Final Stats

ANNAPOLIS, Md. â€"â€" The Navy swimming and diving teams solidified their respective advantages Friday on day three at the Patriot League Championship in Lejeune Hall. With one day remaining in the meet, the Navy men have accrued 694.5 points while the women have tallied 650.5 points. Army West Point ranks second to the Mids in both the men's (438) and women's (361) standings.

Both Navy teams captured five event titles Friday â€"â€" the women competed in six events, the men seven. Navy placed first, second and third in the women's 200 free, the men's 200 free, the women's 100 breast and the men's one-meter diving final, and placed first, second and fourth in the men's 100 butterfly race. The Mids also won both editions of the 200 freestyle relay.

"This was one of the best Fridays we have had at the meet," said Navy head coach John Morrison, who is on the verge of winning the league title for the fifth-straight season. "Usually it is one of our weaker days. We raced hard this morning and even though we were a little disappointed in some of our closing efforts, we put ourselves in good position tonight.

"You could really feel the excitement in our bench area. Our men's and women's teams were really feeding off of each other. It was very inspiring for both teams to be in our bench area."

"Today was one of the more exciting and enjoyable days I have experienced here at this meet," said Roberts, who is on the eve of winning the Patriot League title for the 13th time in 13 years of competing at the championship. "Both Navy teams were just electric. It is hard to put words on the day that everybody had. I'm pretty proud of everyone."

The 400 individual medley was the first event of the night. Kaitlyn O'Reilly won the women's final in an NCAA B cut time of 4:17.68, with teammate Jenny Smith placing second in another B cut time of 4:18.90.

"Kaitlyn swam her best time to win the event," said Morrison, "and Jenny, who has been pretty sick this week, really stepped up to finish second."

The top finisher for the Mids in the men's 400 IM was Brayden Lauffer, who finished in third place with a time of 3:50.90. That effort placed him 1.45 seconds in back of Bucknell's Chris Devlin (3:49.04) and seven-tenths of a second behind second-place finisher Garrett Chin from Boston (3:49.76). Lauffer's time also was an NCAA B cut qualifying time.

Joining Lauffer in the final for Navy was Michael Velazquez, who placed eighth with a time of 4:01.75.

"Great start to the night," said Roberts. "Kenny Parker in the B final (won) dropped two seconds from this morning, so I can't ask for much more than that. In the final, Brayden was terrific. He raced really well. Played it a little safe on the front end, but that allowed him to come home strong on the back end. It was a great top-three finish."

A great race took place in the final of the 100 butterfly. Army West Point's Molly Mucciarione was the top swimmer in the morning prelims with a time of 54.40, while Navy's Rachael Dudley was third this morning with a time of 54.67. Mucciarione led Dudley by 35-hundredths of a second at the midpoint of the race, but Dudley roared back to better Mucciarione by over six-tenths of a second over the last 50 yards to win with a time of 53.95. Mucciarione would place second with a posting of 54.31, with both of their respective times bettering the NCAA B cut standard.

Dudley had a pair of teammates in the championship final, and the duo of Hanna Briant and Hannah Gillcrist tied for fourth place with identical times of 54.93.

"What a great race between two seniors (Dudley and Mucciarione) who have been going at it for four years in our dual meet and at the league championship," said Morrison. "Those two have been going back-and forth throughout their careers. It was fantastic for Rachael to end her 100 fly career with the win and a great time."

Navy men's team captain Jonathan Debaugh earned the title in the 100 fly with a new school, league and meet record time of 47.01. That effort bettered the seven-year old standards of 47.33 set by Navy's Adam Meyer. Placing second to Debaugh was teammate Ryan Bailey in a time of 47.42, with fellow Mid Hayes McCullagh posting a time of 48.17 to finish in fourth place.

Each of those clockings were NCAA B cut times.

"That was a pretty exciting race," said Roberts of the 100 fly final, which featured three Mids and four members of the Army West Point team. "That was one of those events tonight everyone was eager to see. I think a lot of things got them to win the event, but a few things were being good while underwater and good race strategy. Credit to all three up top, especially Jon with the win."

Navy accounted for half of the finalists in the women's 200 freestyle and five of the eight swimmers in the men's 200 free final. The Mids would claim the gold, silver and bronze medals in both events.

Kenzie Margroum led the way in the women's race as she posted a winning and new Navy, league and meet record time of 1:45.87. Her effort bested the six-year old mark of 1:46.17 set by Navy's Tara Chapmon. Margroum needed to go that fast to earn the win as teammates Maddi Thompson placed second (1:47.65) and Casey Lawson finished in third place (1:48.67). Additionally, Emily Ranzau placed sixth with her clocking of 1:49.26.

"We came into tonight thinking we could be pretty good in this event based on how we swam in the 800 freestyle relay the other night," said Morrison. "Kenzie broke a formidable record in winning the event. It was great to see Maddi finish second, and Casey showed that she is ready to take the reigns in the event for us next year."

Tom Duvall set the Navy, league and meet record of 1:35.20 at the 2015 league championship. He would tie his own marks in winning the event again this season. Noah Martin finished second to his teammate with a time of 1:36.29, with Joseph Jaime taking third with a posting of 1:36.74. Also for Navy, Ethan Whitaker took fifth place with a time of 1:38.46 and Alex Nickell finished sixth with an effort of 1:38.59.

"Very exciting," said Roberts of the 200 free. "We had a lot of guys in there. What we were hoping for was having smart swims and dropping times. Tom was very good. His third 50 when he went 28 was the best he has ever been on the third 50. To be able to tie how own record is something to be pretty happy with."

