WEST POINT, N.Y. – The Navy men's gymnastics team challenged itself on Friday with action at the six-team West Point Open. Following an evening of competition, the Mids posted a score of 302.55 to finish third overall in the team meet behind Penn State and the hosts, Army. The Nittany Lions posted a winning score of 313.50 with the Black Knights coming in 4.1 points ahead of the Mids at 306.65.
The remainder of the standings for Friday's team event saw Springfield place fourth with a 301.00-point effort, while William & Mary and Simpson battled it out for fifth place and finished with 0.3 points of each other with the Tribe edging out the Storm, 294.6 to 294.3.
As a team, Navy scored 49.6 points on the floor exercise, 51.5 on the pommel horse, 49.45 on the rings, 54.05 on the vault, 48.65 on the parallel bars and 49.3 on the high bar. The Mids' ring effort was second best in the field, while their vault and high bar results were third in the field.
Brian Solomon (Jr., Lynnfield, Mass.) and
Jonah Soltz (So., Tacoma, Wash.) competed as all-arounders for Navy on Friday night and posted cumulative scores of 77.55 and 73.60, to place third and seventh, respectively. Solomon came within 1.0 point of Penn State's Landon Simpson, who finished first at 78.55 and Penn State's Akseli Karsikas, who posted the second-best score at 78.35.
In terms of Midshipmen that advanced to Saturday's event finals, Solomon led the squad as he'll compete again in the finals for the pommel horse and parallel bars. Additionally, Soltz will join his teammate as one of eight contenders in the field for the pommel horse. In total, six Mids qualified for event finals led by second-place results by
Matthew Petros (Sr., Broadview Heights, Ohio) on the vault and
Boone Washburn (So., Lake Oswego, Ore.) on the high bar.
The pommel horse and rings rotations proved the most successful for Navy on Friday night with two gymnasts each advancing. Soltz paced the Mids with a score of 13.45 that tied for fifth best in the field of 30-plus gymnasts. Solomon was 0.15 points back with a 13.3 that was good for seventh in the competition.
Navy's experience and youth starred on the rings as
Aaron Stein (Sr., Houston, Texas) and
Zachary Silao (Fr. Lutherville, Md.) led the way with identical scores of 12.55, that tied for fifth overall. Solomon and
Garrett Lawless (Sr., Grimesland, N.C.) challenged for the top 10, but finished just outside as Solomon's 12.2 tied for 12th and Lawless' 12.15 ranked 14th overall.
Petros was a standout for Navy's vault lineup as he nailed his vault to the tune of a 14.2 score that was just 0.1 points behind Army's Nick Lester's 14.3 first-place effort.
Two rotations later, Washburn mirrored Petros' result with a score of 13.1 that ranked second to only Penn State's Akseli Karsikas' 13.6 mark.
Solomon qualified for his second event final courtesy of his 13.15 routine on the parallel bars. His effort was sixth best in the field. Competing for his first time in 2026,
Colby Prince (Sr., Lithia, Fla.) nearly made it two Mids in the top 10 as his 12.7 score was good for 12th overall.
Prince was Navy's leading scorer on the floor exercise with his score of 13.1 tying him for 10th place. The eighth and final event finalist from the floor exercise, Springfield's Evan Reichert posted a 13.15 score.
The Mids will have six competitors back in action on Saturday night as part of the event finals of the 2026 West Point Open. Solomon (PH, PB), Petros (VT), Soltz (PH), Silao (R), Stein (R), Washburn (HB) will all be vying for individual medals starting at 7 p.m. at the Holleder Center.
