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2025 Team

Men's Gymnastics

Navy Gymnastics Set to Kick off 2025 Campaign at West Point Open

Mids picked as preseason favorite in ECAC

ANNAPOLIS, Md. - The 2025 season awaits the Navy men's gymnastics team with two days of action at the West Point Open this Friday and Saturday. Coming off a season that saw the Mids capture a Star Meet victory over Army, finish runner-up at the USAG Collegiate Championship, collect their sixth straight ECAC Championship and qualify for and compete at the NCAA Championship for the eighth time in nine years under the tutelage of head coach Kip Simons (the only year they didn't go was in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic), Navy is ready to get the 2025 campaign underway. This year's squad is 24 gymnasts deep with six seniors leading the way with 16 Mids in total returning to the program and eight new members joining this past summer.

The goals once again for the Midshipmen in 2025 are to defeat Army in the annual Army-Navy Star Meet in February, stand tall at the All-Academy Championship over Army and Air Force and find their way to the top of the podium at the USAG Collegiate and ECAC Championships in the postseason. The final mark on their annual checklist will be to secure a spot as a team at the NCAA Qualifying Meet and potentially a berth into the Championship Finals as a team or with as many individual competitors seeing action on Saturday night with All-American status on the line. 

What's Ahead -- West Point Open
Navy will be in action at the multi-team 2025 West Point Open on Friday and Saturday night. The team and all-around competition begins the two-day event at Army's Holleder Center on Friday starting at 7 p.m. Navy will be vying for the team title against Army, Ohio State, Penn State, Springfield, and William & Mary. The Mids will be taking aim two of the Big Ten's best in the Buckeyes and Nittany Lions as Ohio State made the second day of the NCAA Championship before finishing sixth in the team standings, while Penn State is the defending champion of the West Point Open.

In the final regular season standings for team scoring, Penn State ranked sixth (405.55), while Ohio State was right behind in seventh (402.083) with Navy posting the ninth-best scoring average at 395.917. The rest of the field at this weekend's West Point Open was ranked as follows: Springfield (11th, 393.183), Army (13th, 390.433) and William & Mary (14th, 384.550).

At the 2024 West Point Open, Navy rallied to secure second place with a dramatic comeback over the host Army Black Knights. After an up-and-down start to its competition over the first three events at Army's Christl Arena, the Mids overtook the Black Knights down the stretch as part of a six-point swing over the high bar, floor exercise and pommel horse rotations. Overall, Penn State reigned supreme with 401.3 points, while Navy was 6.8 points back in second place with 394.5 points and Army claimed third at 388.65. Fellow ECAC rivals, Springfield College and William & Mary rounded out the field of varsity competitors with scores of 381.85 and 359.35, respectively.

Following Friday night's team and all-around competition, the individual event titles will be up for grabs on Saturday night as the eight highest qualifiers from each apparatus will go head-to-head starting at 7 p.m. Army's YouTube streaming channel will be providing video for Friday night's portion of the event with Navy Gymnastics' Instagram page also providing live Navy-centric coverage (@navygymnastics).
 
Who's Back
The make-up of the 2025 roster is fairly evenly dispersed with six seniors, six juniors, four sophomores and eight freshmen.
Seniors
The senior class will be led by team captain Vishal Mandava, who has been a strong three-year contributor for the Mids on the pommel horse, rings, parallel bars and high bar when called upon. He broke through as a sophomore earning All-ECAC on the parallel bars before competing in the event finals of the USAG Collegiate Championship as a junior in 2023. He's joined in the Class of 2025 by William Champagne, Isaiah Drake, Sabastian Gordon, Riley Rose and RJ Spears. Champagne built off his appearance in the 2023 NCAA Championship Finals of the parallel bars as he became one of Navy's most trusted multi-event gymnasts as he competed in three or more different apparatus in six of Navy's seven regular season events with a standout All-Academy Championship performance that saw him place first on the rings, third on the vault and fifth on the parallel bars. A 2023 NCAA Championship All-American in the all-around, Drake cemented his spot as one of the program's best-ever gymnasts in 2024 with another NCAA Final appearance, this time on the rings, as well as five All-ECAC outcomes at Navy's conference championship, including a victory in the all-around, his fifth career ECAC title. Gordon is aiming to end his career healthy and on a high note as he dealt with an injury for the majority of his 2024 campaign. Prior to suffering an ailment, he was an All-ECAC level performer on the high bar in 2023. Rose's career trajectory continued trending upward as he went from collecting his first All-ECAC award in 2023 on the high bar to becoming a two-event ECAC Champion as a junior, placing first on the rings and high bar. Additionally, Rose took on added responsibilities as the season progressed as a member of the vault lineup. Though yet to compete in a regular season meet, Spears has been a valuable member of Navy's program in and out of the gym providing strong leadership and excellent academic work during his first three-plus years in Annapolis.
Juniors
The Class of 2026 is represented by six members of Navy's roster: Garrett Lawless, Matthew Petros, Colby Prince, Aaron Stein, Benjamin Venters and Danilo Viciana. The trio of Petros, Prince and Viciana all shined when the lights were brightest last season at the NCAA Championship at Ohio State University. All three then-sophomores thrived in the qualifying meet with Petros placing top-14 on the pommel horse, vault, parallel bars and high bar, Prince coming in 12th on the floor exercise and Viciana posting the seventh-best qualifying score on the parallel bars. Petros advanced to Saturday's event finals on the parallel bars and high bar, with Prince and Viciana joining him on their respective apparatus. Additional accolades for this talented trio in 2024 included, Petros winning the ECAC parallel bars title, as well as finishing runner-up on the vault and high bar after placing second on all three events at the prior week's USAG Collegiate Championship, Prince earning a bronze medal at the USAGs on the floor exercise and Viciana mirroring that with a bronze via the parallel bars at the same meet. A strong scholar-athlete, Venters made his competition debut last season as he turned in a routine on the rings at the University of Oklahoma. Neither Stein or Lawless suited up in a competition in 2024 as Stein suffered a knee injury in the preseason, while Lawless kept battling in the gym to break into the lineup.
Sophomores
The smallest of Navy's classes, the Class of 2027 has four members on this year's roster: Julian Galvez, Daniel Gurevich, Brian Solomon and Benjamin Thurlow Lam. Galvez saw frequent action on the rings, suiting up in four different competitions with a season-best 12.9 score coming versus William & Mary in late January. Gurevich proved early that he could be a strong multi-event contributor for the Mids as performed on the floor, pommel horse, vault and parallel bars throughout 2024. Highlights included a third place on the vault versus Army in the Star Meet and a bronze medal-winning effort at the ECAC Championship on the pommel horse. Solomon also provided Navy with versatility as a plebe as he showcased his skills at various points in the season on the floor, pommel horse and rings. Similar to Gurevich, Solomon was unfazed by the pressure of his first Army-Navy Star Meet, as he turned in a fourth-place result on the pommel horse before later recording a first place score on the floor exercise at William & Mary in March. Thurlow Lam specialized on the floor exercise and thrived early as his initial competition at the West Point Open concluded with a second place performance in the event finals.
 
