Feb. 23, 2008
Final Stats
Photo Gallery
ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- The Navy men's swimming and diving team strengthened its hold on first place at the Patriot League Championship Friday, with the women's program standing in second place by just 44.5 points with one day remaining. The three-day meet will conclude Saturday at Navy's Lejeune Hall.
The Navy men's team entered Friday night's session of finals holding a 20-point lead over second-place Bucknell. The Mids tallied 341 points on the day to bring its two-day total to 565 points and increase its margin over the still second-place Bison to 121 points.
"I am very happy for the guys today," said Navy men's swimming head coach Bill Roberts. "We received a lot of good swims from everyone on the team. They really set up the possibility of a great night with their performances during the trials this morning. We feel we are in great position heading into day three."
The Navy women's team began Friday night in first place with a slim 20-point cushion over Bucknell and a 34.5-point advantage over third-place Colgate. The Mids ended the day in second place with 444.50 points, while the Raiders took over first place with a total of 489 points. The Bison fell to third place in the standings with a total of 412.50 points.
"I am very pleased with our efforts tonight," said Navy women's swimming head coach John Morrison. "Everyone dug deep and because of that we were able to score some points that we were not expecting. We need some big swims from the entire team Saturday, but we are capable of it."
Navy champions on the day included Kelly Zahalka (400 individual medley), Billy Vey (400 individual medley), Tara Chapmon (200 freestyle), Jon Galinski (one-meter diving) and both 800 freestyle relay teams.
Navy Event Summary
200 Medley Relay
Navy Women - Third - 1:46.77 (Jamie Call, Kelly Zahalka, Tessa Snow, Thuy-Mi Dinh)
Colgate held the lead throughout the race, with Bucknell and Navy battling it out for second. The Bison were in second after the opening leg by 1.6 seconds, with the Mids cutting their deficit in half by the midpoint of the race. Bucknell took its lead back to nearly two seconds after 150 yards and despite Thuy-Mi Dinh bettering the Bucknell anchor swimmer by one second, the Mids still placed third overall by eight-tenths of a second. Colgate won the race in a time of 1:45.20, Bucknell placed second with a time of 1:45.89 and Navy finished in third place with a clocking of 1:46.77.
Navy Men - Second - 1:32.63 (Andrew Hetzner, Andrew Utama, Wren Dupre, Alex Oldenkamp)
The Bison held a one-half second lead over Navy after the first leg and gradually extended their advantage in each of the next two ensuing legs before Alex Oldenkamp sliced into the deficit by one-half of second during his anchor swim for Navy. Bucknell won the race with a time of 1:31.18, with the Mids finishing 1.4 seconds behind the Bison for second place.
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400 Individual Medley
Navy Women - A Final - Kelly Zahalka, first, 4:23.92; Natalie Albertson, fourth, 4:34.26; Tessa Snow, fifth, 4:34.69. B Final - Clare McKenna, fifth/13th, 4:40.96.
Navy junior Kelly Zahalka won this event at the league meet as both a freshman and sophomore and holds the school and league record in the event. However, she was the No. 2 qualifier in Friday morning's trial heats behind Colgate's Caren Guyett.
In the final, Guyett held a one-tenth of a second lead after 50 yards and expanded that advantage to one-half a second at the end of the butterfly portion of the event. A great opening 50 yards of the backstroke put Zahalka into the lead by one-half a second, a margin she continued to hold at the midpoint of the race. By the time the duo had finished the breaststroke, Zahalka's advantage had increased to 1.3 seconds and she bettered Guyett on each of leg of the freestyle stroke to record a winning time of 4:23.92 -- the second-fastest time in Navy history -- and a margin of victory of 2.1 seconds.
Zahalka's win makes her just the second swimmer in league history to win the 400 IM in three-consecutive years. The only other person to accomplish this feat is Navy's Heidi Fearon, who won three-straight titles from 1994-96.
"There is so much to think about in this race, I was just trying to keep everything straight in my mind before it started," said Zahalka. "I wanted to stay relaxed and swim my own race without worrying about what anyone else was doing."
"This was a great effort by Kelly to win her third-straight title in the event," said Morrison. "She was a little nervous coming into tonight, but she put that behind her and had a great last half of the race to pick up the win."
Navy Men - A Final - Billy Vey, first, 3:59.53; Dan Warner, fourth, 4:03.08; David Guthmann, seventh, 4:07.76. B Final - Danny Mizelle, second/10th, 4:07.98; Tedd Torgesen, fourth/12th, 4:10.40.
Billy Vey was seeded seventh after the morning trial heats, but led the final from start to finish to win the event by just under two seconds with an overall time of 3:59.53, the sixth-fastest time in Navy history. Additionally, Dan Warner placed fourth and David Guthmann finished in seventh place in the race.
"I was a little high strung at the beginning of the race this morning, so I wanted to make sure I got off to a good start tonight," said Vey. "My best strokes are at the beginning, so I wanted to go off as fast as I could and then try and hang on."
