Swimming and Diving Sweeps Patriot League Championships

ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The Navy swimming and diving groups put collectively a robust Saturday of competitors to efficiently shut out the Patriot League Championship at Lejeune Hall in Annapolis, Md. The Navy males’s crew totaled 1792 factors to win the meet by 582 factors over Army, whereas the ladies’s crew tallied 1427.5 factors to shut with a 134-point margin of victory over the second-place Black Knights.
 
For the boys, the title is the twenty first of their 22 years of competing on the meet. On the ladies’s aspect, the championship is the 14th in a row and the twenty fourth for the ladies, which is essentially the most of any particular person sport in Patriot League historical past.
 
“The position we were in a year ago is something this program hasn’t been in before,” males’s swimming head coach Bill Roberts stated after the meet. “We had to learn a lot about ourselves. We had to figure out what we needed to do to get better – athletically and as competitors. There is a very formidable foe within the conference who earned the championship last year. I think we learned a lot. I cannot say enough great things about this team and how quickly they bought into redemption and working hard and finding ways to get better all year long. They have been working hard to get this program where we feel we should operate. The meet specifically was really special. We had a hunch that it could be very special, but you still have to perform on game day. I think that is one of the things I am most proud of is that these guys really came through for each other and had a really terrific four days of competition.”
 
“We are thrilled with the performance of the whole team,” remarked ladies’s swimming head coach John Morrison. “It was a team win. Our depth really showed up. Everybody really performed well. We are pleased with how the meet went. The highlights, certainly Lauren Walsh qualifying [for the NCAA Championship]. Just the personal bests and the fun we had throughout the week. The support from our parents; our alumni that came back to watch; it was just incredible. We were really excited to do it in front of our home crowd and the electric environment. It was a good meet overall. We still have some work to do moving forward, but we were excited to get this win, no doubt about it.”
 
Up subsequent, the boys’s and girls’s swimming and diving groups will head to Lewisburg, Pa. for the ECAC Championship on Friday-Sunday, Feb. 27-March 1.
 
1650 Freestyle
Women
Sarah Elkridge clocked a time of 16:38.23 to complete second within the 1650 freestyle with teammate Brynn Stoneburg (16:55.49) and Marin Rose (17:05.83) ending fourth and sixth, respectively.
 
Men
Chase Maier (14:54.68) and Ben Mauldin (15:12.08) completed 1-2 within the occasion with teammate Luca Oliva (15:33.87) claiming seventh. Maier’s first-place end and time certified the freshman for the NCAA Championship.
 
200 Backstroke
Women
Ela Habjan posted a time of 1:58.59 to complete fourth within the 200 backstroke, whereas Allie Maloney claimed sixth within the occasion with a time of 1:59.30.
 
Men
Led by first-place finisher Ben Irwin’s NCAA qualifying time of 1:40.13, Navy positioned 5 swimmers within the high eight of the 200 backstroke. Martin Perecinsky (1:41.25) completed third with Tyler Kaminski (1:43.35) taking fourth and Will Jones (1:44.47) and Coleman Yates (1:45.40) taking fifth and sixth.
 
100 Freestyle
Women
Erin Miller posted a time of 49.95 within the 100 freestyle to complete third within the occasion.
 
Men
The Midshipmen completed 2-3 and 7-8 within the 100 freestyle so as to add 100 factors to its crew whole. Preston Kessler (42.50) and Ben Denman-Grimm (42.73) completed back-to-back in second and third with Lachlan Andrew (43.69) and Xavier Sohovich (43.76) closing out the A-Final.
 
200 Breaststroke
Women
In the 200 breaststroke, Navy completed second via fifth to amass 106 factors within the A-Final. Lauren Walsh earned silver with a time of two:11.66, whereas Corinne Warriner took bronze with a 2:11.90. Marley Barnard (2:15.22) and Maddie Koutavas (2:15.59) completed simply off of the rostrum in fourth and fifth, correspondingly.
 
Men
Michael Phillips punched his ticket to the NCAA Championship, successful the 200 breaststroke with an NCAA qualifying time of 1:52.82. He was joined on the rostrum by teammate Juan Mora who completed second with a time of 1:54.20, whereas Gavin Green was simply exterior of the highest three with a fourth-place end with a time of 1:55.93.
 
200 Butterfly
Women
Clarice Spencer and Allie Maloney had been the highest finishers for the Mids within the A-Flight of the 200 butterfly. Spencer clocked a time of two:02.38 to complete sixth with Maloney a second again with a 2:03.70 to take eighth.
 
Men
In the boys’s 200 fly, Dean Jones punched his ticket to NCAAs with a first-place time of 1:41.87. He was adopted by teammate Tyler Kaminski, who clocked a time of 1:44.55 to take second. Ben Mauldin positioned fifth with a time of 1:46.63 to shut out the Mids’ A-Flight performers.
 
Women’s 3-Meter Diving
MacKenzie Kim completed second total with a rating of 320.05, whereas Lily Barrett (275.85), Claire Ellish (275.10), and Cassi Adams (263.10) claimed fourth via sixth.
 
400 Freestyle Relay
Women
The Midshipmen closed out the championship with a third-place end within the 400 freestyle relay. The quartet of Samantha Clifford, Erin Miller, Lauren Walsh, and Sarah Eldridge clocked a collective time of three:22.08 to complete third and cement the victory for Navy.
 
Men
In the ultimate race of the championship, the Navy crew of Preston Kessler, Ben Denman-Grimm, Lachlan Andrew, and Dean Jones mixed for an NCAA provisional time of two:50.16 to win the relay.