Final Stats

ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- A very productive morning session led to a strong evening for the Navy swimming and diving teams Thursday at the Patriot League Championship being contested in Lejeune Hall. The Mids combined to place a meet-high 25 competitors into championship finals to allow them to expand their respective leads after the second day of the four-day meet.

Navy's women's team, which accounted for 16 of the 32 championship finalists Thursday, has totaled 354.5 points and leads second-place Boston by 111 points. The Navy men, whose nine championship finalists were the most of any team (Army West Point was second with five finalists), has accrued 340.5 points and is 132.5 points ahead of the second-place Black Knights.

Navy totaled five titles in the nine events contested on the night.

"I was really proud of everyone today," said Navy men's swimming head coach Bill Roberts. "I think the meet got more competitive in a lot of events from just one year ago; much stronger, much deeper. I think our guys and our women just came out and responded well. Overall, very happy with the efforts, very happy with the performances."

"It was an outstanding day," said Navy women's swimming head coach John Morrison. "One of the best first full days we have had. To put four up in the finals of the 500 and one in the consolations, that just tipped things off real well. And certainly in the IM to have everyone swim in the final heat was huge. And in the 50 free, we have never put five into the final of the event before. Just real proud of everyone."

The night began with the 500 freestyle events. The women's final saw Boston's Stephanie Nasson edge Navy's Rachael Dudley for the title. Nasson posted a time of 4:47.04, with Dudley recording a 4:47.22. Both clockings were under the NCAA B cut qualifying time. Dudley was joined in the final by teammates Sara Lopez in fourth place (4:50.87), Emily Ranzau in a tie for sixth (4:51.29) and Jenny Smith in eighth (4:52.30).

"Lauren Greenberg swam her best time in the consolation final of the 500 free, and that kind of set the tone for the event and the night," said Morrison. "And then Rachael raced her heart out with her best time by almost two seconds. That kept the momentum going as did all of the women in the 500. They just went after it and had a lot of fun."

The men's edition of the event featured four Mids competing in the event, with three of them going on to claim the gold, silver and bronze medals. Noah Martin won the event in a time of 4:17.96, Alex Nickell followed in second with a 4:21.48 and Tom Duvall finished in third place with a clocking of 4:21.58. Additionally, teammate Kenneth Parker finished in fifth place with an effort of 4:24.97.

Each of the five times recorded by the Mids bettered the NCAA B cut standard.

"It was a much anticipated race on this side of the pool," said Roberts. "The guys put themselves in position this morning without having to really work too hard. So we were maybe hoping for a little more tonight. I'm very happy for Noah, Alex was just a little ahead of his best time ---- he took it out well ---- and Kenny, he dropped more time from the morning and had a fabulous day. Tom, the bar is set very high for him. I think he was a little disappointed, but I'm not disappointed in his efforts in any way shape or form."

Navy's Lauren Barber entered Thursday morning's trial heats of the 200 individual medley as the favorite after her having posted the top time in the league this season of 2:00.36. She would then enter the evening session as an even stronger favorite after breaking the league and meet record of 1:59.34 with her clocking of 1:58.42 in the morning. Barber posted an even faster time of 1:57.89 Thursday night to lower her record of seven hours and win the final by nearly five seconds over teammate Ellen Bradford, who placed second with a time of 2:02.29.

The final also featured Navy's Kaitlyn O'Reilly placing fourth (2:03.26) and Casey Lawson taking fifth place (2:03.34).

"Lauren had a great swim," said Morrison. "Certainly one of her best times. Breaking two league records on the day was fantastic for her. And Ellen had another best time. She had been searching for that for a few years."

The Mids advanced two of their swimmers into the championship final of the men's 200 individual medley. Brayden Lauffer was edged for the title by two-tenths of a second by Boston's Quinn Smith. Lauffer recorded an NCAA B cut time of 1:48.05 to finish only in back of Quinn's 1:47.85. Additionally, Morgan De Jong posted a time of 1:48.99 to place sixth. Also, Hayes McCullagh won the consolation final in a time of 1:48.23 that would have placed third in the championship final.

"Very exciting event both this morning and tonight," said Roberts. "Watched a couple of those early heats. Our guys recognized that this got really fast, really quick. That was exciting, and our guys responded to that. We felt we did a real good job this morning. Tonight, it was an interesting mix of swims. Morgan, he got a little tight toward one point in his race and didn't finish as we were hoping, but he had his best time so we are happy with that. Hayes was terrific. That was no surprise he could swim that fast. We were hoping for it in the morning, but the fact that he did it tonight was awesome. Brayden has been a workhorse all year long. That swim was a reflection of how much he has put into his training."

