ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Suiting up for the first time in two weeks, the No. 9 Navy men's gymnastics team kicked off the final stretch of regular season action on Saturday with a home meet versus No. 14 Springfield. A fast start to the contest by the Mids (4-1, 2-0 ECAC) with a 2.3-point advantage on the floor exercise helped the hosts go wire-to-wire and secure a 311.05 to 309.35 victory over the Pride (0-5, 0-4 ECAC) at the Halsey Field House Gymnastics Facility.

A well-rounded team effort saw four different Mids finish atop the podium as Benjamin Thurlow Lam (So., San Francisco, Calif.) placed first on the floor exercise, while Brian Solomon (So., Lynnfield, Mass.) did the same on the pommel horse. Isaiah Drake (Sr., Los Angeles, Calif.) and Jonah Soltz (Fr., Tacoma, Wash.) also earned first-place finishes on the rings and parallel bars, respectively.

As a team, Navy scored 53.05 points on the floor exercise, 50.1 on the pommel horse, 51.6 on the rings, 55.0 on the vault, 51.5 on the parallel bars and 49.8 on the high bar.

"Today was a good day as we begin to prepare for the upcoming postseason," remarked head coach Kip Simons. "We had a couple of new guys break into the lineup today and they got the job done for us. It's always important to protect the house with a home W, which we did. I think we are positioning ourselves to be competitive and make a strong end of the season run."

Thurlow Lam was dominant on the floor exercise as he cleared the field by 0.4 points with a 13.95 effort. Beginning with a 4.6 start score, the sophomore earned a 9.25 execution score from the judges on Saturday. Daniel Gurevich (So., Frisco, Texas) finished runner-up in the event with a 13.55 result, while Soltz came in fourth at 13.2.

In an extremely competitive pommel horse turn, Solomon was the flag bearer for the Mids with a score of 13.3 that tied the Pride's Devon Felsenstein for first place. He earned a 9.0 execution score for his 4.3-level routine. After Springfield gymnasts placed third, fourth and fifth, Soltz was the second-highest Navy scorer with a 12.4, that ranked him sixth overall.

The rings rotation was close again, as the Mids gained 0.85 points on the Pride as the teams alternated placement done the leaderboard. Drake was the champ of the rings on Saturday as he netted Navy 13.3 points with 8.7 points coming from his 4.6-level routine. Aaron Stein (Jr., Houston, Texas) tied with Springfield's Blaise Rousseau for second place with matching 13.1's. Julian Galvez (So., Burtonsville, Md.) rounded out the top-five with a score of 12.9. In his collegiate debut, Garrett Lawless (Jr., Grimesland, N.C.) came in seventh at 12.3.

With the score 154.75 to 152.25 at the mid-way mark, Springfield shaved 1.05 points off its deficit with a 56.05 to 55.0 cumulative effort on the vault. The Pride grabbed positions one, two and four on the leaderboard with Soltz infiltrating the stronghold for the Mids as he placed third with a 13.9 score. Matthew Petros (Jr., Broadview Heights, Ohio) tied with Springfield's Owen Carney for fourth place with identical 13.8 results.

A 2.2-point swing on the parallel bars increased Navy's lead to 3.65 through five events. The Mids were dominant from top-to-bottom with its entire lineup going first through fourth. Soltz led the quartet with a 13.15 score courtesy of 8.85 execution points for his 4.2 difficulty-level routine. Vishal Mandava (Sr., Cypress, Texas) and Petros went back-to-back in second and third place with respective scores of 12.9 and 12.85. William Champagne (Sr., Douglas, Mass.) came in fourth with a 12.6 outcome. All four Springfield gymnasts scored between 12.5 and 12.2 points.

Navy withstood a late push by Springfield on the high bar as the visitors carved 1.95 points off the Mids' lead, though the hosts held on for the 311.05-309.35 victory. The Pride finished with four gymnasts in the top-five on the high bar. Mandava challenged Springfield's Felix Kriedemann for the event win as they were separated by just 0.05 points as Kriedemann took the decision, 13.35 to 13.3. Soltz tied for fifth place with a 12.65 effort. In his collegiate debut, Boone Washburn (Fr., Lake Oswego, Ore.) recorded a score of 11.55 for his high bar performance.

Navy will continue its regular season action next Saturday, March 8 with a road bout at William & Mary. First touch at Kaplan Arena is set for 2 p.m.