Who's New
Having to replace seven 2024 graduates, Kip Simons and his assistant coaches Craig Holt and the recently-added Ryan Terrill have brought in eight talented freshmen who are looking to make their mark in the collegiate gymnastics world this season. The Class of 2028 will bring a new look to the Mids' six-event lineups, as well as physicality with four 5'9-plus gymnasts, including a pair of six-footers. Recruiting from coast-to-coast, Michael Romo and Matthew Zeigler hail from California, while Jonah Soltz and Boone Washburn represent the Pacific Northwest as natives of Washington and Oregon, respectively. The central time zone has a pair of representatives in the Class of 2028 with Oklahoma native Payton Guillory and Texan Justin Lozano. Navy went back to the Sunshine State and added Saran Alexander before rounding out its class with local talent McKinley Michel from nearby Columbia, Maryland.

What's New
This past offseason, the NCAA Men's Gymnastics Rules Committee made a major modification to collegiate competition as 2025 meets will feature a "four up, four count" format versus previous iterations that saw "six up, five count" and most recently, "five up, five count" scoring. The NCAA has also reduced the active meet competition roster to just 12 gymnasts versus 15 from last season.
 
2025 Season at a Glance
This weekend's action at the West Point Open will be the first of four straight weeks of early season action. This early run of competition includes three road contests surrounding the Mids' home opener on Saturday, Jan. 18, the 2025 Navy Open. Head-to-head bouts at Simpson College on Jan. 24 and the annual Army-Navy Star Meet at West Point on Feb. 1 wrap up the early run of competitions. Two weeks later, Air Force joins the fray at the 2025 All-Academy Championship in Fort Worth Texas on Feb. 15. After a break for the Winter Cup (Feb. 21-23), the Mids' regular season slate closes with head-to-head meets versus Springfield on March 1, at William & Mary on March 8 and against Greenville University on March 14.

Following the regular season, Navy has the honor of hosting the 2025 USAG Collegiate Championships on the weekend of March 28-29 before heading out to the Midwest for the ECAC Championship on April 5 at Simpson College. This year's NCAA Championship will be hosted by the University of Michigan on the weekend of April 18-19.

 
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Players Mentioned

William Champagne

William Champagne

All-Around
5' 10"
Senior
Isaiah Drake

Isaiah Drake

All-Around
5' 8"
Senior
Julian Galvez

Julian Galvez

All-Around
5' 6"
Sophomore
Sabastian Gordon

Sabastian Gordon

All-Around
5' 7"
Senior
Daniel Gurevich

Daniel Gurevich

All-Around
5' 8"
Sophomore
Garrett Lawless

Garrett Lawless

All-Around
5' 11"
Junior
Vishal Mandava

Vishal Mandava

All-Around
5' 9"
Senior
Matthew Petros

Matthew Petros

All-Around
5' 11"
Junior
Colby Prince

Colby Prince

All-Around
5' 11"
Junior
Riley Rose

Riley Rose

All-Around
5' 11"
Senior

Players Mentioned

William Champagne

William Champagne

5' 10"
Senior
All-Around
Isaiah Drake

Isaiah Drake

5' 8"
Senior
All-Around
Julian Galvez

Julian Galvez

5' 6"
Sophomore
All-Around
Sabastian Gordon

Sabastian Gordon

5' 7"
Senior
All-Around
Daniel Gurevich

Daniel Gurevich

5' 8"
Sophomore
All-Around
Garrett Lawless

Garrett Lawless

5' 11"
Junior
All-Around
Vishal Mandava

Vishal Mandava

5' 9"
Senior
All-Around
Matthew Petros

Matthew Petros

5' 11"
Junior
All-Around
Colby Prince

Colby Prince

5' 11"
Junior
All-Around
Riley Rose

Riley Rose

5' 11"
Senior
All-Around