It was a 1-2-3 Navy finish in the third-straight event when Lauren Barber, Ellen Bradford and Gillcrist claimed the top-three spots on the podium in the 100 breaststroke. Barber broke the meet (1:01.23, Dory Isaacs, American, 2009) and pool (1:01.30, her own, December of 2015) records in winning the event with a time of 1:00.77, Bradford posted a time of 1:01.83 to place second and Gillcrist finished in third place with her clocking of 1:01.86. Also, Brooke Bailey placed seventh for the Mids with a time of 1:04.50.

"Lauren had a breakthrough swim," said Morrison. "It was great to see her put that time out there and it really sets herself up well for tomorrow. Another awesome job by Ellen, and what a tough double this evening for Hanna."

Another great race took place in the men's 100 breaststroke, but this time the Mids were narrowly on the short end of the result. Loyola's Ben Cono posted a time of 52.92 to edge Navy's Marlin Brutkiewicz for the title by nine-tenths of a second (53.01), with both times being NCAA B cut efforts. Adding to Navy's point total in the event was Morgan De Jong, who placed fifth with a time of 54.84.

"Hats off to the whole field," said Roberts. "The announcer said it best at the start of the race in that it was a real competitive field. We think we could have been a little better, but credit to Cono. He had a great race, and our congratulations to him."

Navy also placed second in the next event, the women's 100 backstroke. Bucknell's Emma Levendoski won her fourth-straight title in the event with a time of 53.95, while Biz Graeff placed second for the Mids with a time of 55.08. Also, Navy's Ally Warnimont took fourth in the final with her time of 55.36.

"Ally had a little slip in her start this morning," said Morrison, "but she corrected it and came back well tonight. Biz had a fantastic swim. She too was working on some things with her start. This was not one of our deeper events so we really needed these two to step up as they did."

Navy's winning ways resumed in the men's 100 backstroke as David Carlson posted a time of 47.88 to win the final by seven-tenths of a second.

"The 100 back was a great way to end the individual portion of this evening," said Roberts. "David had a couple of challenging swims and didn't do as well as he was hoping. He came back tonight and really showed what he is made of. Just an incredible young man. For him to get back to where we thought he could be tonight and get the win was great."

The lone diving event contested Friday saw Navy divers be the top-three point producers in both the preliminary round and the final. Joe Kaszubowski edged Nate Belch in the afternoon by four points, but Belch got the better of Kaszubowski in the finals by six points. Belch posted a score of 327.50 to win the event over Kaszubowski's tally of 321.40. Rounding out the trio of Mids was Frank Love with his score of 298.60 points.

"To go 1-2-3 at a conference meet is just amazing," said Navy diving coach Rich MacDonald. "It is hard to describe how proud I am of each of those men. Frank had to do his hardest dive for a lot of points to stay in third and he did an inward two and a half for seven and halfs and eights. Nate failed a dive in prelims and came back to do a great dive in the finals. Joe, I say it all the time, he was just consistent the whole day. To have Joe win one meter and Nate win the three meter was pretty special."

"Great morning and night by our divers," said Roberts.

The evening ended with records falling for both Navy teams as they swept the 200 freestyle relay crowns.

The Navy women's team of Thompson, Briant, Warnimont and Margroum posted a time of 1:30.94 to win the race by 1.16 seconds and break the school (1:31.63, 2010), pool (same), league (1:31.57, Colgate, 2009) and meet (same) records.

"Maddi went under 23 seconds for the first time in her career yesterday in the 50 free," said Morrison, "but was disqualified for her start. She came back today to again go under 23 seconds, which was incredible, so that really got things rolling for us. Then it went 22, 22, 22 for the other three swimmers. We had been hunting down this record for awhile, and we are really proud to have finally gotten it."

Not to be outdone, the Navy men â€"â€" Joseph Jaime, Connor Davis, Duvall and Michael Bundas â€"â€" touched the wall in a time of 1:19.14 to win the final by just under one second and break the meet record time of 1:19.54 set by four Mids in 2014.

"The relay was a lot of fun to watch," said Roberts. "We knew there were a couple of competitive teams. Having the guys in the right order was really important. All four did a wonderful job, but Duvall on that third leg just put us in a position to let Michael bring it home for the win. And Joseph's lead-off time was the best time (in the field). That really was important, too."

Morrison and Roberts shared similar ideas as to what their messages would be to their teams Saturday.

"It is a 0-0 game," said Morrison. "We have nothing to lose and everything to win. We prepare all season for Saturday morning. We want to put ourselves in a position in the morning to have a fantastic night."

"The message is we have to walk out onto the pool deck in the morning and the score is 0-0," said Roberts. "As far as points go, if they are looking at the scoreboard we are not going to have a great day. If we walk in focused on the races, then hopefully we can continue the momentum from this morning into tonight and finish off the meet in a really exciting fashion. We have some great events tomorrow, ones we have been waiting 364 days for. I'm confident the guys are going to come in with the right approach, but we have to remind them to not get ahead of themselves."

The championship closes Saturday with trial heats starting at 10:30 a.m. and finals starting at 6 p.m.

Women's Standings
1. 650.5 - Navy
2. 361 - Army West Point
3. 343.5 - Boston
4. 282 - Bucknell
5. 262 - Lehigh
6. 144 - Colgate
7. 135 - Loyola
8. 114 - American
9. 87 - Lafayette
10. 63 - Holy Cross

Men's Standings
1. 694.5 - Navy
2. 438 - Army West Point
3. 358.5 - Boston
4. 323 - Bucknell
5. 221.5 - Loyola
6. 162 - Lehigh
7. 138.5 - Colgate
8. 117 - Lafayette
9. 78 - Holy Cross
10. 63 - American