Navy Midshipmen


The Navy Midshipmen are the athletic teams that represent the United States Naval Academy. The academy sponsors 33 varsity sports teams and 12 club sport teams. Both men's and women's teams are called Navy Midshipmen or "Mids". They participate in the NCAA's Division I, as a non-football member of the Patriot League, a football-only member of the American Athletic Conference in the Football Bowl Subdivision, and a member of the Collegiate Sprint Football League, Eastern Association of Rowing Colleges, Eastern Association of Women's Rowing Colleges, Eastern Intercollegiate Gymnastics League, Mid-Atlantic Squash Conference and Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association. Navy is also one of approximately 300 members of the Eastern College Athletic Conference.
The most important sporting event at the academy is the annual Army–Navy Game. The 2014 season marked Navy's 13th consecutive victory over Army. The three major service academies compete for the Commander-in-Chief's Trophy, which is awarded to the academy that defeats the others in football that year.
Participation in athletics is, in general, mandatory at the Naval Academy and most Midshipmen not on an intercollegiate team must participate actively in intramural or club sports. There are exceptions for non-athletic Brigade Support Activities such as YP Squadron or the Drum and Bugle Corps.
Varsity-letter winners wear a specially-issued blue cardigan with a large gold "N" patch affixed. If they belong to a team that beats Army in any sport designated "Star" competition, they are also awarded a gold star to affix near the "N" for each such victory.

Teams

The United States Naval Academy sponsors varsity teams in seventeen men's, ten women's, and three coed NCAA-sanctioned sports:

Baseball

Basketball

The men's basketball team has appeared in the NCAA tournament 11 times and made regional finals in 1954 and 1986.
The team has won its conference tournament six times: once in the Eastern College Athletic Conference , twice in the Colonial Athletic Association , and three times in its current conference, the Patriot League.
Navy was retroactively recognized as the pre-NCAA Tournament national champion for the 1912–13 and 1918–19 seasons by the Premo-Porretta Power Poll and for the 1912–13 season by the Helms Athletic Foundation.

Crew

The heavyweight crew won Olympic gold medals in men's eights in 1920 and 1952, and from 1907 to 1995 at Intercollegiate Rowing Association regatta the team earned 30 championships, was runner-up 29 times, and had 31 third-place finishes.
The lightweight crew won the 2004 National Championship and has finished second three times, the most recent being 2010. The lightweights are accredited with two Jope Cup Championships as well, finishing the Eastern Sprints with the highest number of points in 2006 and 2007.

Fencing (defunct)

As of 2002, the men's fencing team had won three NCAA Division I championships and was runner-up four times.
;NCAA Fencing Team Championship - Division I
; NCAA Men's Lacrosse Championship
;NCAA Men's Soccer Championship - Division I
;Intercollegiate Soccer Football Association
The men's squash team was the national nine-man team champion in 1957, 1959, and 1967.

Swimming and diving

2010 – seventh straight Patriot League title and second consecutive Eastern College Athletic Conference championship. Will Norton was named ECAC Co-Swimmer of the Year. Head coach Bill Roberts was named ECAC Coach of the Year.
2011 – Navy Men moved into the top 25 in NCAA Division I polling. The 2010-11 team handed Princeton its first ever loss in Denunzio Pool at Princeton, 167-133. The team also won its eighth straight Patriot League title and third straight ECAC title.

Track and field

;NCAA Men's Outdoor Track and Field Championship
The Navy Midshipmen wrestling team is coached by Cary Kolat. The wrestling team at the United States Naval Academy have competed beginning since 1920 and have been competing for the NCAA Championships starting in the 1931 season. The team has placed as high as 5th at the NCAA Championships back in 1942 and 1968, and most recently 18th both in 2007 & 2008. With 44 wrestlers placing 61 times as All-Americans at the NCAA Division I Championships and 6 overall four-time All-Americans throughout its time. The Navy Midshipman compete on campus at the Wesley A. Brown Field House for home dual meets and tournaments competing in the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association, as the Patriot League does not sponsor wrestling.

Other sports

Women's varsity sports

Basketball

The head coach of the Navy team is Tim Taylor. His predecessor Stefanie Pemper is the winningest coach in program history with a 214–164 record from 2008 to 2020.

Crew

Cross country

Lacrosse

The women's lacrosse team was U.S. Lacrosse WDIA national runner-up in 2001 and 2007.
;US Lacrosse Women's Division Intercollegiate Associates Championship

Swimming and diving

Tennis

Track and field

Volleyball

Co-ed varsity sports

Alpine skiing (''defunct'')

The alpine ski team competes in the United States Collegiate Ski and Snowboard Association, and has made regular appearances in this decade at the USCSA National Championships.

Pistol

The Naval Academy won 13 NRA National Collegiate Open Pistol Championship, and 6 women's overall titles.

