Naval Academy

The U.S. Naval Academy crew won the college men's varsity eight-oared feature of the Philadelphia Navy Day Regatta for the third straight year by outrowing seven other boats yesterday in a race against time on the Schuylkill. The head-of-the-river format was used, crews leaving the starting line above the Strawberry Mansion Bridge at 15-second intervals and rowing 2 1/2 miles downstream to the finish markers abreast of the Viking statue at the head of Boathouse Row. The Navy shell sped the distance in the day's fastest time of 13 minutes, 13.7 seconds on slightly wavy water with a favoring tail wind, prevailing over a second Naval Academy crew by 18.5 seconds.

A former standout volleyball player at Unionville High School who was in her first year at the Naval Academy was found unconscious in her dormitory room Monday morning and pronounced dead a short time later. Kristen Dickmann, 19, was in the midst of taking final exams, said her father, who said the family was at a loss to explain what happened. Douglas Dickmann, of New Garden Township, said last night that his daughter had been in "outstanding physical shape. " When her alarm went off Monday morning, her roommates found her unconscious, he said.

Ben Watkins, a versatile first-team all-Del-Val League lineman from Unionville, has decided to follow his family's service tradition and play football for the U.S. Naval Academy. The 6-foot-4, 240-pound Watkins, known as "Big Ben" to his family and teammates, formally signed his letter of intent at a news conference yesterday. Watkins had also been nominated and offered an appointment to the U.S. Military Academy. Watkins played a variety of positions for the Indians in his career, including tackle, guard, and center on offense and tackle and nose guard on defense.

Katie Stonelake, 18, has wanted to be an aviator since she began drawing pictures of planes in fourth grade. She has flown with relatives who are pilots, listened to the stories of combat pilots, and in her junior year at Cardinal O'Hara High School, applied to the U.S. Naval Academy in hopes of becoming a Navy pilot. "I realize that women's opportunities to fly in the Navy are limited at the present time," Stonelake wrote in her application. "I am confident many of these restriction will be eliminated in the near future.

We had been here before - once to a wedding at the Naval Academy chapel, another time for a sailing weekend on a 42-footer out of the yacht club - but both times the city itself was no more than a pleasant blur. Throwing rice and hauling lines and seeing old friends left little time to explore its treasures, or experience its delights. So, driving down from Philadelphia on a crisp, sunny Saturday, we congratulated ourselves on our cleverness. It was out of season - winter, in fact - and we would have the place to ourselves.

Authorities have not yet determined the cause of death of a popular star athlete and freshman at the U.S. Naval Academy, exacerbating the grief of stunned friends and relatives. Kristen Dickmann, 19, a 2007 graduate of Unionville High School in Chester County, was found by her Academy roommates unconscious Monday morning in her bed. She was rushed to a nearby hospital where she was pronounced dead. An autopsy was inconclusive, her mother said yesterday from the family's Kennett Square home.

The Naval Academy has not fully integrated women into its midshipman corps and must do more to eradicate sex-based discrimination and sexual harassment, according to a report released yesterday by the academy's Board of Visitors. The findings are the result of a five-month investigation prompted by a December 1989 incident in which Gwen M. Dreyer, a female midshipman, was handcuffed to a urinal in a men's bathroom by two male midshipmen. The incident was not reported until May 13, a week after Dreyer resigned from the academy.

For once, the waves ruled the Navy. The storied U.S. Naval Academy, debarkation point for sailors who have roamed the seven seas, is a battered flood victim. A storm surge driven by Hurricane Isabel on Thursday drowned engineering and science laboratories, destroyed plumbing and ventilation systems, and rendered half the classrooms for 4,000 midshipmen unusable. School officials yesterday estimated repairs would cost "in the tens of millions of dollars. " As cleanup proceeded yesterday with more than 100 contractors pumping out basements, sucking up mud and silt, repairing electrical lines, and containing hazardous materials, academy officials said it would be months before the schools could reclaim the damaged facilities.

Mike Pirozzola had wrestled freestyle matches all over the world. And his reputation had preceded him at Neshaminy. He is expected to be a PIAA state champion someday. The world. That's what Downingtown's Mark Conley wants to see next. He is looking forward to attending the Naval Academy and someday sailing on one of this country's state-of-the-art warships. He wants to visit every port he can, drink in all the culture, and live his young life to the fullest. That's the same spirit that this irrepressible wrestler brought to the sport, dreaming big dreams with the willingness to work hard to achieve them.

Amid an outpouring of condolences, a Chester County couple continues an anguished wait for an explanation for their daughter's death earlier this week at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, where she was a freshman. Kristen Dickmann, 19, a 2007 graduate of Unionville High School, was found unconscious Monday morning by her roommates and rushed to a nearby hospital, where she was pronounced dead. Her parents, Carrie and Douglas Dickmann, of Kennett Square, said an autopsy was inconclusive.

