NORMAN, Okla. – Beginning the stretch run of its regular season, the No. 9 Navy men's gymnastics team ran into a stiff challenge on Saturday night with a road competition at No. 1 Oklahoma. Winners of 12 NCAA Championships and top-two results in each of the last 22 NCAA Championships, the Sooners (8-2) led wire-to-wire and secured a 415.30-392.85 victory over a Midshipmen (3-2) squad that was in action for the first time in three weeks.

Vishal Mandava (Jr., Cypress, Texas) and Matthew Petros (So., Broadview Heights, Ohio) led Navy's individual performances at McCasland Field House as both turned in team-high third-place results. Mandava showcased his best routine on the parallel bars as he netted a score of 13.55, while Petros closed out the Mids' night on the high bar with a 13.65 effort.

As a team, Navy scored 65.15 points on the floor exercise, 65.6 on the pommel horse, 61.85 on the rings, 70.05 on the vault, 63.75 on the parallel bars and 66.45 on the high bar. The Mids' high bar score was its highest of 2024, surpassing the previous-high of 65.05 set against William & Mary on Jan. 27.

"I was really proud of the guys tonight," remarked head coach Kip Simons. "This was a tough environment on the road against the number one team in the country. Tonight, we were coming off a three-week break and we used a new lineup with an assortment of new routines. We showed on a national platform, the depth and talent of this team and our lineup."

Oklahoma began the non-conference matchup with a sweep of the top-four positions on the first two events, the floor exercise and pommel horse. Colby Prince (So., Lithia, Fla.) nearly tied his career-high of 13.65 as he posted a 13.6 on the floor exercise on Saturday. Syam Buradagunta (Sr., Westborough, Mass.) tied Prince with a matching 13.6 result. On the ensuing event, freshman Daniel Gurevich (Frisco, Texas) turned in a career-best score of 13.55 on the pommel horse courtesy of an 8.55 execution score of his 5.0-point level routine. Buradagunta was 0.05 points back in sixth at 13.5.

The Sooners controlled the top of the leaderboard on both the rings and vault with the top-five scores on each discipline. Juniors William Champagne (Douglas, Mass.) and Riley Rose (Las Vegas, Nev.) led the Mids' effort on rings with respective scores of 12.95 and 12.75. An additional note for Navy's rings lineup on Saturday was the collegiate debut of Benjamin Venters (So., Escondido, Calif.), who posted a 10.95. On the vault, Champagne and Petros spearheaded Navy's scoring with identical 14.3 scores. Rose competed in his second straight event as he made his first-ever vault appearance and turned in a 13.8 to place ninth overall.

Navy's best two individual placements came on the final two events, the parallel bars and high bar. After Oklahoma gymnasts went one-two on the parallel bars, Mandava performed his 4.5-level routine with an 9.05 execution score for a season-best 13.55 result to place third. Gurevich and Petros tied for second in Navy's lineup with matching 13.05 scores on the parallel bars. Petros' strong performance at the back-end of the meet continued on the high bar as he netted a 9.05 execution score of his 4.6-level routine for a career-best 13.65 mark that ranked third overall. He was closely followed in the standings by Rose at 13.45 and Caleb Hickey (Sr., Carthage, N.C.) at 13.2. Buradagunta made it four Mids in a row as he placed sixth with a 13.15 score.

"We will get back to work on Monday as we begin to prepare for the postseason," said Simons on closing.

Navy will conclude its regular season next Saturday with a road matchup at William & Mary. First touch at Kaplan Arena is set for 2 p.m. on March 16.