ANNAPOLIS, Md. - Coming off a 3-0 weekend in competitions versus Army, the trio of
Ellie Abraham (So., Brookings, S.D.),
Brett Brady (Jr., Phoenix, Ariz.) and
Alexa Riddle (Fr., Tomball, Texas) share the honor of NAAA Athlete of the Week presented by Northrop Grumman. Abraham and Brady were recognized for their success against the Black Knights in cross country races on Friday, while Riddle played a pivotal role in women's soccer victory on Saturday night.
Abraham led Navy's lineup in the Mids' victory over Army at Bowdoin Park in New York as she was the first Midshipmen through each of the 1.6k and 3.1k splits with times of 5:41.5 and 11:04.9, respectively before racing to the finish line with a 19:34.9 result. Abraham's second-place effort on the 5.6k course began a run of five straight Mids finishing consecutively as Navy scored second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth place results to compile 20 team points and defeat Army, 20-35.
Brady highlighted Navy's sterling performance in claiming the 2021 Star Meet victory over Army on Friday. The junior led wire-to-wire as he broke out to a six-second lead through the first checkpoint at 1.6k before checking in 2.2 seconds ahead at the 3.1k marker. Down the stretch in the second half of the race, he and fellow Midshipmen
Garrison Clark sprinted away from the field as Brady clocked in with a 20:07.8 final time, 2.2 seconds ahead of Clark and over 14 seconds ahead of his nearest Army competitor.
Riddle continues to add to her list of accolades this week as on Monday the freshman forward was selected as the Patriot League's Offensive Player and Rookie of the Week. During last week's action she helped the Mids go 2-0 with victories over American and Army. Playing at American on Wednesday, Riddle notched both of Navy's goals in a 2-0 shutout win before pushing the Mids out to an early 1-0 lead against the Black Knights in the 15th minute on Saturday in Annapolis. For the week, she finished with three goals on six shots over 110 minutes of action. This is the second straight week that Riddle has earned an honor from the league as she was named the Rookie of the Week the previous Monday, October 11.
As an athletic department Navy holds a 6-1 advantage over Army through the 2021-22 Star Series presented by USAA. The rivalry will take a brief break before getting back into gear in early December with the men's and women's swimming and diving competitions on Dec. 9 and football on Dec. 11.
