ANNAPOLIS, Md. –– Great morning efforts by the Navy swimming and diving teams led to both teams putting together strong nights and building some separation between themselves and the field, Friday at Lejeune Hall in Annapolis.  Navy won each of the first eight events of the evening session and ended Friday with 10 victories in the 13 contested events.

The Navy women's team entered Friday with a 108.5-point advantage over second-place Army.  The Mids have now accrued 631.5 points and stand 232 points clear of second-place Bucknell. 

The Navy men's team began the day with a 39-point edge on second-place Army.  At the end of the night, the Mids had totaled 643.5 points during the meet to move 126.5 points in front of the Black Knights.

The championship concludes Saturday.

The morning sessions provided a great opportunity for the Navy teams to have successful evenings.  The women's team entered 17 swimmers into the preliminary heats, and all 17 advanced to championship finals.  The men's team placed 14 swimmers into championship finals and four into consolation finals with just one effort not qualifying for the night session.

"Last night we had a conversation about needing to come back strong today and approach the meet as if it was 0-0," said Navy women's swimming head coach John Morrison.  "To have 17 finalists qualify for the evening -- that is the first time it has happened -- made for a really special morning, and then they improved upon where they were from the morning at night.  It was a fun day for us."

"This morning was really big," said Navy men's swimming head coach Bill Roberts.  "We knew today would have a major impact on how tomorrow would look.  Everybody understood that we can't take a single swim off.  It was really great to see the team respond to the challenge and the situation we were in.  I was really proud of them this morning, and seeing how they swam tonight made it even better.  Tonight was one of those sessions that doesn't happen very often.  But when it does, it is special.

"The job is not finished.  Saturday morning of a conference championship meet is where you start to see teams separate.  We have to treat Saturday like Friday never happened.  We are definitely not in any position to start celebrating.  We have to go to work tomorrow morning and hope we are as sharp as we were today."

100 Butterfly
Sydney Harrington was the top swimmer in the morning heats as her time of 52.50 was three-tenths of a second faster than anyone else, was an NCAA B cut time (53.76) and broke her own meet record of 52.69.  She made her top seed hold up with an even better time –– 52.36 –– to win the race by one-half of a second.  

She was far from alone in the race as three of her teammates also had advanced to the final.  Amy Yunginger posted a time of 54.36 to place fourth, Grace Hastings finished fifth with a time of 54.41 and Caroline Irwin recorded a time of 54.89 to finish in sixth place.

"It was great to see Sydney swim that well," said Morrison.  "It is hard when you are expected to win each time you step up on the blocks like she is, but she is a special swimmer who has been able to respond to that pressure very well."

The Navy men's team had the top-four finishers in the morning heats.  Leading the way was Jonah Harm with a time of 46.63 that set new meet (47.01, 2016), league and Navy (46.87, 2021) records and tied the pool record set by Michael Phelps 11 years ago.  He broke all of those standards at night as he posted a time of 46.27, which also was an NCAA B cut (47.43).

Navy gained a lot of points in the event as Pat Colwell placed second in a time of 46.84, Caleb Mauldin finished third with a time of 46.12 and Ben Selnick placed seventh with a clocking of 48.76.

"We were going to be relying on the 100 fly because of where we were seeded coming into this championship," said Roberts.  "The guys did a good job this morning, and then came back tonight and raced their races really well."

400 Individual Medley
Navy's Haley Harris paced the field in the morning with a time of 4:20.55 that was 2.4 seconds faster than any other swimmer.  She was able to improve upon her time (4:17.98) and nearly match her margin of victory (2.34) at night.

Also reaching the championship final was Rachel Schlemmer, who recorded a time of 4:22.99 to finish in fourth place.

"Rachel did a great job moving up," said Morrison, "and Haley really came through for us.  She had a decent swim in the morning but really dropped time at night.  She really showed her mettle in what we are hoping is the first of several championship wins for her the next few years."

In the men's race, Garret McGovern posted the fastest morning time by three-tenths of a second with his effort of 3:50.13 that also was an NCAA B cut (3:51.46).  Placing third in the morning was Ethan Tack with a time of 3:51.24.

Tack held the lead from start to finish to win the final in a time of 3:48.60.  McGovern stood in eighth place more than four seconds in back of Tack heading into the freestyle leg and the final 100 yards of the race.  After 50 yards he had moved into fifth place with a leg of 25.48 –– the fastest by nearly one full second –– but still was nearly a full second out of the medals.  He closed the last lap with a time of 23.84 ‑‑ the second fastest leg was 25.60 –– to move into second place overall with a total time of 3:48.71.  He finished four-hundredths of a second ahead of the third-place finisher, who McGovern had trailed by three seconds with 100 yards remaining.

"We knew we could get some points in this event," said Roberts, "but we didn't know what those points would be.  It was very wide open.  Ethan, we figured, would be very strong.  He set the tone for the rest of the field and made them all work very hard.  That helped Garrett, who was behind for most of the race.  He went past people who were probably tired from keeping up with Ethan.  As far as the finishes goes, that was one for the ages."

