Center for Enhanced Performance Names January Scholar-Athletes

WEST POINT, N.Y. – The Army West Point Athletics Association's Academic Support team has announced its Corps Squad Athletes for the month of January in Aaron Duhart of Men's Basketball, Kate Murray of Women's Basketball and Rifle's Anusha Pakkam.

The trio joins 10 other scholar-athletes that have been honored during the 2021-22 academic year, including recipients from September (Jacob Suppiah - MSOC and David Dickerson - SFB), October (Nicole Wantlin - WRUGBY, Georgia Jones - WXC and Marshall Beatty - MXC), November (Connor Bishop - FB, Isabella Sullivan - VB) and December (Kevin Lin – MSD, Sammie Edwards – WSD, Jake Felker – HKY).

Anusha Pakkam – Sophomore – Rifle – Arlington, Va.
Cadet Pakkam is a sophomore on the rifle team with a 4.10 GPA as a Law and Legal Studies major. In addition to her commitment to her own performance in the classroom, she helps her classmates as a peer tutor.

In the most recent match against NC State, she shot a 579 in Smallbore and 586 in Air Rifle.

Web Wright, Head Rifle Coach: "Anusha is laser-focused on the tasks at hand and uses every second to her advantage. Thank you to the Center for Enhanced Performance for helping her develop her studying and time management strategies. She is definitely pushing her older teammates to achieve higher performance levels."

Aaron Duhart – Senior – Men's Basketball – Richmond, Va.
Cadet Duhart is a senior, starting point guard, and co-captain of the men's basketball team. He has emerged as the team's leader both on and off the court in his final year with the Bl;ack Knights.

On the court, Duhart leads the team in assists (3.5 per game), is second in steals (1.2 per game), fifth in points (6.6 per game), sixth in rebounds (3.1 per game), and fourth in minutes played (23.7 per game). Earlier this month he had a career-best 20 points in Army's first win at Bucknell in eight years. He played a huge role in Army's 27-point comeback victory against Navy by scoring 10 points in the second half and creating several Navy turnovers with his tenacious defense. In the month of January's Patriot League play, he has upped his performance by averaging nine points a game. He is sixth in the Patriot League in assists per game and fourth in the league with an assist-to-turnover ratio of 2.3. His on-court confidence, leadership in the huddle, and work ethic, both in practice and during games, provides inspiration for his teammates.

In addition to his athletic contributions, Duhart has been performing exceptionally well in the classroom as an engineering management major. His cumulative GPA is 3.09 after earning a 3.25 during the fall semester. He has consistently demonstrated curiosity and positive engagement in the classroom, and is working hard to take his academic performance to the next level. Duhart also earned a physical performance score of 3.3 in the fall semester, and he scored a 600 on the Army Combat Fitness Test. During the summer, Aaron served as a Company Executive Officer during Cadet Basic Training, and he was selected by USCC to serve as the Cadet Company Commander of Company B3 during the fall semester.

Jimmy Allen, The Lee Anderson Head Men's Basketball Coach: "Aaron Duhart has been the consummate leader in our program. He has handled incredible adversity with injuries and the entire time kept his teammates first! He is as selfless a person as there is, and he has an unflappable, positive attitude."

Kate Murray – Senior – Women's Basketball – Boise, Idaho
Cadet Murray of Army West Point Women's Basketball, a senior and fixture in the Black Knight's starting lineup for the past four years, earned a 3.40 semester GPA last semester as an Organizational Psychology & Leadership major.

Murray has been a key contributor on the court since her freshman season. She is third on the team in both scoring average (11.3 points per game) and rebounds (5.7 per game) through the first 17 games of 2021-22. In Patriot League play, Murray has increased her output to 13.1 points per game (ninth in the league). Murray leads the team and ranks fourth in the Patriot League in 3-point shooting, averaging 1.8 per game. She also leads the team with 12 blocked shots on the season. She recently posted a season-high 22 points, including four 3-pointers, in a win over Lehigh.

Murray is known for her positive attitude and steady presence on and off the court.

Missy Traversi, Head Women's Basketball Coach: "Kate's work ethic is off the charts and she is still one of the most humble humans I have ever encountered. She does minimal talking, endless preparation, and lets the results speak for themselves. What's even more powerful is Kate's ability to spread that to her teammates. Her passion is contagious and elevates the performance of everyone around her."

Army West Point Athletics

Center for Enhanced Performance Names January Scholar-Athletes

Players Mentioned

Aaron Duhart

Kate Murray

Anusha Pakkam

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