Feb. 26, 2016 CENTER VALLEY, Pa. â€"â€" Ellen Bradford (Sr., Knoxville, Tenn.) garnered her third Patriot League Scholar-Athlete of the Year award to headline the list of five Navy swimmers and divers who received academic all-league honors for the sport on Friday.
Bradford and Biz Graeff (So., Canton, Ohio) were named to the academic all-league team for women's swimming and diving, while Jonathan Debaugh (Sr., Conroe, Texas), Frank Love (Sr., Atlanta, Ga.) and Ryan Bailey (Jr., Boardman, Ohio) were selected to the academic team for men's swimming and diving.
Initial nominees for both the Scholar-Athlete Award and the All-Academic Team must be at least sophomores in the classroom and carry a cumulative grade-point average of at least 3.20.
A CoSIDA Academic All-American in both 2014 (third team) and 2015 (first), Bradford has posted a cumulative grade-point average of 4.00. The honors systems engineering major is ranked 33rd in the class of 2016 on the Overall Order of Merit. She was recently accepted into graduate school at Stanford for electrical engineering.
In the pool, Bradford garnered the fourth First-Team All-Patriot League laurel of her career at last week's league meet. She placed second â€"â€" to Navy teammates â€"â€" in the 200 individual medley and 200 breaststroke events while finishing third in the 100 breast. Bradford advanced to the championship final in all 12 of the individual events she was entered into at the league meet in her career. She totaled two wins, five second-place showings and nine top-four placings at the championship over the last four seasons.
Bradford joins fellow women's swimmers Kelly Zahalka and Laura Gorinski as the only Mids in any sport to have garnered three Patriot League Scholar-Athlete of the Year accolades. Zahalka won her three laurels from 2007-09 and Gorinski attained her accolades from 2011-13.
Graeff was named to the academic all-league team in her first year of eligibility for it. The Chinese major has compiled a cumulative GPA of 3.58.
She also earned second-team all-league accolades in helping the Mids win their fifth league crown in a row. Graeff placed second in the 100 backstroke and seventh in the 50 free at the meet, while also swimming on Navy's winning 200 and 400 medley relay teams. Additionally, she ranks second in Navy history with her 100 backstroke time of 54.84.
Debaugh is making his third appearance on the academic all-league team. This year's team captain has produced a 3.40 GPA as an information technology major.
Debaugh also garnered First-Team All-Patriot League honors for the fourth time in his career this season as the Mids won the program's 13th consecutive team title. He won both butterfly events at last week's meet for the third time in a row, making him the only men's swimmer in league history to win both fly events as many as three times and to become the new league record holder with six total butterfly titles to his resume. He set a new Navy, Patriot League and league meet record of 47.01 in winning the 100 fly last week while also swimming on Navy's winning 200 and 400 medley relay foursomes.
Love was named to the academic all-league squad for the second year in a row. He has attained a 4.00 GPA in four semesters on his way to posting an overall GPA of 3.85 as an honors systems engineering major.
Love placed third in the one-meter diving event and fourth on the three-meter board last week to earn Second-Team All-Patriot League accolades this season.
Bailey, like Love, was voted onto the 10-member academic all-league team for the second-straight year. The operations research major has attained an overall GPA of 3.97 and posted a 4.00 GPA in all but one of his completed terms. He previously received CoSIDA Academic All-District honors in 2015.
Bailey earned second-team all-league accolades this season. It was the second year in a row in which he was received second-team all-league honors. Bailey placed second in the 100 fly and won the consolation final of both the 200 fly and 100 breaststroke events at this year's league championship. This season's effort came after placing second in the 100 fly and 12th in the 100 breaststroke in 2015.
Men's Academic All-League
Kilian Korth, American (Jr.); Clay Harmon, Army West Point (Jr.); Austin Kong, Army West Point (Sr.); Louis Behnen, Bucknell (Jr.); Chris Devlin, Bucknell (So.); Jack Robinson, Bucknell (Jr.); Greg Grewal, Lafayette (Sr.); Ryan Bailey, Navy (Jr.); Jonathan Debaugh, Navy (Sr.); Frank Love, Navy (Sr.)
Women's Academic All-League
Fiona Caulfield, American (So.); Caylee Watson, American (Jr.); Kelly Hamilton, Army West Point (Jr.); Stephanie Nasson, Boston U. (Sr.); Julianna Foss, Bucknell (So.); Rachel Perry, Bucknell (Jr.); Jaclyn Andrews, Lafayette (Sr.); Kaitlyn Ruffing, Lehigh (Jr.); Ellen Bradford, Navy (Sr.); Biz Graeff, Navy (So.)