If Navy winds up winning the Star Series, Saturday may be viewed as the turning point.
Army entered the weekend leading the year-long series between the two service academies. Following an impressive performance in four meets, Navy now has the upper hand in the Star Series, presented by USAA.
Navy swept four competitions against Army on Saturday: rifle, gymnastics and men’s and women’s indoor track and field. The Midshipmen now lead the Star Series, 9-6-1.
Navy’s wildly successful Saturday got underway early in the morning on the campus of West Point as rifle used a record-setting performance to beat Army, 5,896-5,863. Junior standout Marleigh Duncan led the way as the Midshipmen amassed the highest score in program history under the current Army-Navy scoring format.
It marked the third straight season and fifth time in six years that Navy rifle has won the Star meet.
“We put it all together and had an awesome day. We needed to bring our A-game because Army always does,” Navy coach Mike Anti said. “We had numerous shooters put up personal bests, so it was great to see everyone really rise to the occasion.
Duncan placed first overall with an aggregate score of 1,184 to earn the Josh Watson Memorial Trophy as Navy’s most valuable performer. Duncan posted season-best scores in both small bore (589) and air rifle (595). She won the small bore competition and placed second behind teammate Isabella Baldwin in air rifle.
“Marleigh is amazing. It doesn’t matter how big the competition is, she always performs,” Anti said. “Marleigh has a lot of natural ability, but also works really hard in practice to perfect her craft.”
Baldwin, a plebe, won the air rifle competition with a score of 596 and placed second overall totaling 1,182. Senior Clarissa Layland took third with 1,180.
“I knew Isabella was going to be special when we were recruiting her. It doesn’t seem like the match pressure gets to her,” Anti said. “I’m proud of Clarissa for really stepping up and performing at a high level. To sweep the top three places is something special and something that doesn’t happen often.”
For an Army-Navy rifle competition, the respective coaches set a starting lineup of eight shooters with the top five scores counting toward the team total. Under the NCAA scoring format, the starting lineup is five shooters with only the top four scorers counting.
Track and field sweeps
Navy had already collected one Star by the time the men’s track and field meet got underway inside Wesley Brown Fieldhouse. Senior thrower Joshua Boamah led the way as Navy dominated Army, 103-78.
Boamah set school records to win the shot put and hammer throw. His shot put toss of 61 feet, 4 ¾ inches broke the Navy record set by Scott Haney in 1973. He hurled the hammer 69-3 ½ to surpass his own record.
“Just a tremendous performance by Josh, who just keeps getting better and better,” Navy coach Jamie Cook said.
Senior captain Brahmir Vick was the star on the track, winning the 60-meter hurdles and the 60-meter dash. Vick set Navy and Patriot League records with a blazing time of 7.74 seconds in the hurdles. He came back later in the meet and won the dash in 6.83 seconds even though he had not competed in that event since 2022.
“Brahmir was confident he could get the job done in the 60-meter dash and he certainly delivered,” Cook said.
Sophomore sprinter Nathan Kent won the 200 and 400. He broke the meet record in the 200 with a time of 21.22 seconds.
Senior Sam Keeny, a South River graduate, topped the field in the mile run with a time of 4:04.5, while teammate Murphy Smith took first in the 3,000.
The Mids scored a lot of points in the field events with Walker Rudisaile winning the pole vault and Jordan Payne taking the triple jump to go along with the two titles by Boamah. Navy placed first and second in both the triple jump and the shot put.
Sophomore Jia Anderson put forth a spectacular performance to lead Navy women’s indoor track and field past Army, 99-82. Anderson set three school records in winning the 60-meter dash and 60-meter hurdles, while placing second in the 200.
The Wilmington, Delaware, native broke her own record with a time of 8.36 seconds in the 60 hurdles. She won the 60 in 7.53 seconds, three-tenths of a second better than the mark established by Regine Tugade in 2020. She ran the 200 in 24.18, which lopped seven-tenths of a second off the mark set last season by Molly Mangan.
“Jia had a phenomenal day. I’ve been around track and field for four decades and I don’t know if I’ve witnessed a better overall performance,” Cook said.
Navy went one-two in the 400 with Annie Lemelin winning in 55.39 and Taylor Woodworth placing second in 55.44. Kayla McGuire won the 500 and Ellie Abraham topped the 1,000.
Woodworth was the hero as Navy came from behind to beat Army in the 4×400. Woodworth ran the anchor leg and powered past Army’s Emma Taylor on the final turn. She teamed with Lemelin, Sophia Richter and Kylie Bedard to post the second-fastest time (3:44.21) in school history.
The Midshipmen also won the 4×800 with the foursome of Susannah Heinz, Lexi Ensor (Severna Park), Mia-Claire Kezal and Kayla McGuire breaking the meet record with a time of 9:05.25.
Navy scored plenty of points in the field events during the women’s meet as well with Hannah Lowenstein (high jump), Alayna Schloeder (pole vault) and Sami Bollinger (triple jump) all winning their events.
Schloeder set a new meet mark clearing 13 feet, 1 ¾ inches, which was also the third-best pole vault in program history. Giulia Mesa placed second in both the long jump and triple jump.
Navy won 10 of 17 events in both the men’s and women’s meets. The Midshipmen have beaten the Black Knights in the Star meet for five straight seasons on both the men’s and women’s sides.
“I couldn’t be more proud of the teams, our coaching staff and all the support staff that helped lead another great day for our program. Our objective of winning on both sides in commanding fashion was once again achieved,” Cook said. “This is a very competitive meet, but I believe our teams were ready because they competed hard, stayed together as a unit when adversity came upon us and executed everything we asked of them.”
Gymnastics overcomes adversity
Navy gymnastics suffered a significant setback the day before the big meet as top all-around performer Isaiah Drake fell while practicing his rings routine. Drake’s hand grip broke and he went tumbling to the floor, sustaining an injury that prevented him from competing in the Star meet.
It was a difficult loss for the Midshipmen, but coach Kip Simons just had to dig a little deeper on the roster to find replacements.
“It was a tough loss because Isaiah is our top guy on rings, vault and potentially high bar and No. 2 on the floor,” Simons said. “It was the next man up. I had prepped the team Friday night that we could have adjustments to the lineup.”
Sophomore Matthew Petros had perhaps his best day of his collegiate career by winning the vault and parallel bars as Navy beat Army, 390.4-377.5. Senior Syam Buradagunta was victorious in the floor exercise, senior Caleb Hickey topped the high bar and junior Riley Rose took first in the rings.
It marked the sixth straight season that Navy gymnastics has beaten Army in the Star meet.
“Today really showed the blue-collar grit of this program. It was a complete team effort from top to bottom. We clawed, scratched and did whatever was needed to get this win,” Simons said.
Buradagunta, who like Drake is a returning All-American, got Navy going by winning the floor exercise. Then came the pommel horse with senior Ronan McQuillan placing second and Petros taking third. Freshman Brian Soloman and Buradagunta finished fourth and fifth, respectively.
Simons had high praise for Petros, who scored a considerable amount of points individually.
“Matthew is really developing into one of our superstars. He has always been a very talented gymnast and now we are seeing that translate into meets,” Simons said. “He showed up and performed on Saturday and has shown he’s a guy we can count on.”
Simons, in his ninth season, matched the streak of close friend and mentor Peter Korman, who never lost to Army in six seasons as Navy gymnastics coach. The Midshipmen beat the Black Knights in 11 straight meetings from 1982 through 1992.
“It’s special when you start to think of the legacy. It always feels great to beat Army and we will never take it for granted,” Simons said. “We will enjoy this for a couple days then get back to work on Monday.”