Ike Award Update: Army and Navy Split Pair of Star Matches

Last weekend, we had a total of FOUR Army-Navy matchups that contributed to our Ike Award Standings. In addition, we had the All-Academy wrestling championships two weeks ago, and even though it wasn’t just between Air Force, Army, and Navy, all three schools were there, and so that’s deserving of an Ike Award victory as well.

Let’s take a look back at the results from the All-Academy wrestling weekend and catch you up on the contests between rifle, gymnastics, and indoor track and field from this past Saturday.

All-Academy Wrestling Championship: Navy Win

In an annual contest involving Air Force, Army, Navy, VMI, Citadel, Coast Guard, Merchant Marine, and Norwich, the 2019 All-Academy Championship went to Navy. The Mids garnered five individual titles along the way to 115.5 points. Air Force came in second with two individual titles and 99.5 points. Army was third with two individual titles and 72.5 points.

Casey Cobb (133 lbs), Jared Prince (149 lbs), Quentin Hovis (157 lbs), Tanner Skidgel (165 lbs), and Anthony Cable (184 lbs) won individual awards for Navy.

Also of note, senior captain Nicholas Gil won his 100th match at Navy.

Army vs. Navy Rifle Star Match: Navy Win

For the first time since 2009, Navy Rifle upended Army to win the Star Series match. Navy, which is ranked #9 in the country, won by a final score of 5,846-5,822.

Navy took an early lead in the smallbore portion of the competition, jumping ahead of Army 2,898-2,879. Senior captain Josh Watson led the way with a score of 584.

Navy continued its great day after the transition to air rifle as they beat Army 2,948-2,943. Kestrel Kuhne led the way for Navy with a score of 594.

Army vs. Navy Gymnastics: Navy Win

The Navy gymnastics team used a dramatic comeback in the final two events to win at West Point for the first time since 2011.

Following the first four events, all that was left was parallel bars and high bar and Navy trailed by 3.65 points. Outperforming their average on parallel bars by 4.7 points allowed the Mids to flip the script and come away with the victory. Still trailing by 1.1 points heading into the high bar, Navy took four of the five top spots to secure the come from behind victory.

Army’s Cole Cassanova led the way on the parallel bars but was followed by four Navy gymnasts with junior Ryan Orce leading the way for the Mids. On the high bar, it was a Plebe who led the charge. Cash Buske landed a 13.6 point routine to help Navy fully overcome the deficit and bring home a Star series victory.

Both of these schools won’t have to wait long to square off again as the All-Academy Championship between Air Force, Army, and Navy is this weekend in Annapolis!

Navy vs. Army Indoor Track and Field: Army Win x 2

On the track it was all Army on Saturday as the Black Knights came away with victories in both the men’s and women’s indoor competitions.

The men came away with a 100-81 victory, only the third time in the history of the indoor Star competition that they scored 100 points.

The dominant performance resulted in Army winning 12 of 17 competitions on the men’s side, including a program record in the shot put for Geoff Kirk at 17.94 meters. That record had stood since 1979.

On the women’s side, it was not quite the same, as the contest came all the way down to the last event of the day with the Black Knights edging Navy 89.5-88.5.

Coming down to the 4x800m relay, Army’s Sydney Smith, Cassie Mundekis, Samantha Coletti, and Haley Watson would not be denied as they set an indoor star meet record and clinched the Star for the Black Knights.

The total in the star series is now even at 7 a piece between Army and Navy. Let’s take a look and see where we stand in the Ike Award competition overall:

Air Force: 5-6-3

Army: 13-12-3

Navy: 12-13

It continues to be neck and neck and will no doubt come down to the end of the spring sport season to determine a winner.