Navy's women's team qualified five swimmers for the championship final of the 50 freestyle. Kenzie Margroum claimed the top spot on the podium with an NCAA B cut time of 22.71. She edged Lehigh's Kaitlyn Ruffing for the title by 17-hundredths of a second. Also scoring points for the Mids in the event were Ally Warnimont, who placed fourth (23.27), fifth-place finisher Hannah Briant (23.39) and Biz Graeff, who finished in seventh place (23.52).

Navy's additional qualifier, Maddi Thompson, was disqualified after placing third in the final due to her rocking on the start.

"The 50 freestylers came out with a vengeance," said Morrison. "They just showed we have a great sprint freestyle program too."

Three Mids advanced out of the morning trial heats into the final of the men's 50 freestyle. Less than four-tenths of a second separated the event winner ---- Army West Point's Brandon McCredie (20.13) ---- and eighth place ---- McCredie's teammate Chris Szekely (20.50). Joseph Jaime was the top finisher for Navy with his third-place time of 20.27. Teammate Michael Bundas tied for fourth place with a clocking of 20.37, and Connor Davis finished in seventh place with a time of 20.43.

"That was great," said Roberts of the 50 free. "Those guys have really improved. If you would have told me at the beginning of the year these were the times they would go, I would have taken it. They all got better, they all worked hard; a real cohesive group. Great group of guys. I couldn't be more proud of them."

Navy placed a trio of competitors into the championship final of the lone diving event contested on the night, the women's one-meter event. In a close final that saw six points separate the first and third-place divers, Boston entrants Kyra Tatlow and Kalli Roebelen would place first (269.60) and second (263.90), respectively, with Navy's Julie Jesse finishing third with a score of 263.95. Amanda Zerphy earned fifth place for the Mids with a score of 240.50, and teammate Hannah Collins took seventh place with a six-dive tally of 219.45 points.

"I thought today our divers dove very well, and, more importantly, very consistently," said Navy diving coach Rich MacDonald. "Nobody really missed a dive. It was a pretty tight competition. In all of my years of coach I don't think I have had three women's divers make the championship final.

"Hannah probably had the most consistent day of them all. She had a great day. Amanda stepped up and dove even better in finals than she did in prelims and moved up to fifth from eight. It was really close from first to third, so I know Julie and I are a little disappointed with third, but she dove really, really well."

The evening was capped with the 400 medley relay events, both of which were won by open water by Navy's teams.

The Navy women held a close lead after the opening backstroke leg of the race, which was swum by Graeff. Barber quickly gave the Mids command of the contest as she left the water after the breaststroke leg with a nearly three-second cushion. Briant gained even more water on the field in the butterfly portion of the event, which set Thompson up with a 3.5-second advantage heading into the freestyle anchor leg. Thompson continued the efforts of her teammates and touched the wall in a Lejeune Hall record time of 3:39.01, which was 4.88-seconds ahead of the second-place Army West Point team.

"We were hoping to be near 3:40 in the relay," said Morrison. "We thought that was what it would take to win, and to be able to break the league record was big for us. We knew we kind of had all of the pieces, but they had to be all on. It was a solid lead-off with Biz and Lauren had perhaps the fastest breaststroke split in league history. Hannah showed she had a lot of fight left in her after a long day, and Maddi bounced back from her DQ in the 50 to step up and go 48 which may be the fastest split of all time. To be able to come back after her disappointment showed a lot of resilience."

The men's version of the event turned into a very similar race. David Carlson gave Navy a three-tenths of a second lead after the backstroke portion of the event, then Marlin Brutkiewicz provided some separation for the Mids from the rest of the field in the breaststroke leg. His time of 52.85 gave Navy a 2.48-second advantage at the midpoint of the contest. Jonathan Debaugh then turned the event into a race against the clock with a butterfly leg that was more than two seconds faster than any other swimmer. Duvall anchored the race with a strong freestyle leg and touched the wall in a meet-record time of 3:10.70, which was nearly five-seconds in front of the second-place foursome from Army West Point.

"Jon was electric tonight," said Roberts. "It is his senior leadership. He is the team captain and he wants to represent the Academy and his program and make his guys proud. That's what he is doing; he is just inspiring everybody."

The Patriot League Championship continues both Friday and Saturday with trial heats at 10:30 a.m. and finals at 6 p.m. Tickers are available both online at NavySports.com and at the ticket counter on the second floor of Lejeune Hall.

Women's Standings
1. 354.5 - Navy
2. 243.5 - Boston
3. 167 - Army West Point
4. 152 - Lehigh
5. 143 - Bucknell
6. 90 - Colgate
7. 87 - Loyola
8. 58 - Lafayette
9. 55 - American
10. 49 - Holy Cross

Men's Standings
1. 340.5 - Navy
2. 208 - Army West Point
3. 197.5 - Boston
4. 160 - Bucknell
5. 132 - Lehigh
6. 121.5 - Loyola
7. 90.5 - Colgate
8. 75 - Lafayette
9. 53 - Holy Cross
10. 32 - American