PRINCETON, N.J. - The Intercollegiate Rowing Coaches Association (IRCA) announced its 2026 postseason awards this past week and the Navy lightweight rowing program was highlighted as May graduates Paddy McNamara (Philadelphia, Pa.) and Nani Veluchamy (Naperville, Ill.) were recognized as Empacher-IRCA All-Americans. McNamara, the Mids' team captain this past season, was selected to the IRCA All-America First Team, while Veluchmany earned a spot on the organization's Second Team. Additionally, nine fellow Mids garnered Empacher-IRCA Scholar-Athlete honors.

Spearheaded by the efforts of McNamara from the seventh seat and Veluchamy from the fourth position, Navy's first varsity eight crew finished the 2026 season ranked ninth in the nation. Competing at the IRA National Championship Regatta on Lake Natoma in Northern California during the weekend of May 29-31, the Mids opened their competition with a fifth-place result in their qualifying heat before coming back in the finals and taking third in the petite final. In a stroke-for-stroke battle with Columbia, Navy began making its move on the Lions down the stretch and nearly drew even as it was just a 0.06-second margin between the two squads with the finish line in sight, 500 meters away. The Mids continued their comeback effort and won the final sprint to the line as they edged the Lions by 0.052 seconds, 6:02.742 to 6:02.794.

This is the sixth time that men's collegiate rowing as a sport has acknowledged its top performing athletes through the IRCA All-American program. In order to be named an All-American, rowers and coxswains must have been nominated by their institution and raced in the team's first varsity boat during the spring. The nominees were then selected to the first, second or honorable mention teams based on the strength of the first varsity's finish at the IRA's, as well as coach comments, individual achievements and erg scores. In total, 106 rowers and coxswains were named as either IRCA First Team All-Americans, IRCA Second Team All-Americans or IRCA Honorable Mention All-Americans across the ranks of heavyweight and lightweight crew in 2026. As a program, Navy had four All-Americans across the heavyweight and lightweight divisions.

Nine members of the heavyweight team were additionally recognized as 2026 IRCA Scholar-Athletes. Recent graduates Chris Binney (Atlanta, Ga. - Political Science), Thomas Kelly (Windermere, Fla. - Aerospace Engineering), Frank Keusenkothen (Reston, Va. - Operations Research) and Nani Veluchamy (Naperville, Ill. - Political Science) were all honored with Keusenkothen becoming a three-time award winner and Binney and Kelly collecting the second accolades of their respective careers. Rising seniors Max Gomez (Cohasset, Mass. - Mechanical Engineering) and Sam Rembold (Beaufort, S.C. - Aerospace Engineering) are now two-time honorees, while fellow Class of 2027 teammates Christian Ramos (Miami, Fla. - Foreign Area Studies/Asia) and Diego Zaidle (Tulsa, Okla. - Quantitative Economics) are noted for the first time in their careers. Rising junior Ben Lacuesta (Bethesda, Md. - Operations Research) rounds out the list of Midshipmen to have garnered this prestigious accolade for their success on the water and in the classroom.
 
For the 2026 season, all honorees needed to have completed their second season of eligibility, competed in their program's top-three boats during the regular season or raced at the IRA Championships in June and have a 3.50 cumulative GPA or higher through the end of the fall semester.  In total, there were 705 rowers and coxswains from 57 different teams who met the criteria set by the IRCA Awards & Polling Committee.