UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. –– The Navy swimming and diving teams opened their 2021-22 seasons with losses at Penn State, Saturday at McCoy Natatorium in University Park, Pa.  The Nittany Lions won the men's meet by the score of 181-119 and the women's dual by the score of 209-81.

"While we would have loved to come away with a win today, we were pleased with the way we competed against a Big Ten Conference team," said Navy women's swimming head coach John Morrison.  "Hats off to the Penn State coaches as their team was very sharp for the first meet of a season.  It was a great meet to see where we are in training, and it really helped to define our way forward.  We learned a ton and can't was to get back to work."

"It was excellent to be back in competition," said Navy men's swimming head coach Bill Roberts.  "The teams on each side of the pool were ready to compete today.  Penn State deserves a lot of credit as they were really strong from the beginning to the end of the meet.  We were pleased with the times and scores today, though we were hoping to be more competitive against Penn State.  This was a very good starting point for our program as we look forward to our upcoming meets."

Sydney Harrington (Sr., Fairfax, Va.) was Navy's lone multi-event winner on the day as she placed first in both the 100 (54.60) and 200 (2:00.82) butterfly races.  Joining her from the women's team in winning an event was diver Hannah Montau (Sr., Germantown, Md.) as she scored 309.08 points to win the three-meter board.

Martina Thomas (Sr., Fayetteville, Ark.) placed second in both the 200 and 500 freestyle races, Montau won the silver medal on the one-meter board, Emily Brockman (Sr., Bend, Ore.) finished in second place in the 200 breaststroke and Haley Harris (Fr., St. John's, Fla.) was the second-place finisher in the 200 individual medley.

The Navy men's team combined to win four events on the day.  Everet Andrew (Fr., Wilmette, Ill.) won the 1000 freestyle (9:25.25), Caleb Mauldin (Sr., Chesapeake, Va.) took first place in the 100 backstroke (48.76), Garrett McGovern (So., Nashville, Tenn.) won the 500 freestyle (4:33.02) and Pat Colwell (So., New Canann, Conn.) was the winner of the 100 butterfly race (48.66).

Navy also recorded eight second-place showings during the men's meet.  This included McGovern finishing second to Andrew in the 1000 free, Andrew placing second to McGovern in the 500 free, Mauldin touching the wall second in the 200 backstroke and Jackson Schultz (Jr., Millersville, Md.) earning second-place showings in the 100 and 200 breaststroke events.

Navy will open the home portion of its schedule Friday when it plays host to Towson and Johns Hopkins.

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