Winter Sports Preview
By Gary Lambrecht
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
The Mids said goodbye to their top three scorers—the graduated backcourt of Taylor Dunham and Hannah Fenske and departure of leading rebounder and shot blocker Kaila Clark, who decided to transfer to Richmond following her second year at Navy.
Judging by 11th-year head coach Stefanie Pemper’s track record when the Mids suffer such sizeable personnel losses, Navy will be just fine. A year after winning a program-record 25 games, the Mids return nine letter winners, including three starters, led by 5-7 guard and defensive stalwart Bianca Roach ’19 and 6-0 forward Laurel Jaunich ’20.
Roach started all 33 games and averaged 6.3 points and added 46 steals. Jaunich played in every game and started 20. She averaged 5.2 points on 48 percent shooting.
Pemper, who enters the 2018-19 campaign as Navy’s all-time leader in victories (197) and has taken the Mids to three NCAA tournaments and three NITs, also is excited about what she has seen in the team’s youth, which dominates the Navy roster.
The five-player, incoming class showed much promise in October, starting with 5-10 guard Darryl Langford ’22, an athletic wing player whose size typifies the roster transformation underway in Annapolis. Ten Navy players are listed at 5-9 or above. They include 5-9 guard Cailin Duffy ’22, whose preseason shooting was outstanding.
“I feel like we’ve had more blocked shots in practice in the first two weeks of practice than we had all of last year,” says Pemper, who indicated Roach was the lone returner with a sure hold on a starting job. “Darryl is probably the best athlete we’ve ever had, in terms of speed and ability to jump. Nice shot, hard worker, really nice upside. With our size, we should be able to pressure teams a lot [defensively].”
Pemper says the team’s best ball handlers are plebe guards Kolbi Green and 5-9 Jennifer Coleman. One of its best-looking post players is 6-0 forward Ciera Hertelendy ’22. Among the youngster class, 5-9 Sophie Gatzounas ’21—a solid contributor who shot 48.7 percent and averaged 6.2 ppg and 4.2 rpg—will be in the guard rotation.
Sierra Swanda ’21, whose plebe year was ruined by a broken hand and a concussion, could start in the backcourt.
MEN’S BASKETBALL
Ed DeChellis, Navy’s eighth-year head men’s basketball coach, took over a staggering program in 2011 and has turned the Midshipmen into a consistently competitive product in the Patriot League. The Mids are coming off a 20-12 season, making them the first 20-win team in Annapolis in nearly two decades. As he enters his 23rd season overall as a head coach, DeChellis is energized by the youth and varsity inexperience that marks a squad that lost three starters to graduation, led by Patriot League star guard Shawn Anderson. In addition, the Mids lost three more letter winners to graduation or attrition.
“I don’t like to use ‘rebuilding’ to describe it. I’d prefer to say we’re retooling,” says DeChellis, who has guided Navy to 55 combined wins over the past three seasons. “It’s fun to come to practice every day and teach, teach, teach. We’re a younger team. Who is going to show up and step up on a consistent basis, once the lights go on? We are [in part] an open slate.”
Navy has a core of well-known parts in point guard Hassan Abdullah ’19, forward George Kiernan ’19 and center Evan Wieck ‘20. Abdullah ’19, a third-year starter, ranked sixth in the Patriot League last year in assists (3.4 per game), has led the team in steals for two straight seasons and ranked third on the team with 9.9 points per game while leading the Mids in three-pointers made. Navy needs Abdullah to be a more consistent, double-digit scorer.
“Hassan also has to be more vocal, more of a leader this year,” says DeChellis, who might need Abdullah for 35 or more minutes on any night, while backup point guard Josiah Strong ’22 matures into dependable backups.
At 6-feet-7, Kiernan has been a valuable role player for two years, providing consistent scoring off the bench, especially as a three-point threat. He will step into the starting lineup, expand his 20-minute presence and likely his scoring (9.8) and rebounding (4.7). DeChellis says Kiernan has recovered fully after having shoulder surgery following last season.
Wieck, 6-8, has been a physical presence since he arrived. A year after averaging 5.5 points and 3.2 rebounds in 32 starts, Wieck needs to foul less and increase his production in both areas. He made 64 percent of his limited, field-goal attempts a year ago.
As for who will replace graduated shooting guard Bryce Dulin, look for Cam Davis ’21 and Ryan Pearson ’19 to be the top two options. Davis (5.2 ppg) was effective as an all-around shooter last year, while averaging 17 minutes per game. The rest of the Navy bench figures to emerge through November and December. DeChellis says he envisions using a rotation of 11 or 12 players initially. He likes what forward Luke Loehr ’21 and center Richard Njoku ’22 showed during the preseason.
“I think we’ll be able to score the ball this year,” DeChellis says. “But the season will come down to how we’ll defend, rebound and take care of the ball.”
A year ago, the Mids led the conference in scoring defense, offensive rebounds per game and rebounding margin. Navy, which allowed 66.4 points per game, also ranked in the top 40 in Division I in scoring defense for the third straight year.
GYMNASTICS
The resurgence of the Navy program under coach Kip Simons continued in 2018, when it wound up 11th in the team standings at the NCAA Championship and saw four individual gymnasts advance to the Championship Finals. Earlier last season, Navy put up an impressive challenge at eventual, NCAA champion Oklahoma by scoring 401.3 points in a head-to-head loss to the Sooners.
“The buy-in here has been great. I was proud of our never-quit ways—very pleased with the growth of the program,” says Simons, whose team beat Army, won the ECAC conference and finished the highest-ranked school among service academies at the NCAAs.
