INDIANOLA, Iowa – Taking on Simpson College in its first head-to-head competition of the season, the Navy gymnastics team was victorious by a final score of 306.35 to 297.75 on Friday night. Leading by just 1.4 points through four rotations, the Mids (1-0) came through down the stretch with a 7.2-point advantage over the Storm (0-3) with strong final turns on the parallel bars and high bar at Cowles Fieldhouse.

Danilo Viciana (Jr., Marietta, Ga.), Jonah Soltz (Fr., Tacoma, Wash.) and Isaiah Drake (Sr., Los Angeles, Calif.) led Navy's individual performers on Friday with first-place finishes. Viciana dominated the floor exercise competition, while Soltz was nearly as successful with his pommel horse effort. Drake tied for top billing on the high bar.

As a team, Navy scored 52.25 points on the floor exercise, 48.25 on the pommel horse, 49.95 on the rings, 53.2 on the vault, 51.5 on the parallel bars and 51.2 on the high bar.

"I'm pleased with this road win against a conference team," remarked head coach Kip Simons. "We learned more about who this team is on the road which will help us as we head back out for next weekend's Star Meet."

Viciana kicked off the meet with a career-best performance on the floor exercise as he executed his 4.9-level routine with an 8.75 execution score for a cumulative 13.65 result. His previous career-high was a 13.4 score versus Army in 2023. He cleared the field of eight gymnasts by 0.55 points. Soltz and Benjamin Thurlow Lam (So., San Francisco, Calif.) placed third and fifth respectively with scores of 12.95 and 12.85.

Soltz made it two event wins in a row for Navy as he bested his pommel horse opponents by 0.40 points with a victorious score of 12.85 from a 4.4 difficulty score and 8.45 points for his execution. Brian Solomon (So., Lynnfield, Mass.) came in second overall with a 12.45 effort on Friday night. Daniel Gurevich (So., Frisco, Texas) placed fourth at 11.85.

Navy continued placing three gymnasts in the top-five on the ensuing event, the rings. While Simpson's Brian Rollison claimed first at 13.5, Drake came in second on the rings with a 13.2 score. Aaron Stein (Jr., Houston, Texas) and Solomon finished back-to-back in fourth and fifth place with results of 12.9 and 12.55, respectively.

The Mids turned in a solid quartet of vaults as they once again had three scores in the top-five. Riley Rose (Sr., Las Vegas, Nev.) led the way with a 13.65 score that tied for second overall. Soltz' strong meet continued on the vault with 13.45 effort to place fourth with Matthew Petros (Jr., Broadview Heights, Ohio) right behind in fifth at 13.2.

Navy's depth and experience overpowered Simpson late in the meet as seven of its final eight routines were performed by upperclassmen. Senior William Champagne (Douglas, Mass.) led the Mids' parallel bars team with a second-place score of 13.15. The only underclassman in the final two events, Soltz recorded another top-four score with a 13.05 performance that ranked third overall. Vishal Mandava (Sr., Cypress, Texas) and Petros tied for fourth with matching 12.65 scores.

The Mids rounded out their night with four of the top-five scores on the high bar. Drake paced Navy as his 13.0 effort tied Simpson's Jake Smith for first. In order, Mandava, Petros and Rose went three, four, five with respective scores of 12.9, 12.7 and 12.6. Everyone in the high bar lineup had execution scores of 8.5 or better on Friday night.
 
"We still have some holes in our lineup, but I trust the resiliency of this group to lock in and be disciplined with our final preparations," said Simons in closing. "This group is extremely talented and deep. We haven't hit our full stride yet and when we do, we'll be tough to beat within the conference. I know we'll face a well-prepared and much improved Army team, but our guys are ready for a heavyweight battle."

Navy will be in action again on the road next weekend when they travel to West Point for the 2025 Star Meet versus Army. First touch is set for 1 p.m.