Vey and Zahalka are in the same company within the Naval Academy's Brigade of Midshipmen.
"Kelly and I were both second in our events last night, so when she won her race tonight she told me I had to win mine, as well," said Vey.
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100 Butterfly Navy Women - B Final - Cate Sheerin, seventh/15th, 59.98.
Navy's lone finalist in the 100 fly was Cate Sheerin who placed seventh in the consolation final with a time of 59.98. Her previous best time in the event this season was a clocking of 1:01.37.
Navy Men - A Final - Andrew Hetzner, second, 50.71. B Final - Wren Dupre, first/ninth, 51.29; Joe Unruh, second/10th, 52.09.
The championship final quickly turned into a dual between Navy's Andrew Hetzner and Colgate's Zack Whitman. Whitman led by one-quarter of a second at the turn and Hetzner could only slice into his deficit by 17-hundredths of a second over the final 25 yards. Hetzner posted a time of 50.71 to finish as the runner-up to Whitman's winning time of 50.63.
"I was disappointed in my time," said Hetzner, who recorded a career-best time of 50.39 in Friday morning's trial heats of the event. "I had a pretty good swim, but my finish was going to be in between two strokes so I had to glide into the pad at the very end."
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200 Freestyle Navy Women - A Final - Tara Chapmon, first, 1:48.92 (Navy, Patriot League, Patriot League Meet record); Allison Ranzau, second, 1:49.50; Rachel Gray, eighth, 1:54.13. B Final - Kristin Lowd, first/ninth, 1:53.86.
Tara Chapmon set Navy, Patriot League and Patriot League Meet records in winning the 500 freestyle Thursday day, while teammate Allison Ranzau finished second. Friday morning, Chapmon set those same standards in the trials of the 200 free as her time of 1:49.33 broke her own three marks of 1:50.19. Right behind her again was Ranzau, who placed second in the heats with a time of 1:50.22.
As the final of the event began, the duo quickly separated themselves from the rest of the field. Chapmon would break all of her own records again with a time of 1:48.92, with Ranzau placing second in a time of 1:49.50. Finishing in third place was Colgate's Lisa Marchi, who completed the race in a time of 1:52.09. Rachel Gray also competed in the championship final of the event and placed eighth with a time of 1:54.13.
"A lot of our success in the final was due to a great swim by Kristin Lowd in the consolation final," said Morrison. "Her winning the race was a great lift for our three swimmers in the championship final and our entire team.
"It was another pair of great swims by Tara and Allison tonight, as well as by Rachel. They all fed off of each other."
"My goal coming into today was to go under 1:50, and I did that this morning," said Chapmon. "I was very happy to go even faster tonight."
"Tara beats me in practice every day, so I am very happy to have finished second to her in our two events at the meet," said Ranzau. "We just wanted to make sure we were first and second. With how we swam last night, we knew we had a great opportunity to do so again tonight."
"Finishing first and second last night was unexpected," said Chapmon. "We were both very nervous going into the final of the 500. We gained a lot of confidence with our finishes last night."
Navy Men - A Final - Nathan Durham, second, 1:40.46; Alex Buck, third, 1:41.34; J.J. Helms, eighth, 1:43.67.
The Navy men placed a trio of swimmers into the championship final of the 200 freestyle. Navy's Nathan Durham was the fastest qualifier in the morning trial heats with a time of 1:41.01, with teammate Alex Buck the second-fastest swimmer thanks to his clocking of 1:41.40. Lehigh's Daniel Johnson placed third in the trial heats, but quickly took a nearly seven-tenths of a second lead at the midpoint of the race over Durham and made that advantage stand up to win the race. His winning time was 1:39.69, with Durham placing second in a time of 1:40.46. Buck would place third in the final with a time of 1:41.34.
"I felt my first 50 was a little too strong this morning, so I paced myself better this evening," said Durham. "It didn't work out in terms of my place, but this was the fastest time I have ever had in this event so it is hard to feel too disappointed. I am just so happy with how far I have come this year."
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100 Breaststroke
Navy Women - None
Navy Men - A Final - Andrew Utama, fifth, 57.73; Nathan LeRoy, sixth, 57.82; Pete Donahue, seventh, 58.92; Alex Oldenkamp, eighth, 59.22.
Andrew Utama was the No. 4 seed entering tonight's 100 breaststroke final and his time of 57.73 in the event Friday night was just four hundredths of a second in back of his morning time, but it dropped him one place to fifth in the final. After winning the title as a freshman, Army's Jake Mentele was able to bookend his career with a victory in tonight's final as a senior by posting a winning time of 55.89.
"I was trying to go around 56 seconds tonight, so it didn't work out how I wanted it to," said Utama. "I am very excited about my chances Saturday in the 200 breaststroke, though."
