ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Under the bright lights of the 2025 USAG Collegiate National Championship, the Navy gymnastics team shined with a season-best performance on its way to the team title. Locked in from its first rotation on the parallel bars, the Mids hit 24-of-24 routines as every gymnast, who raised their hand for action on Friday scored 12.75 or more points on every routine and added nine stick bonuses on their way to a 320.70-point showing, 5.65 points ahead of runner-up Army.

The final leaderboard consisted of Navy in first with Army in second at 315.05 and Air Force in third with 313.05 points. William & Mary battled to the end, but missed the final medal-winning position on the podium with a fourth-place result of 310.10. Springfield and Simpson College rounded out the standings with respective scores of 308.45 and 300.80. 

The USAG Collegiate Championship dates back to 1983 and is open to Division I, II or III, four-year institutions with gymnastics as a varsity sport that provide two or less full scholarships, as well as the military academies. The top-eight scorers on each apparatus, with a maximum of two gymnasts per team will advance to Saturday's individual event finals.

Individually, Isaiah Drake (Sr., Los Angeles, Calif.) highlighted the team's success as he placed top-five on four separate apparatus and won the all-around title for his first career USAG Championship gold medal. He tied for the top vault of the day before finishing fourth on the rings and fifth on both the parallel bars and high bar. The standout senior will compete again in Saturday's event finals for the rings and vault.

Drake led a contingent of nine different Mids that qualified for the event finals as fellow senior William Champagne (Douglas, Mass.) and Matthew Petros (Jr., Broadview Heights, Ohio) will join him in multiple finals courtesy of strong efforts on the floor exercise and parallel bars for Champagne and high bar and parallel bars for Petros. Freshman Boone Washburn (Lake Oswego, Ore.) matched Drake for the result of the day as he turned in the top score on the high bar on Friday.

As a team, Navy scored 54.25 points on the floor exercise, 52.35 on the pommel horse, 52.05 on the rings, 55.0 on the vault, 53.4 on the parallel bars and 53.65 on the high bar. Four of those six marks are season-highs as the Mids' previous best score on the floor was a 53.20, a 52.05 on the horse, a 51.5 on the p-bars and a 52.85 on the high bar. This was the first time all season that the team posted scores of 52.0 or better across all six disciplines.
 
"Today was without a doubt the most complete performance we have had all season," remarked head coach Kip Simons. "The results you saw out in the gym today were due to the buy-in that we've had since August. All of the hard work, long hours and preparation definitely paid off. This is how you want to start the postseason."

The action on Thursday began for the Mids on the parallel bars. Invigorated by performing in their home gym for the final time as a team in 2025, Navy started out on fire with four locked-in routines. The Mids' upperclass lineup turned in four of the top-six scores on the apparatus led by Champagne's 13.5 effort that ranked third overall in the field of 28. He held off Petros by 0.05 points as the junior earned 13.45 points from the judges. Continuing the run of Midshipmen in the top-six, Drake and Vishal Mandava (Sr., Cypress, Texas) recorded scores of 13.3 and 13.15 to finish fifth and sixth, respectively. Navy's 53.4 combined p-bars score was 1.9 better than their next closest opponent Army.

The Mids kept building on that early momentum with a stellar high bar performance that resulted in 53.65 points, again 1.9 points higher than the second-place Black Knights. All four of its gymnasts that put down a routine on Friday finished within the top-seven as Washburn led the way with a 13.7 effort, that was best in the field by 0.1 points over Air Force's Tai Gopaul. Petros was 0.05 points behind Gopaul in third place at 13.55, while Drake rounded out the top-five with a 13.35 score of his own. Riley Rose (Sr., Las Vegas, Nev.) netted the Mids 13.05 points with his final collegiate routine at Halsey Field House, good for seventh place.

Navy's hold on the top of the team leaderboard continued on the floor exercise with four more top-10 results. Champagne was the front-runner again for the Mids as he tied with Springfield's Will Wilson for third place with a 13.8 mark. Sophomores Benjamin Thurlow Lam (San Francisco, Calif.) and Brian Solomon (Lynnfield, Mass.) finished back-to-back just 0.05 points apart with scores of 13.6 and 13.55, that ranked fifth and sixth respectively. Drake earned his squad 13.3 points for his floor exercise routine to tie for 10th place.

The Mids' quest for a title slowed a bit on the pommel horse as Air Force and Army took six of the top-seven positions in the individual standings. Saran Alexander (Fr., Tavares, Fla.) was the highest scoring Navy pommel horse performer as he registered 13.35 points in his first-ever USAG Championship event, good for fifth overall. His fellow freshman Jonah Soltz (Tacoma, Wash.) was 0.05 points back as he tied Air Force's Jack Matlock for sixth place with identical 13.3 scores. Daniel Gurevich (So., Frisco, Texas) finished 10th overall with a 12.95 mark.

The rings competition was wide open as all six teams scored between 52.55 (Springfield) and 50.4 points (Simpson). Navy was right in the middle as it's four-man lineup tallied a combined 52.05 points behind Drake's team-high 13.3 score that ranked fourth in the field. Aaron Stein (Jr., Houston, Texas) was two spots back of Drake as he tied for sixth with 13.15 points. Competing as an all-arounder on Friday, Solomon was Navy's third scorer as he placed 16th on the rings with a 12.85 result.

The Mids locked up its fourth USAG team title in the last five national competitions with a stout one-through-four effort on the vault. Drake was the flag bearer for Navy as he nailed his vault for a score of 14.1, that tied Air Force's Erich Upton for the top spot on the leaderboard. Gurevich placed second for Navy and seventh overall with a 13.75 result on his vault. Solomon and Petros finished consecutively in 10th and 11th with scores of 13.6 and 13.55.

Navy's golden day was extended into the all-around standings as Drake took the top spot with a cumulative score of 79.55, 13.3 from the floor exercise, 12.2 from the pommel horse, 13.3 from the rings, 14.1 from the vault, 13.3 from the parallel bars and 13.35 from the high bar. He held off a challenge from Air Force's Erich Upton, who placed second with a 78.55 result. Solomon gave the Mids their second gymnast in the top-three, as he finished 0.75 points back of Upton with a 77.8 result. Solomon scored 13.55 of his points from the floor exercise, 12.75 from the pommel horse, 12.85 from the rings, 13.6 from the vault, 12.5 from the p-bars and 12.55 from the high bar.

"I'm so happy for the entire team, but especially the Firsties as it was their last performance at home in front of a packed house of parents, fans and leadership from the Academy, including our Superintendent and Commandant," said Simons in closing. "That was really special and I know that support is extremely appreciated throughout our program."

Navy is slated to have two gymnasts in all six of the event finals on Saturday. First touch for the event finals is set for 1 p.m. at Halsey Field House.

Event Finalists
FX-Champagne, Solomon
PH-Alexander, Soltz
R-Drake, Stein
VT-Drake, Gurevich
PB-Champagne, Petros
HB-Petros, Washburn