ANNAPOLIS, Md. –– The Navy swimming and diving teams posted a sweep of Army Thursday evening at Lejeune Hall in Annapolis.  The women's team (7-1) recorded a 230-70 win to earn the program's 33rd victory in a row over the Black Knights (3-5), and the men's team (7-1) tallied a 158-142 victory to record the program's 31st straight win over Army (3-3).

The winning streaks rank first and second, respectively, for the longest in any sports in the Army-Navy rivalry.

The results from the night improves Navy's record in this year's Army-Navy Star Series, presented by USAA, to 8-1, and the all-sport series between the rivals now stands at 11-1 in favor of the Mids.

The women's team went over 200 points against Army for the fourth time in the last five years.  The lone time in this half-decade span in which the Mids did not accrue 200 points was in the 2018-19 meet when they totaled 199.5 points.

The men's team had its closest meet in the series since posting a 156.5-143.5 win during the 2016-17 dual.  Tonight, three years ago (173) and five years ago are the only times in the last decade in which the Mids did not score at least 190 points against Army.

"What an amazing environment," said Navy women's swimming head coach John Morrison.  "We were so thankful to have had fans, families, alumni and Midshipmen in Lejeune Hall.  It was awesome.  

"We are very proud of our Class of 2022.  They lead from the front and really set the tone for the underclass."

"I thought our guys were really good where they needed to be," said Navy men's swimming head coach Bill Roberts.  "We were hoping for a little bit more in certain events, and if you misfire in a competitive meet like this, you are going to pay for it in points."

"As usual," said Navy diving coach Rich MacDonald, "it was electric in Lejeune Hall the entire night.  They saw a really exciting meet.  I am super proud of how we competed."

The Navy men never trailed, but never had any kind of comfortable lead, either.  The Mids placed first and third in the opening 200 medley relay to jump out to a 13-4 lead.  The foursome of Caleb Mauldin, Derek Nguyen, Jonah Harm and Callen Aulizia posted a time of 1:25.02 to win the race by nearly three seconds and break the Navy, Lejeune Hall and Patriot League record of 1:25.28 and the meet standard of 1:26.53.

A great race followed in the 1000 freestyle as Navy's Garrett McGovern held the lead for the majority of the race only to lose it with about 250 yards to go to Army's Ian Tansill.  Still trailing by half a body length as he neared the last flip turn, McGovern stormed back to win the race by three-tenths of a second with a time of 8:59.83.  The Mids also placed third and fourth in the race to extend their lead out to 27-9.

The margin quickly evaporated as Army took the top-three placings in the 200 freestyle to draw to within 30-25 of Navy.

Mauldin, who staked the 200 medley relay team to a sizable lead as the first swimmer in the water, had another great swim in the 100 backstroke.  He posted a time of 45.82 to win the race by three seconds.  His effort also broke the meet record (46.78) and improved upon his own Navy, Lejeune Hall and Patriot League record of 46.16.  That time currently ranks 109th nationally this year.  An additional third-place showing in the event gave Navy a 42-32 lead.

Army's Evan Zhang held off Navy's Jonah Harm to win the 100 breaststroke by one-tenth of a second (53.39-53.49).  It was Zhang's third victory in the event in his career, which is a new Army-Navy meet record for career wins.  But with second, third and fourth-place finishes by the Mids, the Black Knights gained only one point in the team scoring (51-42).

The 200 fly followed and it saw Mids place first, second and third to stretch their lead out to 67-45.  Ethan Tack won the race in a time of 1:44.70, with Patrick Colwell placing second (1:46.59) and Ben Selnick finishing in third place (1:47.78), more than two seconds in front of Army's fourth-place swimmer.

Army gained one more point on Navy as the Black Knights placed first and fifth in the 50 freestyle.  Owen Harlow posted a time of 19.86 to edge Aulizia's time of 19.92.  However, the one-meter diving results saw Army place first and second in the event to make the score Navy 82, Army 68 at the midpoint of the event.  The Black Knights pulled even closer –– 86-83 –– when the second half of the meet began as they finished first, second and fourth in the 100 freestyle.  Harlow won his second sprint event of the meet with a time of 44.14.

Mauldin was able to earn a sweep of the backstroke events as he recorded a time of 1:43.70 to win the 200 back by 1.7 seconds.  It was his third career victory in the event in the series.  The Mids scored two more placings in the event to take a 100-88 lead.  But it was down to a 104-103 score after Army placed first, second and fourth in the 200 breaststroke.  Zhang won the event for a fourth year in a row, making him one of four swimmers in meet history to have earned four victories in the 200 breast.

Navy gained one point (114-112) on Army after Everet Andrew won the 500 freestyle with a time of 4:22.92, then the Mids placed first, second and third in an event for the second time in the meet as Jonah Harm, Colwell and Selnick claimed the top-three positions (47.32, 47.82, 48.71) in the 100 butterfly.  That gave Navy a 130-115 advantage.

The second diving event concluded and it saw Navy's George Moore win the three-meter board in a score of 325.35 and Zach Peng finish third (312.55).  The results pushed the lead out to 142-122.  