Joseph C. Eliot, 96, of Havertown, a decorated Navy captain, college instructor, and tennis coach, died Wednesday, Oct. 31, of heart disease at the hospice at Taylor Hospital in Ridley Park. A graduate of the Naval Academy, Mr. Eliot served aboard the light antiaircraft cruiser San Diego during World War II. As the ship's gunnery officer, he earned a Bronze Star for valor for outstanding performance of duty while directing fire against Japanese aircraft off Okinawa. The San Diego took part in 34 major conflicts in the Pacific, earning 18 battle stars.

Why would the nation's foremost expert on counterinsurgency choose in his mid-40s to begin mentoring boys at an exclusive prep school on Philadelphia's Main Line? For one elemental reason: the future. "I get to work with a whole lot of smart people doing something that matters for the future of the country," said John A. Nagl. "We can affect education across America from the ideas that are developed here. " Last week's news that Nagl, 46, an Army officer for two decades, had been plucked from a field of 65 to be Haverford School's ninth headmaster, starting July 2013, surprised many; a former colleague guessed he would head up a university.

Tom McGrath, owner of the Black Sheep Pub in Manhattan, is an ultra-marathoner of some repute. A native of Ireland who first came to the United States in 1969 to play Gaelic football, he has, among other astonishing accomplishments, run across the United States in 53 days, run 24 hours nonstop numerous times, and completed several 1,000-mile solo runs. Many of his runs are dedicated to charity, such as raising money for the pediatrics unit at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. On Friday, McGrath, 61, will embark on another long jaunt on behalf of a worthy cause.

IN ANOTHER example of the new era at Penn State, the school posted a video message from new coach Bill O'Brien on Facebook on Memorial Day. O'Brien announced that Penn State's home game against Navy on Sept. 15 will be Military Appreciation Day. "We think it's a great time to come out with your family and friends to honor our military, and especially the Naval Academy, and see some great football at Beaver Stadium," O'Brien said in the message. n

Brenden Delmonte has committed to attend the Naval Academy, but that might not even be his best water story. Delmonte is a star pitcher and outfielder for Cherry Hill West. He is a top student, a member of the National Honor Society, a two-time president of his class. He plans to study engineering. He is interested in Marine Corps aviation, with an eye toward becoming one of those Top Gun-type fighter pilots. But he's no swimmer. "From five years old, I was all baseball," Delmonte said of avoiding the pervasive swim-club scene in Cherry Hill.

When I was in my first year in college, Rob Shutler lived across the hall. He was an architecture student and had many fine qualities, but of course what impressed me was he could do a handstand for two minutes, and when we went skiing once, I saw him with my own eyes do a flip off a ski jump. He said his father was from Northfield, Vt., and that's where Rob had also learned to ski so well. I met his dad back then, but he was a busy guy, a three-star general in the Marine Corps.

Meet Shaquil Keels. The senior at Randolph Technical High was recently accepted by the Naval Academy Preparatory School, a yearlong program that offers a gateway to the U.S. Naval Academy. "Class of 2017," he notes proudly. Shaquil introduced himself to me in an e-mail last week. He wanted me to know about his Naval Academy news. "I just thought this would be something good to send to you, being a teen in Philadelphia and all the violence and bad news with teens going on I thought it would be great for you to know this," he wrote.

AND THEN there was one . . . One senior member, that is, of Lansdale Catholic High's basketball program. Yes, Alex Talarico assures us, the school did have a freshman team in the 2008-09 school year. And that squad, if he remembers correctly, even claimed two or three wins. But along the way, all of Talarico's then-teammates pulled a vanishing act because they wanted to concentrate on other sports, or because they saw they'd never be much of a factor, or because they flat-out lost interest.

James B. Wilson, 85, a retired Navy vice admiral and Naval Academy official, died of pneumonia Monday, Jan. 24, at Kendal Crosslands, a retirement community in Pennsbury Township. Mr. Wilson graduated from Radnor High School. He was a member of Boy Scout Troop 1 in Paoli and became an Eagle Scout. After attending Duke University for a year, he received an appointment to the Naval Academy. In his senior year, he commanded 24 Company, which was presented a flag after winning a midshipmen competition for efficiency.

COMING OUT of St. Joseph's Prep in 2007, Jeff Battipaglia wasn't sure whether the U.S. Naval Academy was for him. Those initial doubts lingered into the beginning of his time at Annapolis, Md. "First coming [to the Naval Academy], I had a lot of doubts and I was worried," Battipaglia said. "I missed home and all that. " Eventually, he adjusted to Annapolis, but failed to get on the field during his freshman season. At the end of that year, Paul Johnson left Navy to become the coach at Georgia Tech.