ANNAPOLIS, Md. –– The Navy (11-3) men's swimming and diving team placed first and second in 10 events to close the regular season with a 200-100 victory over Columbia (4-3), Friday afternoon at Lejeune Hall in Annapolis.  The result snapped a three-meet losing streak in the series for the Mids.

"Today was a collaborative effort from the whole team, but led by our senior class in the last dual meet of their careers," said Navy assistant coach Mark Liscinsky.  "The seniors have had some great meets against Columbia over the last three seasons but fell short each time.  The rest of the team competed their hearts out to give them this victory."

After the Lions won the opening 200 medley relay by three-tenths of a second, Luke Johnson (Jr., Charlotte, N.C.) placed first and Billy Cadigan (Jr., Lutherville, Md.) finished in second place in the 1000 freestyle.  Johnson posted a time of 9:16.58 to win the race by 21 seconds.  Columbia won the next race, the 200 freestyle, but Navy swimmers touched the wall in second, third and fourth places to give up just one point of its advantage.  

Navy would take control of the meet in the next three events.  Caleb Mauldin (So., Chesapeake, Va.) led a 1-2-3 finish for the Mids in the 100 backstroke with his time of 49.00.  Dean Nguyen (Jr., Seattle, Wash.) followed by winning the 100 breaststroke (55.01) with teammate Chris Bondarowicz (Jr., Scotch Plains, N.J.) placing second (56.39).  The ensuing event, the 200 butterfly, was won by Micah Oh (Jr., Kent, Ohio) in a time of 1:47.65 with Ethan Tack (So., Dix Hills, N.Y.) finishing in second place (1:48.95).

"Having the start that we did today was big," said Liscinsky.  "Columbia had some strong performances, but we were able to continually stretch the lead."

The Lions claimed victories in the two sprint freestyle races, but those wins were offset by a 1-2 Navy finish in the one-meter diving event.  Bradley Buchter (Sr., Hickory, N.C.) posted a score of 414.90 points to win the event by 84 points over Patrick Carter (Jr., West Islip, N.Y.).

Dominick Wallace (Jr., La Jolla, Calif.) won the 200 back for Navy (1:47.07), with Mauldin earning the silver medal in the race (1:49.14).  Nguyen and Bondarowicz repeated their placings in the 200 breaststroke, then Johnson won the 500 freestyle by three seconds (4:31.44).  James Wilson (Sr., Lancaster, Pa.) followed with a 49.42 to win the 100 butterfly by seven-tenths of a second, then Tack led a 1-2-3 Navy finish in the 200 individual medley.  He recorded a time of 1:51.50 to take the race by 1.5 seconds over Oh and by 2.2 seconds over Mike Jeschke (Fr., Augusta, Ga.).  

Buchter would win the three-meter diving event with a score of 383.85.  Finishing in second place was Carter (307.20) and Navy's Jake Hedrick (Jr., Hummelstown, Pa.) placed third (305.63).

Columbia closed the meet by winning the 400 freestyle relay.

"This meet was a true testament to the training the team has done all year long," said Liscinsky, "which can be attributed to the leadership on the team.  It has been an honor to work with this group of guys.  We are blessed to be able to walk onto the pool deck each day and know that they are going to give you everything they have.  We still have many goals ahead of ourselves for the remainder of the season, and our staff is very excited to see what the team will do with the opportunities they have to reach them."

Both Navy teams will play host to Bucknell, Delaware, Holy Cross, Lafayette, Lehigh and Shippensburg Saturday at noon in the non-scoring Navy Invite.  Then the Mids will turn their attention to the Feb. 19-22 Patriot League Championship in Lejeune Hall.