Final Statsarmynavy2016.html

WEST POINT, N.Y. â€" The longest winning streaks in Army-Navy series history were extended by another year as the Navy swimming and diving teams swept their counterparts from Army West Point Saturday afternoon at Crandall Poll in West Point, N.Y. The Navy women's team won by a score of 194-106 to win its 28th straight meeting in the rivalry, and the Navy men's squad won its 26th consecutive meet with a 156.5-143.5 victory.

Both Navy teams enter the break in the schedule with 7-0 records, while both Army West Point teams are now 1-3 in dual meets.

Navy now leads the 2016-17 Star Series, presented by USAA, 8-1.

Next year's meet will return to its traditional date just prior to the football game between the two service academies. The 2017 meet will be contested Thursday, Dec. 7, in Annapolis.

The Navy men never trailed during the afternoon, but never held a cushion of any significance either as it turned into the closest meet in the series since Navy won by seven points during the 1993-94 contest.

"We knew going in that this would be a very close meet," said Navy men's swimming head coach Bill Roberts. "Our guys never faltered or succumbed to the pressure."

The Mids jumped out to an early 31-5 lead thanks to going 1-2-3 in the three-meter diving event and 1-2 in the 200 medley relay. Bradley Buchter (Fr., Hickory, N.C.) accrued 327.23 points to win the first board by nine points over Joe Kaszubowski (So., Whitefish Bay, Wis.) and 13 points over Nate Belch (Jr., Tucson, Ariz.). Then the Mids won the opening relay event â€"â€" Chipper Machmehl (So., Peachtree City, Ga.), Marlin Brutkiewicz (Sr., Mobile, Ala.), Ryan Bailey (Sr., Youngstown, Ohio) and Michael Bundas (Sr., Saline, Mich.) â€"â€" with a time of 1:27.83 to better the pool record (1:28.47).

Army closed to within 52-41 of Navy by winning the next three events. The Black Knights placed first and second in the 1000 free, first and third in the 200 free and won the 100 backstroke.

Brutkiewicz gave the Mids a little breathing room by winning the 100 breast in a pool record (54.52) and NCAA B cut (55.39) time of 53.33. He narrowly edged Army Joe Daniels for the win by two hundredths of a second.

Army winnowed the margin down to just three points â€"â€" 67-64 â€"â€" by taking the top-three spots in the 200 butterfly, but Navy answered by matching that effort in the 50 free. Connor Davis (Jr., Shelton, Conn.) won the event in a time of 20.49, Zach Piedt (So., Fort Mill, S.C.) was second in a clocking of 20.51 and Bundas was third with his time of 20.55. Navy was able to extend its lead out to 99-70 when Buchter (344.25), Kaszubowski (324.97) and Belch (311.10) went 1-2-3, respectively, on the one-meter board.

"The 50 free and one-meter diving were huge," said Roberts. "Those results came at the perfect time."

The 100 free saw a tie for the win between Navy's Piedt and Army's Evin Rude as both touched the wall in a time of 44.76. Navy also placed third and fourth in the race to take a 110.5-77.5 advantage.

The teams traded wins in the next two events â€"â€" Army placing first and second in the 200 back, Brutkiewicz winning the 200 breast (1:55.14) â€"â€" to make the score 128.5-97.5. The Black Knights then chipped away at the margin in the next three events. Army would win the 500 free, the 100 fly â€"â€" by five-hundredths of a second â€"â€" and then place first, second and third in the 200 IM to close to within 145.5-137.5 heading into the final event, the 400 freestyle relay.

That score mean that the Mids had to either win the relay race or score two teams in it to secure the meet win. Navy's foursome of Joseph Jaime (Jr., San Antonio, Texas), Piedt, Ethan Whitaker (Jr., Chesterton, Ind.) and Davis would record a time of 2:56.43 to win the race by 2.14 seconds and break both the pool (2:57.66) and meet (2:57.05) records.

"Our diving was exceptional," said Roberts, "as were our relay teams. I'm really happy with how we started and closed the meet.

"We did some things during the meet that we expected to see, but there also is much that we know we need to improve upon if we want to reach our ultimate goals for this season. But getting this win headlined all of those goals, and we are very happy to have won it."

The Navy women's team took any drama out of the meet very early as the Mids won the first three and six of the first seven swimming events on the way to winning by at least 80 points for the 11th year in a row.

"It was a total team win today," said Navy women's swimming head coach John Morrison. "Beyond the final score, it is really satisfying to have received so many contributions to the victory."

The Mids broke the pool record (1:41.71) in the 200 medley relay as Biz Graeff (Jr., Canton, Ohio), Lauren Barber (So., New Wilmington, Pa.), Hannah Briant (So., Brielle, N.J.) and Kenzie Margroum (Sr., Fort Thomas, Ky.) combined for a time of 1:41.18 to win by over one-quarter of a second, then Maddie Runge (Fr., Cochranville, Pa.) posted a time of 9:58.44 to lead a 1-2-4 Navy finish. Casey Lawson (So., Spring Lake Heights, N.J.) followed by breaking the pool record (1:48.29) and bettering the NCAA B cut standard (1:47.99) in winning the 200 free by 1.6 seconds with her time of 1:47.64.

"Those early races set a great tone for our team," said Morrison. "We were a little tight in the beginning, but those races really settled us down and got us going in a very positive way. That carried over throughout the meet."

Army notched its first swimming victory of the meet when Kelly Hamilton won the 100 back by 1.34 seconds over Graeff, but Barber (1:01.41) and teammate Elyse MacIssac (Fr., Stafford, Va.) (1:02.55) started a new streak for the Mids with their 1-2 showing in the 100 breast. Delaney Walz (Fr., Mays Landing, N.J.) and Lauren Greenberg (So., Waxhaw, N.C.) also went 1-2 for the Mids in the next event, the 200 fly, with Walz's time of 1:59.29 bettering the pool standard (2:00.44), and then another 1-2 Navy finish followed in the 50 free. Margroum won the event in a time of 23.05, with Morrell finishing right behind her in a clocking of 23.07. That duo swapped places in the next event, the 100 free, as Morrell won in a time of 50.11 and Margroum was second with a clocking of 50.35.

Army won the next event, the 200 back, then Barber recorded a dominant win in the 200 breast. Her clocking of 2:13.75 broke the pool record (2:14.40), bettered the NCAA B cut standard (2:15.99) and gave her a 3.8-second margin of victory.

Runge followed by winning the 500 free by 1.22 second with her time of 4:52.08, then Briant (54.81) led a 1-2-3-4 Navy finish in the 100 fly. Barber was back in the pool for the final individual event of the meet, and she put another nine points on the board for the Mids as she won the 200 IM in a time of 2:00.36 by 2.6 seconds over teammate Kaitlyn O'Reilly (Jr., Farmington, Minn.).

The Mids would close the meet in style as their four swimmers â€"â€" Morrell, Kelly Harrington (Fr., Boca Raton, Fla.), Lawson and Margroum â€"â€" broke a pool record in the 400 free relay that stood for 40 years and was set by the 1976 U.S. Olympic Team. Navy's swimmers touched the wall in a time of 3:21.62 to win the race by 1.6 seconds and better the record time of 3:22.76 by 1.14 seconds.

"What a great way to cap the meet," said Morrison of the 400 free relay team. "We had a lot of great efforts throughout the day. So many on the team can honestly say they had a hand in this win. I am very pleased we performed as we did."

The Navy men will next compete Jan. 7 at Princeton, then both Navy teams will play host to North Carolina on Jan. 14.