NEW YORK, N.Y. –– The Navy men's swimming and diving team (8-2) placed at least first and second in each of the last four events to defeat Columbia (2-5), 169-131, Saturday afternoon at Uris Natatorium in New York City.

The Mids outscored the Lions, 59-15, over the last four events to rally for the victory.

"We were very happy with today's performance and how the team responded after Friday's loss to Princeton," said Navy head coach Bill Roberts.  "Historically we have struggled at Columbia (the Mids had lost the last four meets in the series that were contested in New York).  It says a lot about the team for them to bounce back from Friday's meet and today's deficit to earn the win."

Navy put together a good start to the meet as it won each of the first four swimming events to take a 57-36 lead.  After Columbia placed first and second in the three-meter diving event, the swimming events began with a Navy victory by three-tenths of a second in the 200 medley relay.  Garrett McGovern (So., Nashville, Tenn.) followed with a time of 9:25.03 to win the 1000 freestyle by two seconds over teammate Everet Andrew (Fr., Wilmette, Ill.).  Conor Cranfield (Fr., Fort Myers, Fla.) won the next event, the 200 freestyle, with a time of 1:40.09.  Columbia's Kyle Won finished second by 1.17 seconds in the 200 free, but Navy swimmers claimed both third and fourth place to make it a 14-5 advantage for the Mids in the event.  The run of success by the Mids ended with Caleb Mauldin (Sr., Chesapeake, Va.) winning the 100 backstroke by seven-tenths of a second with a time of 49.95.

The next Navy victory also was recorded by Mauldin when he won the 100 freestyle in a time of 45.71 to start the second half of the meet.  That was the lone win for the Mids during a nine-event stretch, but he keyed a 1-2-3 Navy finish in the event.  The Lions followed with a 1-2-3 effort in the 200 backstroke, then Columbia placed first and fourth in the 200 breaststroke to take a 116-110 advantage.

Back came Navy with a 1-2-3 finish in the 500 freestyle, with the three Mids touching the wall within a span of 61-hundredths of a second.  Cranfield won the race, 4:33.36, McGovern placed second, 4:33.95, then Andrew finished with the bronze medal, 4:33.97.  The 100 fly followed and it saw Pat Colwell (So., New Canaan, Conn.) win in a time of 48.93 and teammate Jonah Harm (So., Placerville, Calif.) finish second in a clocking of 49.08.

The final individual event of the meet was the 200 individual medley.  Navy's Jackson Schultz (Jr., Millersville, Md.) posted a time of 1:51.00 to win the race by one-quarter of a second over teammate Ethan Tack (Sr., Dix Hills, N.Y.).  Along with a fourth-place finish in the event by Richie Trentalange (So., Leonardo, N.J.), the Mids surpassed the 151-point mark to secure the victory.  Navy would close the meet by placing first and second in the 400 freestyle relay.

Navy will close its regular season on Jan. 29 when the Mids play host to the Navy Invitational.