​The Army Black Knights logo is seen on the football field prior to a 2024 game in West Point, N.Y. (David Jensen/Getty Images)
An Army West Point track and field athlete is challenging the NCAA’s new eligibility rules in court and seeking a fifth year of competition this upcoming season.In a lawsuit filed this past Friday in the state Supreme Court in Orange County, Bret Wingard, a senior at the United States Military Academy, is seeking injunctive relief to prevent the NCAA from interfering with his ability to compete this season.Judge Craig S. Brown later that day granted a temporary restraining order preventing the NCAA from restricting Wingard from competing, pending a show cause hearing Friday at the Orange County Supreme Court-the same day that, according to the lawsuit, West Point is set to begin practice for the upcoming indoor track season.The lawsuit is the latest challenge to the NCAA’s so-called “5-in-5” eligibility model that was adopted this past June for Division I and II athletes, which moves from a model in which athletes have five years in which to use four seasons of eligibility for competition to one which gives athletes five years to complete those five seasons.Members of the high school graduating class of 2022, like Wingard, were not granted eligibility under the new policy if they’d completed four seasons of competition by the end of the 2025-26 academic year.Wingard is represented by attorneys Dean DiPilato, Steven Eychner and Daniel Green of the Syracuse-based law firm Newman & Lickstein, LLP.Neither Wingard’s attorneys nor the NCAA responded to a request for comment from the Times Union.Wingard primarily competed in the long jump and triple jump at West Point and also competed in sprint events during the winter indoor season. He is the reigning Patriot League indoor champion in the triple jump, has twice finished as a runner-up at conference championship meets, has earned first-team All-Patriot League honors and is the owner of the fourth-best indoor triple jump mark in program history.According to Wingard’s lawsuit, the Pennsylvania native aspired to attend West Point following his graduation from Keystone Junior-Senior High School, but wasn’t initially admitted. He then enrolled at the University of Mount Union in Ohio for the 2022-23 academic year and competed for the school’s Division III track and field program.After his freshman year at Mount Union, Wingard was admitted to West Point for the 2023-24 academic year. Unlike most colleges, students who enroll at West Point after studying at prior academic institutions do not transfer over previous college credit and instead begin as first-year cadets.Wingard is slated to graduate from West Point at the conclusion of the 2026-27 academic year, after which he will be commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Army with a five-year service obligation.According to the lawsuit, “West Point wishes to have Wingard compete as a member of its track and field program duri