Gymnastics Suffers Star Defeat To Navy

Saturday, February 6

Annapolis, MD

1 PM

Army West Point

413.75

419.3

Navy

Gymnastics Suffers Star Defeat To Navy

February 06, 2016 | Men's Gymnastics

ANNAPOLIS, MD – The Army West Point men's gymnastics team jumped out to a an early advantage, but a strong showing on still rings put No. 12 Navy in the lead in handing the No. 13 Black Knights a 419.3-413.75 defeat Saturday at Macdonough Hall.

The loss dropped Army to 1-2 overall and 0-1 in the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference, while Navy moved to 1-0 both on the season and in the ECAC.

Senior Jesse Glenn was first on high bar (15.2), Andre Hufnagel won pommel horse (14.4) and Nick McAfee shared that honor with Navy's Mitchell Larios on parallel bars as both scored a 14.35.

Sam Kusnitz was runner-up on Army's opening floor exercise with a 14.35 as he led a sweep of the second through fourth spots with Glenn third and Elliott Herman fourth (13.95).

Cole Casanova, who was second in all-around (82.15), took third on pommel horse (career high 13.9) and Nathan Goff took the silver on high bar (14.45).

The meet opened with Army competing on floor exercise and Navy starting off on pommel horse and they switched in the second round. Army bested Navy 69.65-69.25 on floor and the Mids outpointed their guest by three tenths of a point on pommel horse 68.3-68.0.

"After the first two events, we had a slim lead following falls on pommel horse and floor exercise," noted Army head coach Dough Van Everen. "We needed to have a much bigger lead at that point because their rings are better.

"We did a good job on rings along with vault and high bar, but we struggled on parallel bars. Unfortunately that is the way it turned out. We did not compete nearly as well as we did against Air Force. It was a grind right from the beginning but you can't take anything away from Navy."

Army outpointed Navy (69.65-69.25) on floor exercise and on high bar (71.6-69.0). The Midshipmen compiled the top team scores on pommel horse (68.0-68.3), still rings (70.65-66.45), vault (72.5-71.5) and parallel bars (66.55). Navy had four individual winners, to include all-around, with another sharing medalist honors with Army.

Mid Larios had a hand in three wins earning medalist honors on floor exercise and tying for first on parallel bars and vault in setting the pace for Navy.

Four Black Knights finished among the top seven on floor exercise and two were among the top three on pommel horse, to include medalist Hufnagel, but Navy's sweep of the top five places on still rings and five of the seven on vault proved to be the turning point of the meet.

Glenn's winning mark of 15.2 on high bar was just shy of his career mark as Army claimed four of the top three spots with Goff and Leo Genders finishing third (14.45) and fourth (14.25) respectively, after Navy's Jonathan Tang took second.

Army will look to rebound at the All-Academy Championships being held in Atlanta, Ga., on Saturday, Feb. 13. Air Force, who Army defeated last weekend, is the defending champion, as the Black Knights head into the third straight weekend of service-academy competition.

NOTES: Cole Casanova posted a career high on pommel horse (13.9) ... Jesse Glenn turned in a season and team-high 15.2 on high bar sparking Army to a season best 71.60 that nipped last week's previous high (70.9) set against Air Force ... Nick McAfee's 14.35 on parallel bars is a career high and is the second highest score in that event this season ... Andre Hugnagels' first-place 14.40 on pommel horse is just shy of his season high 14.45 set against Air Force..