WEST POINT, N.Y. – The Navy men's gymnastics team began its 2023 season with a strong result versus a talented field at the West Point Open on Friday night. Going up against Penn State and Nebraska, two of the top-eight finishers at last year's NCAA Championship, as well as ECAC foes Army and Springfield, Navy finished third overall with 394.5 points. Trotting out a young lineup with three freshmen and three sophomores among its 14 entered gymnasts, the Mids came through with very competitive floor exercise, vault and high bar performances in comparison to their opposition at Christl Arena.
At the conclusion of six events of action on Friday night, Penn State was victorious with 407.60 points. Nebraska was over eight points back of the Nittany Lions in second place at 399.30. In a battle for third place, Navy bested Army by 4.35 points, 394.50 to 390.15, while Springfield rounded out the field with a score of 388.15.
As a team, the Mids tallied 67.35 points on the floor exercise, 63.65 on the pommel horse, 64.7 on the rings, 70.35 on the vault, 64.55 on the parallel bars and 63.9 on the high bar.
Navy's veteran trio of
Connor Van Loo (Sr., Freeland, Mich.),
Syam Buradagunta (Jr., Westborough, Mass.) and
Ronan McQuillan (Jr., Katy, Texas) led the Mids as they each turned in top-six results, respectively to qualify for Saturday night's event final. Additionally, juniors
Erik Engelke (Henrico, Va.) and
Caleb Hickey (Carthage, N.C.) and sophomore
Sabastian Gordon (Old Tappan, N.J.) recorded routines that advanced them into tomorrow's action.
"We had a solid start to our season tonight," remarked head coach Kip Simons. "We battled through some adversity, but fought hard until the final routine. We had some new guys step up, which shows our depth as a team. We have lots of work to do as we continue pushing towards our goal of being one of the top programs in the country."
Navy's night started on the rings with four underclass gymnasts in its five-man lineup. Performing the most difficult routine of his teammates with a 4.7 starting difficulty score, Gordon earned 8.7 execution points for a 13.4, that tied for tenth overall and earned the sophomore a spot in Saturday's event finals. Coming into this meet, Gordon had only appeared in a pair of competitions as a freshman. Fellow sophomore
Riley Rose (Las Vegas, Nev.) provided strong back-up as he netted the Mids 13.2 points to rank 14th in the field. In their collegiate debuts,
Aaron Stein (Fr., Houston, Texas) and
Danilo Viciana (Fr., Marietta, Ga.) scored 12.75 and 12.5 points, respectively.
Next up for the Mids was the vault. One of Navy's more experienced lineups on Friday, Van Loo showed off his prowess with a 14.25 vault that tied for eighth overall. In a crowded top of standings, newcomer
Matthew Petros (Fr., Broadview Heights, Ohio) was 0.05 points back of Van Loo and was in a multi-person tie for 12th place. Team captain
Giovanni Gambatese (Sr., Pewaukee, Wisc.) also surpassed the 14.0-point plateau with a vault of 14.1, good for 16th place.
Navy leaned on Gambatese's experience on the parallel bars as he was joined on the apparatus by three sophomores and one plebe. The senior had a solid showing on Friday night with a 12th-place finish of 13.35. Petros built on his strong debut with a 13.0-point score to rank 16th overall.
A veteran high bar lineup led the way for the Mids on Friday night as four upperclassmen registered scores of 13.05 or better. Engelke and Hickey tied for top honors on the squad with matching 13.1 scores that tied for seventh overall. Just 0.05 points back with identical 13.05 scores that tied them for ninth place were Gambatese and Buradagunta.
Buradagunta repeated that strong showing on Navy's next apparatus, the floor exercise as he turned in the third-best score in the entire field with a 14.05. Van Loo earned his way into a second event final with a 14.0-point score that was good for fourth place. In just his third-ever collegiate competition,
Ian Dinmore (Jr., Odenton, Md.) posted a result of 13.45 to finish in tenth place.
The Mids' night concluded on the pommel horse and saw McQuillan and Buradagunta both post top-nine efforts as McQuillan came in sixth with a 13.45 ahead of Buradagunta's 13.3 that barely missed qualifying him for the event finals as he placed ninth. Dinmore added 12.75 points to Navy's total, while finishing 14th individually.
The Mids will have six competitors back in action on Saturday night as part of the event finals of the West Point Open. Buradagunta (FX), Engelke (HB), Gordon (R), Hickey (HB), McQuillan (PH) and Van Loo (FX, VT) all will be vying for individual medals starting at 7 p.m. at Christl Arena.
