030). While ranking fourth, Navy's vault score was just 0.7 points shy of Ohio State's first-place 71.032.
 
A strong turn on the pommel horse opened the night of action for Navy at the Lloyd Noble Center as the Mids had three gymnasts place amongst the top-14 in a field of 33. Ronan McQuillan (So., Katy, Texas) led the way as he tied Air Force's Garrett Braunton for fifth overall with a score of 13.533. Drake and Buradagunta were separated by just 0.166 points as Drake was tied for 11th with a 13.066 score, while Buradagunta earned 12.9 points. All three Mids will be competing again on the pommel horse on Saturday night.
 
Another strong trio of performances on the rings will result in added competition for Williams, Alexander Brown (Sr., Lafayette, La.) and Buske. Williams led his senior classmates as he tied with Michigan's Chris Read for fourth in the field with a 13.9 score. Brown and Buske came in back-to-back as Brown tied with 16th place with a 13.366 score, just 0.066 points ahead of Buske's 13.3 that ranked 18th.
 
Van Loo posted the third-highest individual ranking on Friday night for a Mid as he led Navy's talented vaulting lineup with a score of 14.4 that was sixth-best. Drake followed up his teammate closely in ninth place at 14.233. Buradagunta qualified for this second event final as his vault earned a 13.966 score. Nehemiah Baker (Sr., Oak Ridge, N.C.) and Williams were decimal points behind Buradagunta with respective efforts of 13.9 and 13.833. All members of Navy's vaulting team placed in the top-19.
 
The underclass duo of Drake and Caleb Hickey (So., Carthage, N.C.) sparked the Mids' result on the parallel bars. Drake tied Oklahoma's Spencer Goodell and Ohio State's Jakob Murray for tenth place with identical 13.566 scores. Hickey was edged out of grabbing the final at-large qualifying spot on the parallel bars by William & Mary's Christian Marsh, 13.233 to 13.20. Hickey ended up 18th in the field.
 
The high bar rotation was lucrative for Navy as four of the five members of its starting lineup will have one more shot at national glory on Saturday night. Drake was the high-scorer for the Mids in the qualifying session as he tied Vitaliy Guimaraes of Oklahoma for ninth at 13.466. Giovanni Gambatese (Jr., Pewaukee, Wisc.) was 0.1 points back in 13th place with a 13.366. The final two event final qualifiers are Buske and Buradagunta, who posted respective scores of 13.166 and 13.033, good for 14th and 17th place overall.
 
On Navy's final event of the night, the floor exercise, the team placed three gymnasts amongst the top-15. Van Loo highlighted the Midshipmen's effort on the floor at OU as he recorded a score of 14.033 to rank eighth in the field. Hickey and Williams were the next two Navy athletes on the leaderboard standing 13th and 15th overall with scores of 13.6 and 13.566, respectively.
 
As part of his all-around performance that ranked second overall, Drake recorded a 13.1 on the floor exercise, a 13.066 on the pommel horse, a 12.833 on the rings, a 14.233 on the vault, a 13.566 on the parallel bars and a 13.466 on the high bar.
 
Friday marked the final collegiate competition for senior team captain Dhiren Lutchman (Beltsville, Md.), Dan Clark (Sr., Avon, Mass.) and Baker. Along with Brown, Buske, and Williams, Navy's Class of 2022 has appeared at the NCAA Championship each year the national competition has been held (the 2020 meet was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic).
 
The NCAA Championship Finals are scheduled to begin at 7:00 p.m. (ET) on Saturday night at the Lloyd Noble Center. The nine-member of group of Brown (R), Buradagunta (PH, VT, HB), Buske (R, HB), Drake (AA), Gambatese (HB), Hickey (FX), McQuillan (PH), Van Loo (FX, VT) and Williams (FX, R) will be competing for the right to earn NCAA All-American status versus gymnasts from the six teams that qualified for the team finals, as well as select individual qualifiers. The action will be televised live on Stadium College Sports Central and streamed over SoonerSports.TV.