ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- The opening night of the Patriot League Swimming and Diving Championship began and ended with the Navy teams sweeping relay events.  By the end of the first of four nights in Lejeune Hall, Navy's women's team stood in first place by 14 points and the Navy men's team was atop the standings by nine points.

The 200 medley relay began the meet, and the Navy teams set meet records in winning the respective titles.

The women's team of Megan Murphy (Fr., West Palm Beach, Fla.), Riley Gavigan (So., East Setauket, N.Y.), Sydney Harrington (Sr., Fairfax, Va.) and Sarah Sorensen (Sr., Gainesville, Fla.) combined for a time of 1:39.90 that gave the Mids the win by almost one full second.  That effort bettered the previous meet standard of 1:40.01 set by Navy in 2016.

Army placed second in the race with a time of 1:40.87.

In the inaugural men's event, Navy's Caleb Mauldin (Sr., Chesapeake, Va.), Derek Nguyen (Sr., Woodstock, Md.), Jonah Harm (So., Placerville, Calif.) and Callen Aulizia (Sr., Warren, Ohio) registered a time of 1:25.30 to win the race by 1.66 seconds over Loyola.  In the process, the Mids improved upon the 2014 meet record of 1:26.25 set by another Navy foursome.

The lone event to be held this evening that was not a relay race was the men's three-meter diving.  Navy's Blakeman Shaw (Fr., Coral Gables, Fla.) finished in third place (319.25), Zach Peng (Fr., Oakton, Va.) placed fourth (316.25) and George Moore (So., New Canaan, Conn.) finished in sixth place (308.30).

"We had a rough afternoon," said Navy diving coach Rich MacDonald.  "But they all finished strong to advance to the finals tonight.  Each dove better this evening and improved upon their placing from the preliminary dives.  I am proud of them for that."

The women's 800 freestyle relay took place next, and the Mids won the race with a time of 7:15.20.  Martina Thomas (Sr., Fayetteville, Ark.), Gabi Baldwin (So., Lake Elms, Minn.), Cameron Horner (So., Hebron, Md.) and Sorensen gave Navy a 3.5-second victory over Army.

The men's 800 free final closed the brief session.  Navy's team of Conor Cranfield (Fr., Fort Myers, Fla.), Everet Andrew (Fr., Wilmette, Ill.), Ethan Tack (Sr., Dix Hills, N.Y.) and Garrett McGovern (So., Nashville, Tenn.) completed the race in a time of 6:23.01.  That effort was better than the 2016 meet record of 6:23.72 set by a Navy team, and was 4.37 seconds faster than the time posted by a second-place Army team.

The event continues Thursday through Saturday in Lejeune Hall.

Women's Standings (2 events)
1. 80 - Navy
2. 66 - Army
3. 64 - Bucknell
4. 52 - Boston U.
T5. 50 - American
T5. 50 - Colgate 
7. 44 - Loyola
8. 42 - Holy Cross
9. 28 - Lehigh
10. 22 - Lafayette

Men's Standings (3 events)
1. 124 - Navy
2. 115 - Army
3. 82 - Bucknell
4. 75 - Loyola
5. 67 - Boston U.
6. 56 - Lehigh
7. 52 - Lafayette
8. 49 - American
9. 39 - Holy Cross
10. 32 - Colgate