WEST POINT, N.Y. – The Navy men's gymnastics team kicked off its 2025 season with a strong result at the West Point Open on Friday night. One of six teams suiting up at Army's Holleder Center, the Mids took on a competitive field of high-level opponents in the first meet of the new era of NCAA men's gymnastics that consisted of 'four up, four count' scoring. At the conclusion of the contest, Navy came in third place with a score of 309.50.

The final standings on Friday night consisted of Ohio State on top with 315.80 points and Penn State 3.05 points back with a score of 312.75. Navy's third-place result of 309.50 was 1.2 points clear of Army's 308.30. Two more ECAC squads, William & Mary and Springfield rounded out the standings with respective scores of 300.45 and 300.05.

As a team, Navy scored 51.8 points on the floor exercise, 52.05 on the pommel horse, 48.7 on the rings, 54.65 on the vault, 50.75 on the parallel bars and 51.55 on the high bar. The Mids' vault performance ranked first among the six teams at Friday's competition, while their p-bar lineup posted the second highest team score.

"Tonight was a good start to our season," remarked head coach Kip Simons. "It's always good to come out on top of conference rivals West Point, Springfield and William & Mary. I was especially proud of our plebes tonight, they went out and were rock solid in all of their routines. We have a lot of work to do, but we're heading in the right direction. I like the way we started our season."

Individually, eight different Midshipmen turned in results during the team event that qualified them for advancement into Saturday night's event finals. Isaiah Drake (Sr., Los Angeles, Calif.) led the way with three qualifying performances, while freshman Jonah Soltz (Fr., Tacoma, Wash.) was right behind as he'll be in action twice more on Saturday night.

Brian Solomon (So., Lynnfield, Mass.) also had a standout individual effort on Friday night as he placed third overall in the all-around competition courtesy of a 76.55 cumulative score. He netted 12.85 points in the floor exercise, 12.8 on the pommel horse, 12.55 on the rings, 13.65 on the vault, 12.0 on the parallel bars and 12.8 on the high bar. He finished only behind the Ohio State duo of Drake Andrews and Kameron Nelson, who posted 77.7 and 77.1 efforts, respectively. He bested the Penn State pair of Kellen Ryan (76.2) and Michael Artlip (75.2).

Focusing back on the team portion of the event, Drake, Soltz and Solomon all finished in the top-15 of the floor exercise with Drake leading the way with a 13.35 score. Soltz and Solomon were separated by just 0.1 points as Soltz ranked 14th with a 12.95, while Solomon tied for 15th at 12.85.

Navy's youth came to the forefront of its pommel horse performance on Friday night with three underclassman finishing in the top-14. Daniel Gurevich (So., Frisco, Texas) was the leader of the horse lineup as he turned in a 13.2 score to rank eighth overall. Soltz was right back in action and tied for 10th with a 13.1 result. In his collegiate debut, Saran Alexander (Fr., Tavares, Fla.) placed 14th after posting a 12.95 on the pommel horse.

The Mids' rings effort was notable as Aaron Stein (Jr., Houston, Texas) completed his comeback from a 2024 injury with a strong 12.95 score that tied him for sixth-best in the field. Alexander followed up his pommel horse routine with another 14th-place result of 12.55. Solomon tied his teammate with a matching 12.55 score.

Navy's best individual result of Friday night's competition came from Drake's vault that scored him 13.85 points. A contender for a top medal in Saturday's event finals, Drake was just 0.25 points back of the top seed, Kameron Nelson from Ohio State. Solomon's best event of Friday was the vault as he netted the Mids 13.65 points to tie for fifth place. Seniors Riley Rose (Las Vegas, Nev.) and William Champagne (Douglas, Mass.) gave Navy two more top-nine results as Rose posted a 13.6 score to rank eighth, while Champagne's 13.55 tied him for ninth.

Soltz returned to action on the fifth rotation as he thrived on the parallel bars with a 13.2 score that was fifth-best in the field. Edged out of an advancement position for Saturday night's event finals (only three gymnasts from a single team can advance per event), Champagne punched his ticket into the event finals of the parallel bars with a 13.05 effort that ranked seventh. In his first competitive collegiate p-bars routine since 2023, Sabastian Gordon (Sr., Old Tappan, N.J.) marked his complete comeback from a junior season injury with 12.6 points on the p-bars on Friday night, good for 14th place.

On the high bar, Navy's senior duo of Drake and team captain Vishal Mandava (Cypress, Texas) led the way with respective scores of 13.25 and 13.05, that ranked fifth and ninth overall. Solomon rounded out the top-15 with a 12.8 result.  
 
The Mids will have eight competitors back in action on Saturday night as part of the event finals of the 2025 West Point Open. Drake (FX, VT, HB), Soltz (PH, PB), Gurevich (PH), Stein (R), Rose (VT), Solomon (VT), Champagne (PB) and Mandava (HB) will all be vying for individual medals starting at 7 p.m. at the Holleder Center.