SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – A dominant second half of the meet and season-highs across the board led the Navy men's gymnastics team to its sixth straight ECAC Championship. Coming in with just a 2.74-point advantage in scoring average over Springfield and 3.07 points over Greenville, Navy turned in its best team scoring performance of the season with a 401.45-point output on Saturday. The Mids were firing on all cylinders with conference glory on the line at Springfield's Blake Arena as they surpassed their season averages on five events and cruised past the field by 8.45 points. Four individual event winners and six additional top-three results aided Navy's effort in clinching the conference crown.
The final scoreboard had Navy first with 401.45 points and Greenville second at 393.00. Springfield rounded out the podium in third place less than a point back at 392.05. The second half of the leaderboard was Army in fourth at 390.90, William & Mary in fifth at 387.80 and Simpson in sixth with 360.95 points.
Navy received contributions from across its roster as Midshipmen gymnasts won individual titles on three separate apparatuses and a fourth with
Isaiah Drake's (Jr., Los Angeles, Calif.) all-around gold.
Riley Rose (Jr., Las Vegas, Nev.) had a breakthrough conference championship as he earned his first career ECAC individual titles as he won the rings by 0.20 points before following up his effort with another gold, three events later on the high bar. The third recipient of All-ECAC gold on Saturday was
Matthew Petros (So., Broadview Heights, Ohio), who out-paced the field on the parallel bars by 0.25 points.
"Today was a very special day for the Navy men's gymnastics program," remarked head coach Kip Simons. "It's always great when you bring home the conference trophy. Our 1/C leadership was on full display today; they led us to victory with a few season-best routines.
"We continue to peak at the right time. I'm confident we'll head into the NCAAs in two weeks just a little better than we were today."
As a team, Navy scored 67.9 points on the floor exercise, 64.45 on the pommel horse, 64.95 on the rings, 71.5 on the vault, 67.3 on the parallel bars and 65.35 on the high bar. Those scores surpassed five of Navy's season averages: 65.65 (FX), 63.03 (R), 70.02 (VT), 65.62 (PB) and 64.20 (HB).
The Mids' day started on the pommel horse and saw four members of their lineup rank in the top-10. Competing in his first ECAC Championship,
Daniel Gurevich (Fr., Frisco, Texas) led the way with a bronze medal-winning score of 13.7, that tied his career-high.
Ronan McQuillan (Sr., Katy, Texas) just missed earning All-ECAC accolades as he finished one spot shy in seventh at 13.0. His fellow senior
Syam Buradagunta (Westborough, Mass.) was 0.1 points back with a 12.9 to rank eighth. The fourth high-scoring pommel horse technician for Navy on Saturday was Petros who posted a 12.65, good for tenth place.
The Mids had another four-in-the-top-10 outcome on the ensuing event, the rings. Coming off a career-best performance on the rings at USAG Championships (13.2), Rose shattered that mark by .35 points as he executed his 4.4-level routine with a 9.05 execution score with an additional 0.1-point stick bonus for a 13.55 overall score. Drake gave Navy a sweep of the top-two positions as he recorded a 13.35 effort on the rings. The duo of
William Champagne (Jr., Douglas, Mass.) and
Erik Engelke (Sr., Henrico, Va.) turned in nearly identical scores of 13.05 and 13.0 to finish tied for seventh and ninth place, respectively.
Petros and Rose continued netting Navy top scores on the vault as Petros was edged for the event title by 0.05 points by Greenville's Logan Watterson, 14.85 to 14.80. That score was a new career-high for Petros, as he previously posted a 14.7 at the USAG Championships. Rose's multi-disciplinary success carried over to the vault as he bested his career-high of 14.1 with a 14.35 result courtesy of a 9.85 execution score and another 0.1-point stick bonus. Drake just missed making the top-10 as he ended up in 11th with a 14.3 score.
Navy got back to placing four gymnasts in the top-10 on the parallel bars with Petros leading the way. The sensational sophomore equaled his career-best with a score of 14.05 that won the event title and dominated the field as runner-up Sam Lee of William & Mary was 0.25 points back at 13.8. Drake and Gurevich battled it out for the bronze as they were separated by only 0.05 points, 13.65 to 13.60, respectively.
Vishal Mandava (Jr., Cypress, Texas) tied for eighth place with a 13.45 score on the p-bars.
Rose and Petros flipped starring roles on the high bar as Rose clinched his second ECAC title with a 13.35 score that held off Petros and William & Mary's Ricky Pizem by 0.05 points as the duo tied for second at 13.3. Drake continued his march to the eventual all-around crown as he registered a sixth-place score of 13.05. Mandava made it four Mids with 13.0 or more points as he tied for seventh in the field with a 13.0 score.
Those extremely successful turns on the parallel bars and high bar helped Navy gain 5.25 points of separation ahead of Greenville. With the team title nearly within their grasp, the Mids finished out the meet with one more strong rotation on the floor exercise. Drake led the lineup with a 14.1 score that tied him for second with Greenville's Charles Kramer. Competing in his home state for the final time as a collegiate, Buradagunta garnered 13.9 points for his routine to rank fourth. Navy gymnasts tied for eighth overall as both rookie
Daniel Gurevich and senior team captain
Ian Dinmore (Odenton, Md.) each registered 13.6 scores.
In the all-around competition, Drake came in first with a cumulative total of 80.30 points. He finished 2.7 points ahead of Army's Jaden Blank, who posted a 77.60.
After the meet, Craig Holt and Mike Reid were recognized as the ECAC's Co-Assistant Coaches of the Year. They shared the honors with the staffs from Greenville and Springfield.
Navy will continue its run of postseason action at the NCAA Championship at Ohio State University on April 19-20. The team will find out its seeding and grouping for the qualifying meet early next week.
