Feb. 28, 2009

Results

BOSTON - Junior James Lascara (Charlotte, N.C.) set a new meet standard in the 400 individual medley en route to his second individual victory in as many nights to lead Navy's efforts on Saturday at the ECAC Open Swimming & Diving Championships.

With two full days of competition from Harvard University's Blodgett Pool now in the books, the Navy men remain atop the 24-team field with 437 points, 54 points ahead of second-place Harvard, while the Midshipmen women remain in fifth out of 23 scoring squads with 225 points.

One day after establishing a new meet record in winning the 500 free, Lascara returned on Saturday and took down the previous 400 IM mark of 3:54.36 set in 1994 by Rutgers' Jeff Farschon. The third-year swimmer posted the fastest time of the morning, eclipsing the standard with a prelim clocking of 3:54.35. Lascara then came back to top his own record during Saturday's evening session, touching first in 3:53.90 - the fifth fastest time in the event Navy history. The Mids produced a strong all-around effort in the 200 freestyle, placing second, fourth and seventh led by sophomore Alex Buck's (Lisle, Ill.) runner-up, 1:39.58 effort.

Senior Preston Mihalko (Chesapeake, Va.) also claimed second-place honors for Navy on the evening, touching in a time of 50.83 in the 100 backstroke.

Senior Kyle Abner (Glenwood, N.J.) and freshman Charlie Hetzel (Weddington, N.C.) went 4-5 in the 100 fly in 49.25 and 51.27, respectively, while sophomore Pete Donahue (Washington, D.C.) took fifth in the 100 breast (56.77) to round out the Navy finalists.

For the Navy women, the 200 medley relay foursome of sophomore Natalie Albertson (St. Paul, Minn.), senior Erika Hubbard (Madison, Wis.), sophomore Brooke Besche (Severna Park, Md.) and junior Thuy Mi Dinh (Anaheim, Calif.) provided the highlight of the day, teaming up to take third in 1:46.78.

Junior Kalea Middendorf (Aurora, Ill.) was Navy's top individual finisher on the evening with a fifth-place finish in the 100 fly in 56.76. She was one of two finalists in the event as senior Lauren Milliron (Richmond, Va.) grabbed eighth with a 58.10 showing.

Freshman Nicole Glab (Scarborough, Maine) also registered an eighth-place finish for the Mids, touching in 4:35.91. The three-day meet concludes Sunday with preliminary events at 9:00 a.m., and finals held later in the afternoon starting at 4:00 p.m.

Live, real-time results of all the weekend's action are available at http://www.meetresults.com/2009/ecac/results.shtml

2009 ECAC Open Swimming & Diving ChampionshipsDay Three- Sunday, March 1, 2009 - Schedule of Events-1650 freestyle- 200 backstroke- 100 freestyle- 200 breaststroke- 200 butterfly- Women 1M diving- 400 freestyle relay

*** GO NAVY! ***