This week’s Naval Academy Athletic Association Athlete-of-the-Week Award, presented by Northrop Grumman, is shared by five Mids. Garnering the accolade are Joshua Boamah (Jr., San Diego, Calif.), men’s indoor track and field; Daniel Deaver (Sr., Falls Church, Va.), men’s basketball; Marleigh Duncan (So., Wake Forest, N.C.), rifle; Caleb Hickey (Jr., Carthage, N.C.), gymnastics and Molly Mangan (Sr., Pittsburgh, Pa.), women’s indoor track and field.
Boamah and the Mids posted a 113-68 victory over Army in West Point.
He first trailed Army’s Cameron Smith in the weight throw heading into his final attempt, but recorded a distance of 20.11m (64′ 9.25″) to edge Smith by .36m. Boamah then recorded the fourth-best distance in Navy history in the shot put with a throw of 18.33m (60′ 1.75″), which was 2.34m farther than Army’s best effort. His shot effort ranks first in the Patriot League this season and his weight throw distance ranks second.
Deaver averaged 25.5 points and 12.5 rebounds a game during a week that saw the Mids win road games at Lafayette (53-34) and Holy Cross (86-68).
He became the first Mid in seven years to lead or share the team lead in points (16, led), rebounds (9, led), assists (3, shared), steals (3, led) and blocks (2, led) in Navy’s win over the Leopards. Deaver then set career highs of 35 points and 16 rebounds to record the first double-double of his career during the game against the Crusaders. He became the first Mid to have at least 35 points and 15 rebounds in a game since David Robinson had 45 points and 21 rebounds at James Madison on Jan. 10, 1987.
Duncan helped the rifle team to a 5,880-5,833 victory over Army.
She tied for the top spot in the match with teammate Parker Haydin (Joshua, Texas) with 1,182 total points, but earned the tiebreaker for top honors by shooting more center shots during the match. For her winning performance, Duncan was awarded the Josh Watson (’19) Award which goes to the Mid with the highest overall score in the Star Meet. This is the second year in a row in which she has won this award. Duncan shot a 588 in smallbore with a 594 in air rifle. Her aggregate score of 1,182 tied her season high and was six points shy of tying her career best. Duncan’s smallbore tally was one-point shy of her season-best performance and her air rifle score was two-points back of her season-high.
Hickey played a big role in Navy’s rally to defeat Army, 394.05-393.15.
He began the meet with a dominant 0.55-point margin of victory on the floor exercise courtesy of a 14.15 score before closing out the meet with a runner-up result on the high bar (13.15 points, 0.05 back) and a third-place effort on the parallel bars (13.45 points, 0.25 from first). Hickey was a leading member of Navy’s parallel bars and high bar lineups that overtook Army on the fifth rotation and held on over the sixth and final rotation for the narrow victory.
Mangan won three events during Navy’s 111.5-69.5 victory at Army.
Her first win of the day came in the 400m dash with a time of 56.17 seconds. She then claimed the victory in the 60m dash with a time of 7.59 seconds, the third-fastest 60m indoor time in Navy history. Navy’s team captain concluded her dominant outing by winning the 200m with a time of 24.73 seconds.