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100 Backstroke
Navy Women - A Final - Thuy-Mi Dinh, third, 58.36; Jamie Call, seventh, 1:00.06. B Final - Jennie Spencer, first/ninth, 59.95.
The Mids placed a pair of swimmers into the championship final of the 100 backstroke. Thuy-Mi Dinh posted the fourth-best time in the field during the trial heats, while Jamie Call was seeded eighth. Both swimmers improved upon their seeding by one spot tonight as Dinh placed third in a time of 58.36 -- a new career-best clocking and the No. 10 time in Navy history -- and Call placed seventh with a time of 1:00.06. Additionally, Jennie Spencer won the consolation final of the event.
Bucknell's Courtney Warren won the race in a time of 57.07, with Colgate's Beverly Walker finishing in second place with a clocking of 57.31.
"I felt to win the race I had to go in the 56 second range," said Dinh. "I was trying for it but couldn't make it happen."
Navy Men - A Final - Ryan Ward, third, 51.88; Kyle Abner, seventh, 52.27.
Navy's Ryan Ward and Kyle Abner both qualified for the championship final of the 100 backstroke. Ward was in fourth place at the turn, but put together a time of 51.88 to place third behind Bucknell's Mark Kawczenski's winning time of 49.99 and the second-place time of 51.27 recorded by American's Mark Pelletier. Abner, meanwhile, finished seventh with a time of 52.27.
"My time was faster than I was hoping for," said Ward. "My time this morning was the fastest I have ever gone and I wasn't sure if I could go faster tonight, but I did. I have never gone below 53 seconds before so I am very excited with my times on the day."
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One Meter Diving
Navy Men - Final - Jon Galinski, first, 326.55; Olaf Olson, second, 304.75; Adam Niekras, third, 282.65.
Jon Galinski overcame struggles on his opening two dives to total 326.55 points and win the event over teammates Olaf Olson (304.75) and Adam Niekras (282.65).
"I thought I was finished after my initial two dives, so I relaxed a bit and figured 'what do I have to lose,'" said Galinski. "Olaf and Adam really helped me after my second dive. I knew they had my back."
"Jon made a great recovery after his opening dives," said Navy diving coach Joe Suriano. "He received scores of eight on his last three dives."
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800 Freestyle Relay
Navy Women - first, 7:26.69 (Navy, Patriot League, Patriot League Meet record), (Allison Ranzau, Kristin Lowd, Kelly Zahalka, Tara Chapmon)
The Navy women ended the day by setting a new Navy, Patriot League and Patriot League Meet record of 7:26.69 in winning the 800 freestyle relay by over four seconds. Ranzau put the Mids into great position after her opening 200, handing off a lead of nearly five seconds to Lowd. The advantage was still 1.3 seconds when Zahalka hit the water to start Navy's third leg of the race. Zahalka gave up even more of the margin to Colgate's Caren Guyett, who Zahalka had edged for the 400 IM title a short while earlier, but she still gave 200 free champion Chapmon a one-half second lead to start the final 200 yards of the race. Chapmon recorded the fastest 650, 700, 750 and 800 yard splits in the race to give the Mids a winning time of 7:26.69 and a 4.03 second margin of victory.
Their clocking broke the previous trio of records of 7:27.85 set last year.
"We are racing to win, but being able to set a record in the process is icing on the cake," said Morrison. "It was a great way for us to end day two of the meet and send us into the final day with a lot of confidence and momentum."
"We really stuck together as a relay unit," said Lowd. "Seeing what everyone had done tonight really inspired us to get the win and the record."
"Kristin has always been a great teammate and leader, but she really stepped it up this year when she assumed the role of team captain," said Morrison. "She has a tremendous work ethic and knows how to lead a team."
Navy Men - first, 6:43.82 (Nathan Durham, J.J. Helms, Alex Buck, Andrew Hetzner)
The Navy men's team also closed the second day of the meet by picking up a victory in the 800 freestyle relay. It is Navy's third title in the event in its five years as a member of the league.
Each of the four Navy swimmers posted the fastest time among their counterparts in the race, with none of the four going slower than 1:42. Collectively, the foursome recorded a time of 6:43.82 to win the event by nearly four seconds over second-place Army (6:47.62).
"The start by Nate was huge for us," said Roberts of the 1.75 second advantage recorded by Durham during the opening leg of the race. "The guys saw the lead they were given and it really sparked them to great things."
"It always feels good to have a good start and be able to hand off a lead to the rest of the guys. I just had the start of the race; the other guys were the ones who carried us through. I am really proud to be one of them."
Women's Standings
1. Colgate, 489
2. Navy, 444.50
3. Bucknell, 412.50
4. Lafayette, 254
5. Lehigh, 223
6. Army, 205
7. American, 196
8. Holy Cross, 115
Men's Standings
1. Navy, 565
2. Bucknell, 444
3. Army, 391
4T. Lehigh, 227
4T. Colgate, 227
6. American, 203
7. Lafayette, 140
8. Holy Cross, 98
