ANNAPOLIS, Md. - After kicking off its 2023 season with a pair of multi-team events, the West Point Open and the Navy Open, the Navy gymnastics team will go head-to-head with William & Mary in both squads' first dual meet of the year on Saturday afternoon. The action at the Halsey Field House Gymnastics Facility between the Mids and Tribe is slated for a 2 p.m. first touch. Navy will be using this ECAC bout as a final tune-up before its annual rivalry meet at Army next Saturday.
Live stats will be provided through the RoadToNationals website, while the Navy Gymnastic Facebook page is scheduled to have live video coverage.
Navy Gymnastics on Facebook
Most Recent Navy-William & Mary matchup: March 12, 2022 in Williamsburg
Competing in a head-to-head meet for the first time in three weeks, the Navy gymnastics team showed little rust and quickly broke out to a six-point lead through the initial three disciplines on its way to a 389.85-381.85 victory over William & Mary on the road on Saturday afternoon. The Mids were led by five individual event winners as they continued to be undefeated in head-to-head competitions this season.
Strong individual performances throughout the meet at Kaplan Arena provided Navy with everything it would need to knock off its ECAC league rival, William & Mary in its penultimate regular season tilt.
Syam Buradagunta led off the quintet of victors on Saturday as he placed first on the floor exercise. He was followed in quick succession by
John Wendeborn and
Josh Williams ('22), who placed first on the pommel horse and rings, respectively. A career-best score on the vault by
Nehemiah Baker ('22) claimed the Mids' fourth win of the afternoon before
Cash Buske ('22) rounded out the competition with an event-winning result on the high bar.
As a team, Navy scored 64.8 points on the floor exercise, 61.8 on the pommel horse, 65.45 on the rings, 70.8 on the vault, 64.25 on the parallel bars and 62.75 on the high bar. The marks on the vault and parallel bars are each the second-highest by a Midshipmen lineup in a meet this season.
Comparing the Squads
(2023 Averages)
|
Navy |
Individual Leader |
W&M |
Individual Leader |
| All-Around |
390.28 |
N/A |
365.55 |
Cuy, 73.90 |
| Floor Exercise |
65.03 |
Van Loo, 14.13 |
60.85 |
Smith, 12.58 |
| Pommel Horse |
62.98 |
McQuillan, 13.55 |
55.55 |
Marsh, 12.60 |
| Rings |
63.50 |
Drake, 13.15 |
60.98 |
Marsh, 12.75 |
| Vault |
70.03 |
Drake, 14.45 |
65.00 |
Pizem, 13.88 |
| Parallel Bars |
64.45 |
Petros, 13.00 |
62.50 |
Marsh, 12.95 |
| High Bar |
64.30 |
Gordon, 13.25 |
60.68 |
Sikra, 12.60 |
Last Time Out: Navy Open, last Saturday in Annapolis
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 third-place finish on the pommel horse. Sophomores
Isaiah Drake and
Sabastian Gordon also turned in top-five results as Drake was fourth on the vault, while Gordon was fifth on the high bar.
Coming off of a strong showing at its first home meet of the season, Navy was rewarded with three Eastern College Athletic Conference weekly awards on Tuesday. The trio of
Isaiah Drake,
Ronan McQuillan and
Matthew Petros swept the slate of weekly honors from the conference as Drake was the ECAC Gymnast of the Week, McQuillan was the ECAC Specialist of the Week and Petros was the ECAC Rookie of the Week.
Parking
Vehicle access to the U.S. Naval Academy is limited to those with a Department of Defense identification card ... Spectators may park outside of the USNA grounds and enter the Academy through the visitors' entrance located at Gate One at the corner of King George and Randall Streets (52 King George St.). Anyone under the age of 18, and who does not have a government-issued ID, must be accompanied by an adult. Halsey Field House is located directly to the right of the visitors' entrance.