Rifle

In intercollegiate shooting, the Naval Academy has won nine National Rifle Association rifle team trophies, seven air pistol team championships, and five standard pistol team titles.
;NCAA Rifle Championship
The ICSA College Sailing Hall of Fame is located in the Robert Crown Sailing Center. Also on display in the Hall are the Naval Academy's sailing trophies and awards.

Sailing (offshore)

Men's club sports

Boxing

Pre-NCAA Boxing Championship
National Collegiate Boxing Association
Navy Hockey plays at the McMullen Hockey Arena. Navy Hockey consists of three teams: an ACHA Division I team that plays in the Eastern Collegiate Hockey Association, a Division II team in the ACCHL, and a women's Division II team that plays in College Hockey East.   Navy Hockey is supported through donations to the Friends of Navy Hockey in conjunction with the United States Naval Academy Foundation.
Navy Hockey began as an informal student group in the early 1960's and was officially formed in 1971.  Vice Admiral Walter "Ted" Carter, known as Slapshot, played on the team for four years from 1977-1981. He was a major supporter of hockey in Annapolis during his tenure as the USNA Superintendent from 2014 to 2019.  Many midshipman from the mid 1970s- 2006 have fond memories of watching hockey games in Dahlgren Hall, a historic building on the Naval Academy Campus.  Upon completion of the Brigade Sports Complex in 2007, the hockey team moved into the McMullen Hockey Arena which has seating capacity to hold 695 people. The McMullen Arena was funded by and named after USNA alum John McMullen, who at the time owned the NHL's New Jersey Devils. Throughout the season the arena hosts dozens of hockey games ending the season with the Crab Pot Tournament, a fixture since 1978.
Although not currently a member of NCAA Division I ice hockey, Navy co-hosted the 2009 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament with The Greater Washington Sports Alliance at the Verizon Center located in nearby Washington, D.C.. Navy is the lone DoD military academy that does not field a Division I men's hockey team, although rumors have long abounded that the program is a candidate to be elevated to full varsity status.

Rugby

Founded in 1963, Navy plays its regular season in the Atlantic Coast Rugby League and its post-season in the Varsity Cup Championship. With 88 registered players as of 2009, Navy was ranked as the largest college rugby program in the United States.
Navy's rugby program is one of the most successful college rugby programs in the country. Navy's best season was 1994, when Navy reached the national finals before losing to Cal 27-13.
Since the inception of the national collegiate championship in 1980, Navy men's rugby reached the national semifinals twice in the 1980s and reached the semifinals 7 times during the 12-year span from 1996-2007. More recently, in the 2010-11 season Navy reached the national quarterfinals and finished the season ranked 9th in the country. Navy finished the 2012-13 season first in the Atlantic Coast Rugby League, and ranked 11th in the country.
Navy has been successful in rugby sevens. Navy plays each year in the Collegiate Rugby Championship, reaching the quarterfinals in 2010 and again in 2012. Navy also played in the 2012 USA Rugby Sevens Collegiate National Championships, advancing to the quarterfinals and finishing with a 4-2 record, including a win over rival Air Force.

Women's club sports

Boxing

The women's boxing team began competing as part of the National Collegiate Boxing Association in 2015. In 2019, the women's team won the NCBA championship for the first time.

Ice hockey

Navy Women's Ice Hockey officially became a club team as of Fall 2015.

Rugby

Softball

Co-ed club sports

Intramural sports

There is an unofficial croquet team. Legend has it that in the early 1980s, a Mid and a Johnnie, were in a bar and the Mid challenged the Johnnie by stating that Midshipmen could beat St. John's at any sport. The St. John's student selected croquet. Since then, every April on the St. John’s lawn, thousands attend the annual croquet match between St. John's and the 28th Company of the Brigade of Midshipmen. As of 2017, the Midshipmen had a record of 7 wins and 28 losses to the St John's team.

Championships

NCAA team championships

Navy has won 5 NCAA team national championships.
See also:
The following 68 national team titles were not bestowed by the NCAA :
° In 1925 Navy gymnasts defeated Chicago, 33 - 12, in a dual meet between winners of the Intercollegiate and Western Conference championship meets. "n the twenty year period from 1910 to ... Navy has participated in 91 tournaments and dual meets and won 87 of them, including all seven of the intercollegiate championship events entered." Navy was so strong that the Intercollegiate Association asked Navy not to participate in the 1926 championship meet. Navy was not a participant in the 1926, 1927 and 1928 championship meets.
see also:
The Athletic Hall of Fame is housed in Lejeune Hall. Among the exhibits are two Heisman Trophies — won by Joe Bellino in 1960 and Roger Staubach in 1963 — and the Eastman Award won by basketball-star David Robinson in 1987.

Awards

Facilities

Since the 2014–15 season, the Navy Midshipmen wear Under Armour uniforms. The team previously used Nike apparel.