WEST POINT, N.Y. – With even less margin for error than in prior years due to the new four-counter scoring system, the Navy men's gymnastics team turned in a near flawless meet on Saturday afternoon with the 2025 Star on the line versus service academy rival Army.
Faced with competing at the Black Knights' Gross Sports Center and trailing by 0.55 points at the mid-way mark of the six-event contest, the Mids calmly and confidently posted a season-high point total to come from behind and defeat Army for the seventh straight Star Meet, 314.60 to 311.90. Over the final three events, the vault, parallel bars and high bars, Navy out-scored Army by 3.25 points.
Isaiah Drake led the late charge as he swept the top spot on each of the final three apparatus. He cleared the field on the vault by 0.45 points with a dominant 14.3 score before edging opponents by 0.15 on the parallel bars and 0.05 on the high bar. He was joined atop the event leaderboards by Danilo Viciana, who aced his floor exercise routine and Aaron Stein, who did the same on the rings.
As a team, Navy scored 53.2 points on the floor exercise, 50.25 on the pommel horse, 52.15 on the rings, 55.05 on the vault, 51.1 on the parallel bars and 52.85 on the high bar.
"Today was a chapter in the Army-Navy rivalry that will never be forgotten," exclaimed head coach Kip Simons. "Our firsties stepped up and led from start-to-finish all day long. To hit 24-out-of-24 routines is very rare in our sport, especially under the spotlight of an Army-Navy meet. I'm super proud of our preparation and I knew we were ready for a strong performance in Army's house.
"The environment this afternoon was electric with over 50 mids in attendance cheering us on to victory. Isaiah Drake was on fire. I have never seen him compete in a more dominant fashion than he did today."
The competition began with an extremely close turn on the floor exercise as Navy edged Army, 53.2-52.6. Viciana led the Mids' effort as he posted a 13.65 score courtesy of an 8.85 execution score of his 4.8-level routine. Army and Navy gymnasts traded the next four positions as Joseph Buselmeier finished second for the Black Knights at 13.6 with Brian Solomon (So., Lynnfield, Mass.) placing third for the Mids at 13.4. Army's Max Rubin and Navy's Isaiah Drake rounded out the top-five with respective scores of 13.3 and 13.1. The Mids' fourth counter on Saturday was Benjamin Thurlow Lam (So., San Francisco, Calif.), who came in sixth at 13.05.
The largest single-event swing occurred on the ensuing apparatus, the pommel horse. Coming into the meet with an over four-point disadvantage in scoring average, the Mids hung tough and came within 2.15 points of the Black Knights, 52.4 to 50.25. Army went one-two-three in the individual standings before Navy collected the next three positions. Matthew Petros led the Mids on Saturday with a 13.0 score for his pommel horse routine. Competing in his first Army-Navy Star Meet, Saran Alexander posted the fifth highest score of the afternoon with a 12.75. Daniel Gurevich and Solomon came in sixth and eight respectively with scores of 12.55 and 11.95.
Trailing 105.0-103.45, the Mids shaved a point off its deficit on the rings with a season-best 52.15 score that was one whole point ahead of the Black Knights' 51.15. Continuing his comeback from an injury that sidelined him for the entire 2024 season, Stein was a standout on the rings on Saturday as he executed his 4.1-level routine with 9.2 precision, plus he garnered a 0.1-point stick bonus for a 13.4 score that edged his teammate, Solomon by 0.05 points as the sophomore scored 13.35 points for his respective effort. After Buselmeier placed third for Army with a 13.25, Drake came in right behind with a fourth-place score of 13.2. Alexander was the fourth counter for Navy as he netted the team 12.2 points, that ranked seventh overall.
The Mids' comeback push saw the visitors re-take the lead on the fourth rotation, the vault. Another season-best score came from Navy's vault lineup as it out-scored Army, 55.05-54.0. A pair of stick bonuses by the Mids' senior duo of Drake and Riley Rose book-ended the team's lineup as their respective attempts went for 14.3 and 13.85 points to place first and second in the field. Gurevich followed up his pommel horse routine with a 13.65 vault to ranked fourth in the event. Petros was Navy's fourth counter and netted his team 13.25 points, that was good for seventh.
Holding a 0.5-point lead, the Mids looked to put distance between themselves and the Black Knights. They did just that on the parallel bars with two of the top-three scores as Drake came in first for the second consecutive event with a score of 13.15, while William Champagne recorded a third-place score at 12.9. Team captain Vishal Mandava challenged Army's Jaden Blank for fifth place, but was edged out 12.75-12.7. Competing in his third event of the afternoon, Petros posted a 12.35 score to place seventh.
Up 1.65 points, Navy salted away its seventh straight Star Meet victory over Army with a season-best 52.85 turn on the high bar. The Mids left little to no window for the Black Knights to fight back as they registered three of the top-four individual high bar routines and each of their four gymnasts garnered 0.1-point stick bonuses. Acting as the anchor for his squad, Drake clinched the event and team win with a score of 13.55. Petros nearly matched his talented teammate as he earned 13.5 points from the judges for his routine to rank second overall. After Army's Tyson Phelps entered the standings in third at 13.3, Rose completed his final Star Meet with a 13.2-point effort to finish fourth. Mandava tied for seventh place with a 12.6 score.
The victory by Navy tightens the all-time series to 45-42-2 in favor of Army in Star matchups.