Photography by Steve Buchanan
Grace Mitchell woke up one day in the fall of 2022 and felt that her lifelong dream of attending the Naval Academy wouldn’t be fulfilled. Navy had been recruiting her for several months, but it reached the point where things came to a standstill and an offer wasn’t extended like Mitchell had hoped.
That’s about the time Mitchell, a senior at St. Mary’s High School, started focusing in on Cornell University and she ended up committing to the school in November of that year.
“I absolutely loved the coaches and the team up there,” Mitchell recalls. “But I felt it wasn’t meant to be the place for me. Navy was still the place I wanted to be.” All the while, unbeknownst to her, the Navy coaching staff felt the same way and to Mitchell’s surprise, they circled back to her in February despite her commitment to Cornell.
What came next was her biggest thrill: Navy Women’s Lacrosse Coach Cindy Timchal offered the 5-foot-10 Mitchell, an Annapolis resident, a spot on the team in March. Obviously, she accepted without hesitation.
“They still wanted me,” Mitchell says with a lingering sense of gratitude. “And they were impressed with my academics.” Some of Mitchell’s family members were just excited as she was.
Mitchell’s mother Shelly played lacrosse at the Academy on its very first team. Her father Eric graduated from the Academy along with her mom’s sister Mary Vanyo and her husband Brian.
“I have so much respect for the military because of the culture of the team and the entire school,” Grace explains. “I always wanted to be part of that hardworking and selfless culture: we before me kind of thing. I think it’s one of the environments you can’t get anywhere else.”
The 18-year-old Mitchell plans to major in chemistry and currently ranks first in her class among 117 students with a weighted 4.43 grade-point average. She’s taking five advanced placement classes this school year and 11 overall in high school. “I want to be a medical doctor,” Mitchell says.
Mitchell developed her lacrosse skills playing nine years for Maryland United, considered one of the state’s top lacrosse clubs. Her coach, Maryland United’s Bev Altig, says Mitchell possesses the necessary leadership skills to help her succeed at the Naval Academy. It’s one of Mitchell’s biggest strengths.
“When she comes off the field at halftime of a game, she has a lot of input to give to everybody,” Altig explains. “She doesn’t hesitate to tell her teammates what they should be doing. She is like an extra coach.”
Mitchell, an attacker, was the only freshman on the St. Mary’s varsity lacrosse team during the 2021 season, and she ended up starting the next two years. She totaled 15 goals and eight assists as a sophomore. Then finished the 2023 season with 24 goals and 14 assists while earning the Kellie Thompson Shiley Award for outstanding leadership.
“She has great size, vision, and the ability to finish her shots on the offensive end,” former St. Mary’s Girls Lacrosse coach Mandy Jones says. “She is one of those players who gets to the practice field early. She would stay after practice and, sometimes, I would have to tell her to go home and focus on the rest of the day.”
If St. Mary’s gave out an award for best-student athlete at the school, Mitchell would be at the top of the list. She also plays soccer (co-captain in 2022) and runs indoor track (2023 500-meter conference champion). On top of that, Mitchell plays the piano, is a member of the Spanish and Science honor societies, and does a lot of community service, including for the Lighthouse Shelter.
“She got into the Naval Academy on her own without lacrosse,” Jones says. “It’s a bonus that she plays lacrosse.”
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