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Around the Yard: Weekly Roundup of All Things Service Academy Athletics

Preseason Rankings and Weekly Honors are on tap in our weekly look at everything going on in the world of service academy athletics

NCAA Lacrosse: Women’s Championships Winslow Townson-USA TODAY Sports

Navy:

Navy Wrestling Split Matches in a Weekend Double Header at Alumni Hall

Navy Wrestling (4-2, 2-1 EIWA) faced off against both Lehigh and Duke at home and split the decision. The Midshipmen fell 28-6 to Lehigh (5-7, 4-1 EIWA) and defeated Duke (2-2) by a score of 22-16. Interestingly enough Navy never led the match against Lehigh and never trailed against Duke.

Coach Joel Sharatt heaped praises on some of the Mids top performers at the meet: Jacob Allen, Tanner Skidgel, Thomas Ott.

Next up for the Midshipmen is the All-Academy Wrestling Championship this Saturday in Northfield, VT at Norwich. The annual meet includes all five federal service academies: Army, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, and Merchant Marine; as well as other military colleges The Citadel, Norwich, and Virginia Military Institute.

John Carter Jr. Receives Rookie of the Week Honors…Again

Midshipman 4/c John Carter Jr. was recognized as the Patriot League Rookie of the Week for the third time this season. The honors come after a solid week for Carter Jr. who put up 18 points against Lafayette (his career high) and 8 rebounds in a loss against Army. He leads all Patriot League freshmen with 7.3 points and 5.0 rebounds per game.

Women’s Lacrosse Ranked #2 in Preseason Patriot League Rankings

The rankings were determined by Patriot League coaches and sports information directors , who cast 8 of the possible 20 first place votes for the Mids; Loyola took the remaining 12 to fill out the top spot in the league.

Three Mids were named to the preseason All-League Team; Attacker Kelly Larkin, Midfielder Andie O’Sullivan, and Defender Marie Valenti. Loyola is the only team with more players named preseason All-League, with five.

The Mids first game of the season is against Virginia on 9 February in Charlottesville.

Army:

Women’s Swimming and Diving Receives Academic Recognition

Army Women’s swimming and diving was recognized by the College Swimming and Diving Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) Scholar All-America list this week.

The team needed to maintain a GPA of 3.0 throughout the season while maintaining a roster of at least 12 athletes. The Army women held down a team GPA of 3.2, which was anchored by Marie Docken with an impressive 4.217.

Men’s Wrestling Makes Top-25 in WIN Magazine

Army sits tied at 24th nationally with Northern Iowa. The Black Knights are 5-2 on the season, 5-0 in EIWA matches and on their best start in more than a decade.

Army has two individual wrestlers who made the top 25 in their weight class Senior Rocco Caywood (197 lbs.) and junior Ben Harvey (174 lbs.) Caywood is up to fourth at 197 and Harvey remains 18th.

Johnny Surdick Named Patriot League Preseason Defensive POY

The senior defenseman and team captain was named as the Patriot League preseason defensive player of the year. Surdick was also named a First Team preseason Inside Lacrosse All-American in the media poll. He was an IL Media All-American in 2018.

The Black Knights were voted as the #5 team in the preseason Patriot League poll. Loyola and Pat Spencer took the top spot.

Air Force:

Men’s Basketball Defeats Boise State

The Falcons overcame a 13-point deficit to defeat the Bronco of Boise State in Colorado Springs earlier this week.

The Falcons were down 30-17 with four minutes left to go in the first half, when Lavelle Scottie led a 16-3 run to enter halftime at 33 a piece. The second half went back and forth early on, but Air Force took the lead later in the half and never looked back.

The victory marked three in a row at home for the Falcons who are now 8-11 on the season and 3-4 in Mountain West Play. Men’s basketball will be back in action this Saturday on the road at San Jose State.

Former Falcon Football Player Recognized in NCAA ‘After the Game’ Special

The NCAA’s ‘After the Game’ recognized former Air Force Football Player Dr. Chris Howard. Dr. Howard is now the President of Robert Morris College, and still continues his distinguished career of service in the Air Force Reserve as a Lieutenant Colonel. Dr Howard was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant and flew UH-1 Hueys before transitioning to the intelligence community. He deployed to both Bosnia and Afghanistan where he received many personal awards including the Bronze Star.

Howard was a star running back for the falcons in the late 80’s, and was awarded the Draddy Trophy in 1990 by the National Football Foundation.

Dr Howard, who was also recognized as an Academic All-American, earned a Rhodes scholarship and attended Oxford following graduation from Air Force. He would later go on to attend Harvard Business School once he concluded his active duty service pay back to the Air Force.