Dec. 1, 2005
Final Stats
ANNAPOLIS, Md. - Navy won 11 of 13 events, set five meet records and posted four NCAA 'B' cut qualifying times in recording a 179-64 victory over Army, Thursday night in Lejeune Hall. The victory is Navy's 15th-straight in the men's swimming and diving series, while the 115-point margin of victory is the most in series history.
Navy improved to 9-0 on the year, with Army losing its first meet in five attempts.
"Heading into the meet, we talked about how important the start would be, and it was," said Navy head coach Bill Roberts. "As happy as I was with winning the relay, I was ecstatic with our other relay teams placing third, fourth and fifth. After seeing that, I thought we could be on the verge of doing something special."
"The medley relay was huge," said Navy team captain Brad Snyder (Sr., St. Petersburg, Fla.). "It was just how we wanted to start. That helped set the tone tonight. As the meet went on, you could see that we had four guys entered into every race who were ready to swim."
Navy's 200 medley relay team of Kevin Mukri (Jr., Silver Spring, Md.), Ari Molina (Fr., Arlington, Va.), Aaron Recko (So., San Antonio, Texas) and Joe Smutz (Sr., Marriottsville, Md.) began the meet by posting a time of 3:43.22 and setting a new Lejeune Hall and Army-Navy metric pool record in winning the event.
David Guthmann (Fr., Waxhaw, N.C.) followed by recording a time of 8:19.36 in leading a 1-2-3 Navy finish in the 800 freestyle, the first individual event of the meet.
A great race ensued in the 200 freestyle as Navy's Danny Flemming (Jr., Loganville, Ga.) edged Army's Efri Ruthenberg by one-tenth of a second. Flemming trailed by one-hundredth of a second heading into the final 50 meters, but completed the last lap in a time of 29.34 while Ruthenberg was clocked in a time of 29.45 over the last 50 meters. Flemming ended the race with a time of 1:51.69, with Ruthenberg posting a time of 1:51.79.
After Kevin Teague (Jr., Lexington, Ky.) recorded a 70-point victory on the one-meter springboard with a score of 361.05, the Mids held a 59-13 lead after four events.
Mike Linn (Sr., Newhall, Calif.) won his first individual event of the day, setting a new Lejeune Hall and Army-Navy pool record with a 22.36 to win the 50 free. Both Linn and second-place finisher Smutz (22.45) recorded NCAA 'B' cut times in the event.
Navy swimmers would next place 1-2-3 in the 200 individual medley, with Andrew Thorn (So., Elizabethtown, Pa.) winning the event in a time of 2:06.13.
Zach Disbrow picked up Army's first victory of the meet, setting a new Army-Navy pool record of 2:01.51 in winning the 200 fly.
Teague recorded his second victory of the day by winning the three-meter springboard by 57 points (377.03), improving his career record against Army to 6-0.
Linn made it a sweep of the sprint freestyle events, setting a new Lejeune Hall and series metric pool record of 49.48 in winning the 100 freestyle event. As in the 50 free, Smutz would place second (49.84) and the teammates would again both record NCAA 'B' cut qualifying times.
Mukri next placed his name in the record books by setting a new series metric pool record of 2:01.09 in winning the 200 back by well over three seconds. Flemming would follow by winning his second event of the day, recording a 4:02.56 in claiming the 400 freestyle race.
Army's Jacob Mentele would close the individual portion of the meet by posting a winning time of 2:18.27, then the Mids ended the meet by winning the 400 freestyle relay in a time of 3:24.85.
"Everything we had been working and training for happened tonight," said Roberts. "The effort, the results, the records the outcome; it was all we had hoped it would be. The guys displayed great 'team-manship' this evening and I am very happy for them."