Three of the NCAAs participants (Lucas Beltran ’20, Frank Bradley ’20 and David Toussaint ’21) are back. Toussaint leads a highly talented youngster class. Toussaint is expected to contribute in as many as five events. Jake Carlson ’21 (pommel horse), Travis Keller ’21 (vault) will expand their event coverage.
Beltran, strong in the floor exercises and vault, should additionally help Navy on the rings and parallel bars this year. Bradley once again projects as a steady threat in the rings and vault competitions.
WRESTLING
A year after sending five wrestlers to the NCAA Championships then losing seven regular starters to graduation, Navy won’t be as seasoned under fourth-year head coach Joel Sharratt. But, with proven stars Nicholas Gil ’19 and Jared Prince ’20 leading the way, the Midshipmen aren’t going away, either.
Gil (141 pounds) is coming off of an outstanding, 32-10 season last year, which culminated with his second year as an NCAA qualifier. His career mark is 78-33.
Prince (149) also has gone to the NCAAs twice. A year after he won 27 matches—the most victories by a first-year wrestler at Navy since Luke Rebertus won 36 times in 2008-09—Prince went 20-6 last season.
“[Gil and Prince] bring their lunch pails every day. They always come to practice to challenge the best partners they can, whether that means going above or below some weight classes [to compete against],” Sharratt says.
“We lost [the equivalent of] 815 matches [from last season],” he adds. “That’s a lot of experience that walked away. America will be better off for it, but Navy wrestling has to retool.”
Sharratt sees, for starters, 133-pounder Cody Trybus ’21 taking a huge step this season, after a 15-14 finish a year ago. “Nobody had a better summer of training. Cody put in a ton of extra time,” he says.
In addition, Sharratt sees Quentin Hovis ’21 stepping up at 157, a weight class formerly dominated by Zack Davis ’18. Hovis went 16-6 last year.
Spencer Carey ’20 struggled through an injury-marred, 9-4 season last year at 174. This time around, he and A.J. Alford will work to fill the gap left by the graduation of Jadaen Bernstein ’18. He wrapped up his tremendous career by becoming just the seventh Navy wrestler to qualify for four NCAA tournaments.
SWIMMING
Whether swimming the freestyle, breast stroke or an individual medley event, Lauren Barber ‘19 has dominated the Patriot League since the day she first climbed into the pool at Navy.
There is no reason to think Barber can’t once again lead the Mids to their seventh consecutive league title under 15th-year head coach John Morrison. Barber, the league’s top swimmer after earning top rookie honors—she has won seven events at each of her three Patriot League meets—will pursue her third trip to the NCAAs.
“You can’t put a number on what [Barber] has brought to the program. She’s just been a force,” Morrison says. “It’s been great to have her here in a training environment, pushing the envelope on a day-to-day basis. She hates to lose more than she loves to win.”
Another strong supporting cast is expected in Annapolis, including Delaney Walz ’20 (100 fly, 200 fly) and team captain Ally Warnimont ’19, who has been a league force in the 100 backstroke and sprint freestyles. Freestyler Casey Lawson ’19 has been a consistent, high scorer at the conference meet.
Bill Roberts, Navy’s 16th-year head men’s swimming coach, doesn’t have a performer as dominant as Barber. But he continues to recruit and develop enough talent to keep the Mids’ Patriot League bottom line perfect. Navy has won all 14 times it has competed at the league championships.
“We’ve got a really good captain this year in [butterfly and IM competitor] Luke Shereston ’19, and he has a supporting cast of classmates who have been at the epicenter of a lot of good things we’ve done the past few years,” Roberts says.
Those swimmers include Brayden Lauffer ’19 (breast, IM), a two-time, first-team, all-conference performer; Vince Everman ’19 (free, back, IM), a two-time, all-league performer; and Zach Piedt ’19 (fly, free), an all-league first-team earner last year and second-teamer twice.
INDOOR TRACK AND FIELD
Second-year Director of Track and Field Jamie Cook settled in nicely by leading the Mids to their sixth straight Patriot League indoor title, while the women’s team placed third in the league for the second consecutive indoor season.
On the men’s side, Cook says the Mids look strong in the sprints, throws and hurdle events. Hurdler Kordell Williams ’19, one of six returning, All-Patriot League first team performers, bettered his career-best in the 60m hurdles by posting a time of 8.03 seconds.
Also back this winter are reigning first-teamers Sean Brennan ‘19 (shot put); Justin Hyytinen ’19 (800m); Demetrius Lanier ’19 (200m); Cedric Williams ’20 (triple jump); Aaron Watson ’19 (60m). In addition, Stefano Pineda ’19 (pole vault), Jake Shewbert ’20 (1,000m), Cedric Williams (long jump), John Barber ’21 (shot put) and Eric Hughey ’21 (500m) are returning All-Patriot second-team individual members.
Also, Shewbert and Hyytinen were part of the 4 X 800 relay team that brought home a title for Navy.
On the women’s side, the sprinters should once again have a serious say in how much the Mids will challenge for a conference title. Three members of the league champion 4 x 400 relay team—Amanda Agana ’19, Chelsey Edwards ’21 and Christina Quigley ’20—are back.
In addition, the indoor team posted 31 times or marks that ranked in Navy’s all-time top 10. Audrey Fernandez ’21 tied the Mids’ school record in the triple jump with a distance of 12.14m, while Edwards, Quigley, Brittany Burg ’18 and Agana combined for a time of 3:46.31 to break the Navy 4 x 400 relay record by 0.31 seconds.