ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- A first and third-place finish in the meet-closing 400 freestyle relay gave the Navy men's swimming and diving team (2-0) victories over Penn State (1-1) and Boston College (1-3), Saturday at Lejeune Hall in Annapolis. The Mids edged the Nittany Lions by the score of 150-148 and defeated the Eagles by the count of 224-76.
The Navy women's swimming and diving team (1-1) split its meets on the day, winning a 181-119 decision over Boston College (2-2) and losing, 202.5-97.5, to Penn State (2-0).
"Today was an exceptionally exciting day in Lejeune Hall," said Navy men's swimming head coach
Bill Roberts. "First, there was a lot of energy in the venue just because it was the season opener. Next, having three programs and six teams present today along with additional people in stands made for a terrific environment. And third, there was a lot of great racing today. From the very first event where our women's 200 medley relay came from behind to tie for first to the final men's 400 free relay, it was just a fantastic day of exciting competition."
The men's meet was not decided until the final event. Navy's foursome of
Jonah Harm (Jr., Placerville, Calif.),
Austin Lockhart (So., Fort Mills, S.C.),
Patrick Colwell (Jr., New Canaan, N.J.) and
Everet Andrew (So., Wilmette, Ill.) posted a time of 258.89 to edge Penn State's team by just under two seconds to win the race. That left the score tied at 148-148, but Navy also placed third in the race to account for the final two points of the meet. The team of
Zach Stump (Fr., Westerville, Ohio),
Garrett McGovern (Jr., Nashville, Tenn.),
Eli Williams (Sr., Murrieta, Calif.) and
Paul Kinsella (Sr., Arlington, Va.) finished the race in a time of 3:03.10 to place third overall in the event.
Andrew, Colwell and Stump also combined for four individual event victories in the three-team meet. Andrew won the 200 free (1:38.01) and 100 free (44.66) races, Colwell touched the wall first in the 200 fly (1:48.13) and Stump won the 200 back (1:48.97).
In the women's meet, swimmer
Rachel Schlemmer (Jr., Sterling, Va.) and diver
Mackenzie Kim (Fr., Diamond Bar, Calif.) placed first overall in events. Schlemmer won the 1000 freestyle (10:23.77) and Kim won the three-meter board (269.35). Navy's 200 medley relay team of
Tiffany Shields (So., Escondido, Calif.),
Reagan Johnson (Sr., Charlotte, N.C.),
Caroline Irwin (So., Buford, Ga.) and
Hannah Pratt (Jr., Fishers, Ind.) posted a time of 1:43.38 to tie Penn State for the victory.
Members of the Navy women's team also placed second in five events.
Sarah Eldridge (Fr., Brielle, N.J.) was the silver medalist in the 1000 free (10:30.83), Johnson placed second in the 100 breast (1:04.14),
Lauren Walsh (Fr., Shelton, Conn.) was the runner-up in the 200 breast (2:21.99), Irwin took second in the 100 fly (56.80) and
Sarah Gurley (Jr., Oakton, Va.) finished in second place in the three-meter diving event (234.30).
Navy totaled 11 second-place showings in the men's competition. Included in those efforts were Andrew placing second in the 500 free (4:30.31), Stump earning second place in the 100 back (50.87),
Jackson Schultz (Sr., Millersville, Md.) finishing second in the 100 breast (54.77) and 200 individual medley (1:50.66) and
George Moore (Jr., New Canaan, Conn.) taking second place on both the one (274.65) and three-meter (303.70) diving boards.
"I would like to commend team captain
Nathan Roodzant (Sr., Newport Beach, Calif.) and his classmates for leading the way to get to this point," said Roberts. "And I would like to commend the entire program. Any time you get a meet that goes down to the last relay, it is due to a full team effort. I was really impressed with how well our guys fought to keep the meet close. We were behind in the score pretty much the entire meet. It was a huge testimony to their grit, will and brotherhood to make this happen. Regardless of outcome, I could not be more proud of how well they battled to represent our program and the Naval Academy today."
Navy's teams will next be in competition October 21 when they play host to George Washington and October 22 when they face UMBC on the road.
