GREENWOOD, Ind. – Three Navy student-athletes were named Academic All-American, the College Sports Communicators (CSC) announced on Wednesday. Matthew Petros and Benjamin Thurlow Lam of the men's gymnastics team were named to the first team, while Zach Hayashi from the Navy's men's lacrosse program was selected to the second team in the at-large category.

The at-large sports category for male student-athletes includes fencing, golf, gymnastics, ice hockey, lacrosse, rifle, skiing, volleyball, water polo and wrestling.

Matthew Petros | Men's Gymnastics | Senior
One of the most heralded performers for Navy Men's Gymnastics in the gym and in the classroom in recent history, Petros concluded his athletic career this past April at the NCAA Championships and his undergraduate career at the Naval Academy with his commissioning in late May. A computer engineering major, Petros completed his studies at the academy with a flawless 4.0 grade-point average and ranked first for the Class of 2026 in the Academic Order of Merit. Nationally, Petros' academic success earned him CSC All-District honors all three years he was eligible and ECAC All-Academic and CGA All-America Scholar-Athlete accolades following all four of his respective campaigns. He was commissioned as an ensign in the United States Navy and will serve in the Nuclear Surface Warfare community.

In the gym, Petros was a four-time ECAC event champion as he finished atop the podium at the 2024 year-end league contest for his effort on the parallel bars before taking home two titles, the pommel horse and parallel bars, as a junior and rounding out his time as the 2026 ECAC High Bar Champion. Overall, he earned eight All-ECAC honors for placing top-six during his four years suiting up for the Mids. Honored as the 2026 USAG Senior Gymnast of the Year, Petros turned in standout performances throughout his time in the gym as he qualified for the NCAA Championship Event Finals in each of his final three seasons, first on the parallel bars and high bar in 2024 before earning spots among the nation's best on the high bar in 2025 and parallel bars in 2026.

Though noted for his postseason success, Petros' versatility shown through during his senior campaign as he was honored on a fourth apparatus, the vault, as a 2026 College Gymnastics Association Regular Season All-American. At the conclusion of the regular season, the Broadview Heights, Ohio native had turned in four-score average of 14.15 on the vault that was just 0.15 points shy of tops in the nation. Petros posted a season-high 14.4 score on the vault at the USAG Collegiate Championship on March 20.

Benjamin Thurlow Lam | Men's Gymnastics | Junior
A third-year member of the Navy Men's Gymnastics program, Thurlow Lam took a huge step into the national spotlight this season for his work in- and out of the gym. An aerospace enginnering major with a 3.95 grade-point average in his studies, Thurlow Lam stands in the top-60 for the Naval Academy's Class of 2027 in the rankings for Academic Order of Merit (50th) and Overall Order of Merit (58th). He has been noted as a CGA All-America Scholar-Athlete in each of the first three seasons that he's been eligible.

As a specialist on the floor exercise, Thurlow Lam excelled throughout his junior campaign as he earned 2026 CGA Regular Season All-America status courtesy of the nation's second-best four-score average of 14.033. Twice posting scores of 14.1 on the floor, the San Francisco, California native was edged in the final standings by Michigan's Charlie Larson, who registered a 14.217 four-score average. In the postseason, Thurlow Lam came in fifth at the ECAC Championship before placing eighth as part of the Mids' effort at the NCAA Championship Qualifying Meet. His 13.533 score advanced him to his first career NCAA Championship Event Final.

As a program, Petros and Thurlow Lam are the seventh and eighth gymnasts to attain CSC/CoSIDA Academic All-American honors and just the third and fourth-ever to be chosen to the first team. 2026 marks the first time that multiple gymnasts from Navy earned CSC/CoSIDA Academic All-American accolades in the same season.

Zach Hayashi | Men's Lacrosse | Junior
A first-time CSC Academic All-American, Hayashi owns a 3.91 grade-point average in cyber operations, ranks 15th in his class (1,078 students) in overall order of merit which includes academic (86th) and military (4th) performance. He has been named to both the Academy's Superintendent's and Commandant's Lists five times. Hayashi was named the 2026 Patriot League Men's Lacrosse Scholar-Athlete of the Year, Navy's first since Colin Finnegan earned the award in 2007. 
 
One of the winningest faceoff specialists in program history, he has won 384 of the 686 draws (56.0) he's taken in three years. While he is one of just four players in Navy history to win at least 300 faceoffs, his 384 victories trail only record holder Brady Dove who amassed 637 faceoff wins from 2014-17. Hayashi was named the 2024 Patriot League and ECAC Rookie of the Year after becoming the only player in school history to win over 200 faceoffs in a season, posting 214 and breaking the previous school record by 29.
 
This past spring, Hayashi and Colin Shadowens combined to win 216 of 391 (55.2) draws for the Mids. Navy, along with Penn State, were the only two schools in the country to have two players with 100-plus wins this season. Meanwhile, it was the first time in Navy history it has churned out two 100-win draw specialists in the same season.
 
Hayashi has also etched his name among Navy's best in ground balls, sitting among the top five. Grabbing 194 ground balls over his career, he needs just six more to become only the fifth player in school history to reach 200. He needs 29 more to take sole possession of second place, while he trails Dove, the Mids' record holder, by 154.
 
Hayashi is just the fifth different Navy men's lacrosse player to earn Academic All-America honors, joining Tom Calabrese (third team / 1983-84), Clipper Lennon (second team / 2004-05), Joe Lennon (third team / 2009-10) and Christian Daniel (third team / 2019-20; second team / 2020-21).

In June, 12 Navy student-athletes – Isabella Baldwin (rifle), Paige Burke (women's rowing), Vivian Cressman (women's golf), Maggie DeFabio (women's lacrosse), Orion Erwin (men's water polo), Zyan Hall (wrestling), Hayashi (men's lacrosse), Laura Fern Jones (women's rowing), Jalin Jenkins (women's lacrosse), Petros (gymnastics), Thurlow Lam (gymnastics) and Ryan Wee (rifle) – were named recipients of CSC Academic All-District honors with Baldwin, Hayashi, Petros and Thurlow Lam being selected for All-American consideration.

To be eligible for the district and later the national ballot, student-athletes must have attained a cumulative grade-point average of 3.50 or better and reached their sophomore year academically and athletically. Additionally, the student-athlete must have participated in 90 percent of its respective sport's contests that season or have started in at least 66 percent of those contests.