COLUMBUS, Ohio – Competing on the grandest national stage, the NCAA Championship, the Navy gymnastics team found themselves in a battle throughout the afternoon in session one of Friday's qualifying meet. Hoping to attain one of the three automatic spots for a team into Saturday's event finals or at-large bids for individuals of teams that don't advance, the Mids started out fast with a season-high score on the rings and fought valiantly over the competition, though eventually after six rotations of action fell short of qualifying as a team with a score of 396.290 that ranked fifth in the pod. Seeded ninth overall coming into the meet at Ohio State's Covelli Center, Navy went up against No. 1 Stanford, No. 4 Illinois, No. 5 Nebraska, No. 8 California and No. 12 Greenville on Friday.

The final standings from session number one saw those seedings hold fairly true as the three favorites to advance did just that though in a slightly different order as The Cardinal finished first at 417.389 ahead of the Huskers and Illini, who came in second and third with respective scores of 413.523 and 410.461. The Cal Bears had a breakthrough performance as they shattered their season-high total with 407.158 points. The Mids and Panthers took fifth and sixth place at 396.290 and 389.157, respectively.

After the gymnasts from Stanford, Nebraska and Illinois were advanced, as well as Noah Newfield, Tyler Shimizu and Theodor Gadderud of California, who moved onto Saturday in the all-around event, Navy had four Midshipmen qualify for the next round of competition on Saturday night. Matthew Petros (So., Broadview Heights, Ohio) led the way as he advanced on the parallel bars and high bar. Additionally, Isaiah Drake (Jr., Los Angeles, Calif.), Colby Prince (So., Lithia, Fla.) and Danilo Viciana (So., Marietta, Ga.) will all get the chance to raise their hand one more time this 2024 season as Drake will compete on the rings, Prince on the floor exercise and Viciana on the parallel bars.

As a team, Navy scored 67.166 points on the floor exercise, 64.131 on the pommel horse, 65.132 on the rings, 70.631 on the vault, 66.098 on the parallel bars and 63.132 on the high bar.

"It's always great to earn the opportunity to compete at the NCAA Championship," remarked head coach Kip Simons. "We have worked extremely hard to get this this point and I'm proud of the effort, though we came up short of our goal of scoring 400 at the NCAA. We had a few too many misses out there today. Even with the mistakes we had, these guys laid it all out on the line. They walked away with no regrets at the NCAA Championship."

The competition on Friday began on the rings for Navy. The Mids were locked in from the start as all five gymnasts hit third routines and helped the squad post a season-best score for the apparatus. Drake was the high-scorer for Navy as he placed ninth overall in the field of 35 competitors with 13.633. William Champagne (Jr., Douglas, Mass.) and Riley Rose (Jr., Las Vegas, Nev.) also surpassed the 13.0-point plateau and tied for 21st place. Champagne's performance was note-worthy for its cleanliness as he received 9.0 or more points from every judge for his execution of a 3.9-level routine.

The vault rotation was also successful for the Mids as a pair of gymnasts finished in the top-10. Petros spearheaded the lineup with a score of 14.466 that just missed grabbing the third at-large advancement spot that went to Greenville's Logan Watterson, who posted a 14.500. Petros' ninth-place result was closely followed by Drake, who tied Nebraska's Chase Mondi for tenth at 14.433. Rose was Navy's third highest scorer with a 14.033 that ranked 25^th in field. Rose earned the highest execution marks for the Mids he averaged a 9.533 score from the judges for his efforts on a 4.5-level vault.

Navy's fast start continued on the parallel bars as two Midshipmen finished in the top-eight and claimed berths into Saturday night's event finals. The sophomore duo of Viciana and Petros both showed out as Viciana was extremely crisp on his 4.7-level routine and was rewarded with a 9.2 execution score for an overall mark of 13.9 that was seventh-best for the apparatus. Petros was one position back just 0.67 points at 13.833. Both will advance to challenge for All-American status tomorrow evening.

Navy's streak of event finalists continued on the high bar as Petros grabbed the final position as he posted a 13.1 score that ranked 14th in the field. In his final NCAA Championship appearance, senior Caleb Hickey (Carthage, N.C.) registered a 12.866 score, good for 20th overall. Vishal Mandava (Jr., Cypress, Texas) was 0.033 points behind Hickey with a 12.833 in 22nd place.

The Mids' floor exercise performance was fronted by a first-time NCAA Championship competitor, Colby Prince. After spending his freshman campaign in 2023 developing his skill set, Prince thrived under the bright lights of the Covelli Center on Friday as he aced his 5.0-level routine with an 8.7-point execution score for a cumulative total of 13.7 points. His efforts placed him 12th in the field. Another first-time NCAA Championship participant, Daniel Gurevich (Fr., Frisco, Texas) and event anchor Syam Buradagunta (Sr., Westborough, Mass.) finished as part of a four-way tie for 17th with matching 13.5 scores. In his final national championship action, team captain Ian Dinmore (Sr., Odenton, Md.) came in 24th place with a 13.366 result.

Petros' standout sophomore season nearly resulted in a third event final berth as he led Navy's pommel horse lineup with a 13.7 score that came from an 8.9 execution grade of his 4.8-level routine. Petros came in one spot and 0.033 points shy of Greenville's Landon Benas in 14th place. Gurevich was up to task on the national scene as for the second straight event he came in 17th, this time with a 13.566 score. Ronan McQuillan's (Sr., Katy, Texas) prolific career came to an end on Friday with a 12.966 effort that ranked 24th.

As part of his all-around performance that ranked sixth in the field, Drake recorded a 13.1 on the floor exercise, a 10.8 on the pommel horse, a 13.633 on the rings, a 14.433 on the vault, a 13.333 on the parallel bars and an 11.8 on the high bar for a cumulative score of 77.099.

Friday marked the final collegiate appearances of Buradagunta, Dinmore, Erik Engelke (Sr., Henrico, Va.) Hickey, McQuillan and Matthew Rosendahl (Sr., Upperco, Md.). Though unable to perform due to an accumulation of injuries, John Wendeborn (Sr., Tomball, Texas) was in attendance to support his fellow Mids.

"I'm so proud of this group, especially our seven firsties," said Simons in closing. "Their leadership throughout the year has been instrumental in our success. They leave knowing that our program is better off due to their efforts in and out of the gym these past four years."

The second session of the qualifying meet that was held Friday night saw Oklahoma (418.957), Michigan (418.954) and Ohio State (408.725) advance as teams, while gymnasts from Penn State (405.423), Air Force (398.089) and Springfield (382.190) secure individual at-large berths in Saturday's event finals. Overall, Navy's score ranked 10th in the team standings, just 1.799 points behind ninth-place Air Force.
 
The NCAA Championship Finals are scheduled to begin at 6:00 p.m. on Saturday night at the Covelli Center. The quartet of Drake (R), Petros (PB, HB), Prince (FX) and Viciana (PB) will be vying for the right to earn All-American status versus gymnasts from the six squads that qualified for the team finals, as well as select individual qualifiers. The action will be streamed live on NCAA.com.