Ike Award Update: Everyone Picks Up a Couple Points

It’s been neck and neck in the competition for the first ever Ike Award between all three service academies across all sports, and the past two weeks have done nothing to create any separation.

All-Academy Gymnastics Championship-Navy Win

Following a dramatic come from behind victory over Army earlier in the year, this time around was much less storybook ending and much more dominant performance for the Navy men’s gymnastics team.

The Mids took five of the six team events over Army and Air Force and put up a season high 408.5 points on the way to victory. Air Force finished second with 402.9 points and Army finished in third.

David Toussaint finished first in the floor exercise and pommel horse as well as a top five finish on vault to lead the way.

Adding to the excitement on the day for Navy was that this was the first win for someone other than Air Force in the last nine years.

Air Force vs. Army Men’s and Women’s Tennis-Air Force Win x 2

Both the Air Force and Army men’s and women’s tennis teams headed down to Orlando to the USTA National Campus to compete in the first College MatchDay between two service academy teams.

The competition which was shown on tape delay on the Tennis Channel saw the Falcons securing both victories and coming away with two Ike Award points in the process to jump back up in the race.

The men, which started with Army winning the doubles point after winning two of three, ended with Air Force winning four of the five singles points to secure a 4-2 victory.

In front of nearly 1,200 fans and even including an A-10 flyover, the women continued the winning ways as they won a hard fought 4-3 victory in their side of the double dual competition.

Don’t look now, but the Air Force women are 12-0 on the season, which is tied for the best start in program history!

Air Force vs. Army Baseball-Army Win

You can check out Austin’s recap of the opening game of the season for the two service academy rivals here but safe to say it was all Army in a 17-2 throttling of the Falcons.

Behind a 5-5, 4 run, 8 RBI performance from Anthony Giachin, who was nominated for a Golden Spikes performance of the weekend and won Patriot League Player of the week for his work, and a four hit, five run performance by Jacob Hurtubise, the Black Knights had no trouble notching their first victory of the season and picking up an Ike Award point in the process.

Army vs. Navy Women’s Basketball-Army Win

Once again, we’ve already got a recap up on how this went down, so I won’t steal Gavin’s thunder.

It was a tale of two halves, as Navy played well in the first half behind a solid offensive performance from freshman Jennifer Coleman, but Army made some solid adjustments, both in scheme, and in finding a way to get Madison Hovren more involved on offense.

In the end, a double double from Hovren with 17 points and 11 rebounds was too much to overcome as Army pulled away for a 60-48 victory to complete the season sweep and take the Star from Navy.

Army vs. Navy Men’s Basketball-Navy Win

On the men’s side, Navy avoided a complete sweep by Army on the season and pulled out a solid victory to take home the Star and pull nearly even in the Patriot League standings with their rivals.

Behind an outstanding performance from freshman John Carter, Jr., Navy led by two at the break and pulled away in the second half to secure the victory 79-68.

Carter finished with 26 points and 6 rebounds, shooting 85% from behind the arc on his way to another Patriot League Rookie of the Week award.

Up next, we have three games between Navy and Air Force baseball this weekend in Kinston, NC and Army-Navy Wrestling in West Point.

Updated Ike Award Standings:

Air Force: 7-8-3

Army: 15-16-3

Navy: 14-14