ANNAPOLIS, Md. –– The Navy swimming and diving teams will open their respective 2020-21 seasons Saturday when the Mids play host to Virginia in Lejeune Hall. The event gets underway at 12:30 p.m.
Due to Navy's COVID protocols, the meet will be CLOSED to all fans, including members of the Brigade of Midshipmen and both parents and families of the competitors from Navy and Virginia.
Live results from the meet can be accessed
HERE through the link at NavySports.com.
Men's Meet Preview
Navy posted an 11-3 record in dual meets during the 2019-20 season, a year that was capped by the program winning the Patriot League title for the 17th time in its 17 years of competing at the meet.
The Mids return 10 swimmers who have won at least one event at the Patriot League Championship in their careers, including seven who have won an individual event. Headlining that list is
Ryan Waters (Sr., Basking Ridge, N.J.) with six individual event titles and eight victories in all at the league meet. Additionally,
Caleb Mauldin (Jr., Chesapeake, Va.) has claimed six event wins, four of which were individual event titles,
Micah Oh (Sr., Kent, Ohio) has won two individual and two relay races at the league championship and
Luke Johnson (Sr., Charlotte, N.C.) has won the 1650 freestyle crown in each of his three previous years.
Navy won 12 individual events and four relay events at the 2020 Patriot League Championship. Of those 12 individual event wins, the lone competitor who won a title and is not on this year's team is 2020 graduate and four-time league diver of the year
Bradley Buchter.
Virginia finished in second place at the 2020 Atlantic Coast Conference Championship. The Cavaliers are ranked 13th in the initial College Swimming and Diving Coaches Association of America national poll that was recently released.
The Mids lead the all-time series with Virginia by an 8-5 count. The programs last met during the 2014-15 season.
Women's Meet Preview
Navy compiled a 10-2 record during the 2019-20 regular season before it earned its ninth-straight Patriot League Championship.
Returning for Navy are nine swimmers and divers who have won gold medals at the Patriot League Championship. This includes individual event winners in
Martina Thomas (Jr., Fayetteville, Ark.),
Sydney Harrington (Jr., Fairfax, Va.),
Hannah Montau (Jr., Germantown, Md.) and
Meghan Gerdes (Sr., Spring, Texas). Thomas has won six individual events and 13 titles in all, Harrington won three individual events and one relay event last year, Montau has claimed three diving event crowns and Gerdes won the three-meter event at the 2018 championship.
Navy as a team won eight individual events and 12 titles overall at last year's championship. Only
Erin Scudder, a member of the Class of 2020 who won the 1650 freestyle event a year ago, is not among the returning Mids who won an individual event last season.
Virginia won the Atlantic Coast Conference title a year ago. The Cavaliers enter the 2020-21 season as the nation's top-ranked team in the first CSCAA poll of the season.
Virginia has won each of the four previous meets with Navy, with the last dual between the teams taking place during the 2013-14 season.
