ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The Navy gymnastics team kicked off the home portion of its 2023 schedule with Saturday's Navy Open. Taking on a deep and talented field, including two Big Ten opponents and three other ECAC foes, the Mids placed third overall with 386.05 points. Ohio State was the class of the field and won with the third-highest team score of the young 2023 season with 405.35 points.
 
The entire standings on Saturday consisted of Ohio State on top followed by Penn State, who netted 395.45 points and Navy. The fourth and fifth positions were tight with William & Mary holding off Springfield by 3.05 points, 370.35 to 367.30. The first-year Simpson College program under the direction of former Navy assistant coach Colin Payne scored 337.90 points to round out the standings.
 
Individually, Navy gymnasts recorded three top-five results led by Ronan McQuillan's (Jr., Katy, Texas) third-place finish on the pommel horse. Sophomores Isaiah Drake (Los Angeles, Calif.) and Sabastian Gordon (Old Tappan, N.J.) also turned in top-five results as Drake was fourth on the vault, while Gordon was fifth on the high bar.
 
"Overall, I was very pleased with today's performance," remarked head coach Kip Simons. "The young guys stepped up and we're starting to see some depth in our key events. This will definitely help us throughout the season. This was another well-rounded team performance. Halsey was rocking this afternoon and we responded well to the energy. The scoring was a little tight today, but overall, this was a much better performance than last weekend. Every week, we aim to get a little bit better as we prepare for Army on February 4."
 
Navy started its day on the floor exercise and was led by a strong effort from junior Ian Dinmore (Odenton, Md.), who posted a 13.4 score to tie Penn State's Michael Jaroh for sixth overall in the field of 31. Danilo Viciana (Fr., Marietta, Ga.) gave the Mids two gymnasts in the top-10 as his 13.15 routine ranked tenth.
 
A pair of Navy athletes ended up in the top-10 on the ensuing apparatus, the pommel horse. The Mids' best finish of the day came courtesy of McQuillan, who completed his 5.3-level routine with an 8.6-point execution score for a grand total of 13.9, good for third overall. He trailed just Ohio State's Kristian Grahovski (14.25) and Parker Thackston (14.0). Syam Buradagunta (Jr., Westborough, Mass.) posted the ninth-best score of the competition on the pommel horse with a 13.05.
 
The Mids' rings lineup on Saturday nearly mirrored such results as two Navy competitors placed among the top-11. Drake had the highest Midshipmen score in the event with a 13.15 to tie for ninth with Penn State's Matthew Underhill. Erik Engelke (Jr., Henrico, Va.) was just 0.25 points back in 11th place.
 
Navy closed the second half of the meet with more success as the vault saw three different Mids finish in the top-10. Drake hit his vault to the tune of a 14.5 score to tie with Ohio State's Kazuki Hayashi and Penn State's Jaroh. Matthew Petros (Fr., Broadview Heights, Ohio) and Giovanni Gambatese (Sr., Pewaukee, Wisc.) garnered 14.25 and 14.1 points, respectively to rank eighth and tenth overall.
 
Petros repeated his top-10 performance on the next apparatus, the parallel bars as he backed-up Vishal Mandava (So., Cypress, Texas) as the duo finished consecutively in ninth and tenth place. Mandava posted a score of 13.1 to edge Petros' 13.0. Caleb Hickey (Jr., Carthage, N.C.) was just 0.05 points back in 11th place with a 12.95.
 
Navy's sophomore class was the star of the high bar competition as Gordon, Drake and Riley Rose (Las Vegas, Nev.) were separated by only 0.1 points and came in fifth, sixth and seventh place, respectively. Gordon posted the best high bar execution score of the day across the entire field with 8.85 points on his way to a career-high 13.25. Drake was right behind with a 13.2. Rose turned in the second-best high bar score of his young career as he earned 13.15 points. As a team, the Mids' 64.7 combined score on the high bar was second only to Ohio State, who was number one with a 66.5 score from its five-man lineup.
 
For the event, Navy scored 62.7 points on the floor exercise, 62.3 on the pommel horse, 62.3 on the rings, 69.7 on the vault, 64.35 on the pommel horse and 64.7 on the high bar.
 
Navy will be back in action next Saturday with its first home dual of the season as it will go head-to-head with William & Mary right back at Halsey Field House. First touch is scheduled for 2 p.m.