"It was a great result for George to win the three meter," said MacDonald.  "It was an upset based upon the scores posted entering the meet.  He dove very consistently and it was great for him to win the board."

With the magic number to clinch the team victory being 151 points, a win by Navy in the last individual event, the 200 individual medley, would secure the result.  Tack did just that, leading from start to finish and winning by 1.32 seconds with his time of 1:46.18.  

"Throughout the last few events," said Tack, who knew what a win by him would do, "guys kept coming up to me and saying, 'you really need to go fast in the last race.'  There was a little bit of pressure, but it didn't hit me until afterward when I was thinking, 'if I messed up there, that would have been really bad.'  I just tried to swim my own race.  I knew the two guys they had around me had just swam the 200 breaststroke, so I really tried to push it on the that leg of the race."

"The 1000 free was not looking like it was going our way," said Roberts in thinking of key moments from the meet.  "To see Garrett have that extra effort at the end was special and motivating for everybody.  Caleb coming back with statement wins in the backstroke.  The guys in both butterfly events were electric.  We were expecting big things there and they did not disappoint.  Ethan was unbelievable.  Certainly the three-meter diving was a great turnaround from the one-meter event."

Army would edge Navy by 15-hundredths of a second to win the 400 freestyle relay in the final event of the night.  Army never trailed at any of the time checks, and was in front by nearly one second heading into the last 50 yards.  Mauldin was Navy's anchor swimmer and he posted a blistering time of 42.40 –– he was the fastest swimmer on any leg of the race –– to barely be edged by Nick Isenhower.

Conversely to the close men's result, the Navy women's team won 15 events and placed at least first and second in 11 events to comfortably extend the longest winning streak in Army-Navy history.

The tone was set in the first race of the night as the Mids placed first (1:39.79) and second (1:41.26) in the 200 medley relay.  Finishing the event first was the team of Megan Murphy, Riley Gavigan, Sydney Harrington and Sarah Sorensen.  

"Our first relay team was outstanding," said Morrison.  "The team just kept rolling from there."

The first individual event of the night saw Cameron Horner place first (10:03.05) and teammate Rachel Schlemmer finish in second place (10:06.20) in the 1000 freestyle.  Navy kept things cruising along as Mids placed first, second, third and fourth in the 200 freestyle.  Martina Thomas had a three-second margin of victory over Gabi Baldwin with her effort of 1:45.13.  That clocking broke the meet record of 1:45.29 set by Thomas two years ago and made her the first swimmer to have won the 200 freestyle at four Army-Navy meets.

Army's Lauren Carag would win the 100 backstroke, but that was followed by a first, second and third-place effort by Navy in the 100 breaststroke.  Riley Gavigan claimed the victory with her time of 1:02.23, which gave her a six-tenths of a second win over Sydney Bare.  Harrington won the next event, the 200 butterfly, in a time of 1:55.60.  She won the race by 4.5 seconds over teammate Grace Hastings.  The last swimming event of the first half of the meet was the 50 freestyle.  Sorensen fell just short of her own meet record (22.94) in winning the race in a time of 22.96.  The win made Sorensen the second Mid and third swimmer in Army-Navy history to have won four 50 freestyle races.

The eighth and final event before intermission saw Hannah Montau score 329.10 points to win the three-meter diving event by 36 points and break the meet (319.20, set 16 years ago), Navy and Patriot League (326.85, set 12 years ago) records.

Sorensen earned her second sprint victory of the meet as she posted a time of 50.81 to edge Army's Sammie Edwards for the win by two-hundredths of a second.  After that close finish, Navy swimmers finished in the top-four positions in the 200 backstroke.  Baldwin won the race by 1.6 seconds with her time of 1:58.05.  Emily Brockman followed by winning the 200 breaststroke by 1.14 seconds thanks to her effort of 2:14.70.  Then Thomas led another 1-2-3-4 Navy finish in the 500 freestyle as her time of 4:49.36 gave her a seven-second cushion over Horner.

Harrington would win the second fly event of the night, the 100 fly, with a time of 52.37.  She bettered teammate Caroline Irwin's second-place time by 2.3 seconds to tie the record for the most career 100 fly wins at the Army-Navy meet with three.  Montau followed with her second record-breaking effort of the meet as she scored 304.70 points to win the one-meter board by 37 points with her tally of 304.70 points.  That broke the meet record of 287.48, which was set in 2005, the Navy record of 296.70, which was set 30 years ago, and the league record of 303.40, which was established in 2011.

"It was a great night for Hannah with her breaking all of those records," said MacDonald.  "And it was great to see Caroline Turner post scores that qualifies her for the NCAA Zone Championship."

Haley Harris earned her first victory in an Army-Navy meet as she touched the wall ahead of the rest of the field in the 200 individual medley with her effort of 2:02.16.  Then Navy's team of Thomas, Sorensen, Brooke West and Harrington combined for a time of 3:20.82 to win the 400 free relay by four seconds and just miss the meet record of 3:20.56.

The Navy teams will play host to George Washington Friday in two sessions of time trials before breaking for final exams and the holidays.