ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The Navy lightweight crew program was recently honored for its academic prowess as the Mids garnered the 2021 Academic Dean and Provost of the United States Naval Academy Team Sports Award. Presented by Andrew T. Phillips, the Academic Dean and Provost for the Naval Academy, the Mids, under the direction of head coach Shawn Bagnall and assistant coach James Sands, posted a cumulative team GPA of 3.54 for their 58-person roster. This is the second consecutive year that the Navy lights have earned this prestigious honor.
 
Successful on the water this season, the Mids turned in a historic program result at this year's IRA National Championship with a clean sweep of the three classifications (V8, 2V8 and 4-) to finish 2021 as the top lightweight program in the nation. The Navy lights also were standouts in the classroom on their way to claiming this academy-wide honor. May graduate John Feng (McLean, Va.) headlined the squad's nine-person senior class
as the computer science major completed his academic career with a 3.94 GPA and the rank of 80th in the Class of 2021's Academic Order of Merit. The lights' Class of 2022 is also buoyed by outstanding academic performers as rising seniors Matt Fox (Aurora, Colo.), Will Jarrett (Gales Ferry, Conn.) and Kyle Jung (Upper Marlboro, Md.) have been selected as three of just 13 USNA Trident Scholars for the upcoming 2021-22 school year. Additionally, Jarrett, an honors robotics & control engineering major, will be studying as a Bowman Scholar during his senior year at Navy. Rising sophomore Robby Klanac (Strongsville, Ohio) joins Jarrett atop their respective classes in terms of the academy's Overall Order of Merit (Jarrett '22 and Klanac '24).
 
This two-year run as the recipient of the Dean's Sports Award is a culmination of the team's hard work as the Mids ranked in the top-three of NAAA varsity sports in terms of GPA from 2015 through 2019 before ascending to the top spot in 2020 and now in 2021.