March 6, 2008
BOSTON, Mass. -- Erik Hunter (Fr., Placerville, Calif.) and Adam Meyer (So., Bethesda, Md.) both set a pair of Navy records on the day to help highlight the opening day of the Eastern Intercollegiate Swimming League Championship for the Midshipmen. Navy stands in third place with 280 points after Thursday, the first day of the three-day meet being contested at Harvard's Blodgett Pool in Boston.
"We had a little bit better session this evening than we did this morning," said Navy head coach Bill Roberts. "The guys were able to either hold or, in many cases, improve upon their positioning in the finals."
The morning session saw Hunter advance to the championship final of the 500 freestyle and Meyer qualify for the championship final of the 200 individual medley with record breaking performances in their respective events. Hunter's trials time clocking of 4:27.36 broke the school record of 4:27.47 (Eric Winter, 1992), while Meyer's time of 1:50.11 broke the Navy standard of 1:50.73 (Ian Johnston, 1996).
The evening session saw both swimmers lower their records even more. Hunter placed sixth in the 500 free final with a time of 4:27.25, with Meyer finishing in third place in the 200 IM with a time of 1:48.69. Each time was also an NCAA 'B' cut qualifying effort.
"We couldn't be happy with either Erik or Adam," said Roberts. "Erik made a few minor adjustments from this morning and they paid off. Adam out together four solid legs of the medley this evening."
The 200 IM was Navy's deepest swimming event of the night with four Mids qualifying for the evening session in the event. In addition to Meyer, additional Navy finalists in the 200 IM included Christopher Jenkins (Sr., Chicago, Ill.), who placed third in the consolation final, Billy Vey (Jr., Huntersville, N.C.), who finished seventh in the consolation final, and Jesse Cohen (Fr., Mountain Lakes, N.J.), the second-place swimmer in the bonus final.
Navy's divers also gave a great boost to the team's scoring on the night as all four Mids placed among the top-12 performers on the one-meter springboard. Leading the way for Navy was Olaf Olson (Fr., Bainbridge Island, Wash.), who tallied 289.50 points to place second, and Jon Galinski (Jr., Phoenix, Md.), who accrued 269.55 points to finish in sixth place.
"Our divers were super today," said Roberts.
Rounding out the individual event efforts on the day for Navy was Alex Oldenkamp (Jr., Coppell, Texas) winning the consolation final of the 50 freestyle.
Navy also placed ninth in the 200 freestyle relay and eighth in the 400 medley relay.
"We had a good first day, but we have a big one ahead of us Friday," said Roberts.
Navy's Evening Results
200 Freestyle Relay
B Final -- Navy, 1st (9th) -- 1:24.41 (Preston Mihalko, Patrick Veltmann, Jack Curran, Alex Oldenkamp)
500 Freestyle Relay
A Final -- Erik Hunter, 6th, 4:27.36
C Final -- James Lascara, 3rd (19th), 4:32.62
200 Individual Medley
A Final -- Adam Meyer, 3rd, 1:48.69
B Final -- Christopher Jenkins, 3rd (11th), 1:52.30; Billy Vey, 7th (15th), 1:53.83
C Final -- Jesse Cohen, 2nd (18th), 1:52.92
50 Freestyle
B Final -- Alex Oldenkamp, 1st (9th), 20.72
1-M Diving
A Final -- Olaf Olson, 2nd, 289.50; Jon Galinski, 6th, 269.55
B Final -- Adam Niekras, 2nd (10th), 283.05; Zach Templin, 4th (12th), 269.60
400 Medley Relay
Timed Final -- Navy, 8th, 3:22.90 (Billy Vey, Kevin Kysiak, Adam Meyer, Alex Oldenkamp)
Team Scores 1. Harvard, 485; 2. Princeton, 402; 3. Navy, 280; 4. Yale, 260; 5. Brown, 226; 6. Cornell, 216; 7. Columbia, 204; 8. Penn, 161; 9. Dartmouth, 78
