ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- The first full day of competition at the Patriot League Swimming and Diving Championship at Lejeune Hall in Annapolis saw the Navy teams combine for seven victories in nine events Thursday as the Mids remained in first place in both team standings.

The women's team has totaled 329.5 points and leads second-place Army by 108.5 points, while the men's team has tallied 312 points and leads Army by 39 points.

"It was a very good first full day," said Navy women's swimming head coach John Morrison.  "We were pleased with our morning swims, and I think across the board our times were faster at night.  The energy was great tonight."

"We had a really strong session this morning," said Navy men's swimming head coach Bill Roberts.  "We knew it would be competitive in the events tonight.  It was not perfect, but we felt good about being in a position to build upon our lead after Wednesday (nine points). The guys showed a lot of experience and maturity coming back from the morning.  They had a lot of great times this morning and swam their own races and stayed within themselves tonight and were able to drop more time.

"We do not take a point at this meet for granted, not past, present or future.  We are seeing that the league is very competitive this year.  Our goals remain the same.  We have to go out there and hustle for every point."

The championship continues Friday and concludes Saturday.

500 freestyle
Thursday evening began with Navy's Martina Thomas (Sr., Fayetteville, Ark.) and Bucknell's Maddie Hartigan each posting a time of 4:45.85 to share first place.  Navy's Cameron Horner (So., Hebron, Md.) finished in fourth place with a time of 4:50.29 and Rachel Schlemmer (So., Sterling, Va.) recorded a time of 4:55.93 to finish in sixth place.

"Our 500 freestylers started things off with a really fun race to watch between Martina and Maddie," said Morrison.  "We will take the partial win, and Cameron and Rachel had personal-best times."

The Navy men's team had a 1-2-3 finish in the race.  Everet Andrew (Fr., Wilmette, Ill.) won the event with a time of 4:18.31, Garrett McGovern (So., Nashville, Tenn.) followed in second place with a time of 4:19.42 and Conor Cranfield (Fr., Fort Myers, Fla.) claimed third place with his effort of 4:19.57.  Each of those clocking were NCAA B cut times (4:23.34).  Additionally, Oli Smith (Sr., Rochester, N.Y.) finished in eighth place with a time of 4:26.87.

"It was a great way to begin tonight with the sweep," said Roberts.  "It was really inspiring."

200 Individual Medley
Haley Harris (Fr., St. John's Fla.) was the top finisher for the Navy women's team as her time of 2:01.67 placed her third.  Also scoring for the Mids were Riley Gavigan (So., East Setauket, N.Y.) in sixth place (2:04.04) and Amy Yunginger (Sr., Lititz, Pa.) in seventh (2:05.09).

"Our IMers did a really nice job," said Morrison.  "Haley had a personal-best time tonight."

After going 1-2-3 in the 500 free, Navy swimmers went 1-2 in the 200 IM.  Ethan Tack (Sr., Dix Hills, N.Y.) won the race in a time of 1:44.58, which was an NCAA B cut time (1:46.77) and broke the meet record of 1:45.33 set by Navy's Adam Meyer in 2009.  Placing second for the Mids was Jackson Schultz (Jr., Millersville, Md.) with his NCAA B cut time of 1:46.01.

"Ethan and Jackson, who had to come from behind to get second, kept things going," said Roberts.

50 Freestyle
Sydney Harrington (Sr., Fairfax, Va.) won the fourth individual event league title of her career when she posted a time of 22.53 to win the championship final by 19-hundredths of a second.  Her time also was an NCAA B cut time (22.76).  She was joined in the championship final by teammates Sarah Sorensen (Sr., Gainesville, Fla.), who placed fourth (22.93), and Brooke West (Sr., River Forest, Ill.), who finished in eighth place (23.36).

"Sydney finished off the individual events with a nice win," said Morrison.  "That was her best time in the event.  And it was great to see all three of our seniors who made the final do so well."

Navy advanced a pair of swimmers to the men's A final.  Callen Aulizia (Sr., Warren, Ohio) was the top finisher for Navy as he posted a time of 20.23 to place fourth.  Pat Colwell (So., New Canaan, Conn.) would finish in eighth place in the event (20.38).

Women's One-Meter Diving
The lone diving event of the evening turned into a great showcase for Navy's Hannah Montau (Sr., Germantown, Md.).  She totaled 309.55 points to win the final by 37.25 points, break the meet record of 303.40 set by Colgate's Kim Pilka 11 years ago and better her own league record of 304.70 set in December.  

Also having a strong effort in the event was teammate Caroline Turner (Sr., Phoenixville, Pa.), who scored 263.35 points to place third.

"What a great day for our divers," said diving coach Rich MacDonald.  "Hannah was just on another level today.  This was the strongest field I can remember since I have been in the league, which makes her effort even more impressive.  It was really exciting to see Caroline earn a medal.  She was really 'on' in the finals."

"It was great to watch Hannah's performance," said Morrison, "and we were all excited to see Caroline finish third."

400 Medley Relay
Navy would post a time of 3:37.87 to win the women's race by just under three seconds.  West, Gavigan, Harrington and Thomas combined to win the race and better the pool record of 3:38.43 set two years ago by another Navy team.

"We put it all together in the relay," said Morrison.

The team of Caleb Mauldin (Sr., Chesapeake, Va.), Schultz, Jonah Harm (So., Placerville, Calif.) and McGovern broke multiple records in posting a 5.8 second margin of victory in the men's race.  The team's time of 3:07.32 was an NCAA B cut time, (3:07.53), broke the meet record of 3:10.04 set by Navy in 2020 and broke the league, pool and school record of 3:09.84 set in 2014.

"We could not have asked for much more out of the relay," said Roberts.  "Those four guys represented the program well by getting up there and going after a goal."

Women's Standings
1. 329.5 - Navy
2. 221 - Army
3. 198.5 - Bucknell
4. 177 - Boston U.
5. 97 - American
6. 94 - Lehigh
7. 89 - Loyola
8. 86 - Colgate
9. 68 - Holy Cross
10. 22 - Lafayette

Men's Standings
1. 312 - Navy
2. 273 - Army
3. 206 - Bucknell
4. 160 - Loyola
5. 100 - Boston U.
6. 89 - American
7. 84 - Lafayette
8. 71 - Lehigh
9. 65 - Holy Cross
10. 50 - Colgate