ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- The Naval Academy Athletic Association announced its major athletic award winners this afternoon with Lewis Gray of the rugby team winning the NAAA Sword for Men, Molly Mangan from the track & field team winning the Vice Admiral Lawrence Sword for Women and John Marshall from the football team winning the Thompson Trophy Cup.  Brett Brady from the men's cross country / track & field teams and Olivia Foster of the women's soccer team won the Coaches' Calvert Awards.
 
The NAAA Sword for Men is presented to that man of the graduating class who is considered by the Association's Athletic Council to have personally excelled in men's athletics during his years of varsity competition.

Gray won the award in rugby's first year of varsity competition, as he helped lead Navy to an 18-0 record and the D1A National Championship with a 28-22 win over No. 5 Cal.
 
Gray was selected as the winner of the 2023 Rudy Scholz Award, which is known as the Heisman Trophy of rugby and is presented by the Washington Athletic Club to the top men's college rugby player in the country. He is the second Navy player to win the award, joining Connor McNerney, who won the award in 2018.
 
Gray finished the year as Navy's leading scorer with 166 points. He led the Mids with 17 tries and tied for the team lead in penalty kicks made with seven.  Additionally, his 30 made conversion kicks ranked second on the team.
 
Gray's defense shined in the National Championship Game against Cal where he forced a vital turnover after Cal had driven inside Navy's five-meter line in the final minutes of the match.
 
The Vice Admiral Lawrence Sword for Women is presented to that woman of the graduating class who is considered by the Association's Athletic Council to have personally excelled in women's athletics during her years of varsity competition.
 
Mangan is the 12^th track & field athlete to win the award in the 44 years that it has been presented. Katie Halbert from the track & field team won the award last year.
 
Mangan, who is still competing for Navy at the NCAA Regionals, earned seven varsity letters (lost one season to COVID), led Navy to a 7-0 record against Army (one Army-Navy meet was cancelled due to COVID), led Navy to three indoor and three outdoor Patriot League championships (one indoor and one outdoor championship were canceled due to COVID) and set six school records in her illustrious career.
Mangan, who was the indoor team captain, was the Patriot League Women's Track Athlete of the Meet at the 2021 Patriot League Outdoor Championship as she won the 100 meters, 200 meters and was part of two winning relay teams (4x100 meters and 4x400 meters). Additionally, she was the 2021 ECAC 200-meter champion.
 
All told, Mangan won nine Patriot League championships (combined individually and relays).
 
Mangan graduates as the school record holder in the indoor 200 meters, indoor 4x400 meter relay, 200 meters outdoor, 400 meters outdoor, 4x100 meters outdoor and 4x400 meters outdoor. She owns 47 top-10 school marks across nine different events.
 
The Thompson Trophy Cup is presented to that midshipman, male or female, who has done the most during the year to promote athletics at the Naval Academy.
 
Marshall is the 86^th football player to win the award in the 131 years it has been given out. Diego Fagot won the award last year.
 
Marshall, who was one of Navy's three team captains, had one of the best senior seasons in program history, recording a school-record 11.5 sacks and 19.5 tackles for a loss, which are the third most in school history.  His four sacks against UCF also broke a school record for most sacks in a game.  He finished third in the nation in both sacks and tackles for a loss per game. 
 
Marshall led Navy in tackles (96), tackles for a loss, sacks, pass breakups (7) and quarterback hurries (6) and tied for the team lead in forced fumbles (2).
 
He was the only player in the Football Bowl Subdivision to lead his team in sacks and pass breakups.
 
Marshall was also the only player, offensive or defensive, to be a unanimous selection to the All-American Athletic Conference Team and he was named the ECAC Defensive Player of the Year.
 
The Coaches' Calvert Award is presented to a graduating letterwinner (one male, one female) who made a significant contribution to the success of varsity athletics while a midshipman.  The recipients must exemplify outstanding qualities of athletic leadership, athletic loyalty and acceptable academic efforts.
 
Brady is the fourth cross country / track & field dual sport athlete to win the men's Calvert Award in its 50 years of existence and the first since Julian Perez in 2021.
 
Brady, who is also competing at the NCAA Regionals this week, went 11-0 against Army between cross country, indoor track & field and outdoor track & field (one meet was canceled due to COVID) and won eight Patriot League Championships (two meets were canceled due to COVID).
 
The 2022 men's cross country team captain, was a two-time First Team All-Patriot League performer in cross country, was the 2021 and 2022 Patriot League Scholar-Athlete of the Year in cross country and was a 2022 CoSIDA Third-Team Academic All-American.
 
Brady was also the 2022 Patriot League Champion in the 3000-meter steeplechase and finished second in the same event in 2023.
 
Foster is the sixth soccer player to win the Calvert in the 44 years the award has been in existence and the second-straight women's soccer player to win the award.  Megan LaMendola won the award last year.
 
The 2022 team captain earned three varsity letters and helped lead Navy to a 39-21-12 record over her four years. Navy won the Patriot League regular season championship in 2019 and won the Patriot League Tournament and advanced to the NCAA Tournament in 2019 and 2020. 
 
Foster scored three goals in her career, but statistics do not do Foster's story justice.
 
As an 11-year-old summer camper, Foster made up her mind to come to Navy and play soccer. While in high school, the Navy coaches told her they would not be recruiting her and her only way on to the team was as a potential walk-on.  Foster earned an appointment to the Naval Academy on her own and showed up at the women's soccer offices ready for a tryout.
 
She made the team as a freshman, as the last person on the roster.  After two seasons of playing a total of 50 minutes, Foster was told once again her spot on the team was tenuous at best. 
 
She survived cuts as a junior by the skin of her teeth. She had to undergo a position change in order to fill a need to make the team and she did it.  She was told she may not get many reps in practice and was told she may not travel. She said no problem to both.
 
Because of who Foster is and the daily examples she set, she was elected team captain after her junior year.  To cap it off, as a senior, she played in 12 games and led Navy in game-winning goals.  Foster always got the most out of her talents and in the criteria of loyalty and dedication, Foster epitomized those qualities.