200 Freestyle
Martina Thomas and Cameron Horner were the top swimmers in the trial heats with their times of 1:47.42 and 1:48.43, respectively.  Thomas and Horner would hold their placings in the final as Thomas won the race in a time of 1:46.77 (NCAA B cut) and Horner finished second with a clocking of 1:47.97.  

Two more Mids joined the duo in the final as Gabi Baldwin finished in sixth pace with a time of 1:50.27 and Sarah Sorensen placed eighth with a clocking of 1:52.60.

"It was great to see Martina close out her career in her prime event with a win," said Morrison.  "Cameron had some big time drops to get to where she finished."

The margin the Navy men had gained on Army through the first few events of the night could have been diminished somewhat as the Black Knights advanced three into the consolation final and three into the championship final while there were only two Mids in the championship final.  Those losses were mitigated to an extent as Everet Andrew posted a time of 1:36.45 to win the race by three-hundredths of a second over Bucknell's Christopher Kopac.  Army's Sean Dwyer placed third in a time of 1:36.51 and Navy's Conor Cranfield placed fourth with a clocking of 1:37.15.

"This shaped up to be a similar type of race to the 400 IM," said Roberts.  "I was talking with the guys about their energy because multiple guys could touch the wall first.  Everet was not in the position to finish first until about the last four-and-a-half yards.  He just pout his head down and went into the wall."

100 Breaststroke
Riley Gavigan led all swimmers in the morning with a time of 1:01.98.  She would go on to post a time of 1:02.04 to win the championship final by six-tenths of a second. Army's Aurelie Migault placed second in a time of 1:02.67, then the next three finishers were Mids.  Libby Miller was the third-place finisher in a time of 1:02.94, Reagan Johnson followed in fourth with a clocking of 1:03.19 and Emily Brockman, who advanced to the final only after winning a swim-off for the last spot following the trial heats, placed fifth with her showing of 1:03.53.

"We had four in the final and to place two of the top three and four of the top five was a big result for us," said Morrison.  "A special effort was made by Emily, who had to do a second swim this morning just to qualify for the final and then make the most of her appearance in the final with an improvement in positioning."

Jackson Schultz was the No. 2 swimmer coming out of the morning session as his time of 53.60 was just behind the 53.50 set by Lafayette's Michael Gorgan.  Schultz won the race to lead a 1-3-4 finish by the Mids.  He posted a time of 53.23 to win the event by one-quarter of a second over Loyola's Max Verheyen, Derek Nguyen  finished third in a time of 53.72 and Harm recorded a fourth-place finish with his time of 53.76.  The top-seven finishes were touched the wall within seven-tenths of a second, each with NCAA B cuts (54.27).  Additionally, Navy's Richie Trentalange placed eighth with a time of 54.46.

"This was a great event for us," said Roberts.  "We had really good seeds going in.  James Lee did a nice job of winning the consolation heat, and that set up the guys for the final.  They just raced it really well."

100 Backstroke
A trio of Navy women's swimmers advanced to the championship final of the event.  Brooke West was the top finisher in a fifth-place time of 55.28, Megan Murphy placed sixth with her effort of 55.54 and Madi Milbert followed in seventh place with a time of 55.94.

Mauldin set a meet record (46.00) in the 100 backstroke while swimming the opening leg of Thursday's victorious 400 medley relay team.  Competing Friday in the actual 100 backstroke event, he posted a time of 47.18 to be the fastest swimmer in the trial heats.  He successfully matched his seed by posting a time of 46.12 that gave him the victory by 2.41 seconds.  Placing fourth for the Mids in the race was Nathan Roodzant with a time of 49.00.

"Caleb had a double-event night, which was really special to see him have the results he did," said Roberts.  "These were his first individual events of the championship.  He has been super consistent and we are looking forward to what he can do tomorrow."

Men's One-Meter Diving
The second and last men's diving event of the championship turned into an Army-Navy dual as each team had three divers finish among the top six in the preliminary rounds of the one-meter board.  Army divers would place first, third and fourth in the final and Navy divers finished second, fifth and sixth.  Danny Alaimo posted a score of 342.80 to win the event by 15 points over George Moore, who scored 327.15 points.  Moore's Navy teammates Blake Shaw and Zach Peng recorded fifth and sixth-place finishes with scores of 304.70 and 291.40, respectively.

"The environment in Lejeune Hall tonight was electric," said Navy diving coach Rich MacDonald.  "The divers did not disappoint.  Our guys had a great day, from top to bottom.  I can't remember needing to score 300 points just to place fifth.  They put in a lot of hard work all season and it paid off tonight."

"It was as exciting as it could be for the divers," said Roberts. "There was a lot of back-and-forth and it was great for them compete so well in that type of environment."

200 Freestyle Relay
The Navy, meet, league and pool record in the women's 200 freestyle relay of 1:30.94 was set six years ago.  Tonight, the foursome of Harrington, West, Thomas and Sorensen just missed that standard with a winning time of 1:30.95.  The four seniors finished 1.75 seconds ahead of the rest of the field.

"We had four great seniors on the team," said Morrison.  "They have led the squad all four years, and even though they just missed the record it was great to see them perform together as they did.  We are going to miss them."

The evening concluded with a great race in the men's relay.  Navy's Harm, Callen Aulizia, Colwell and Mauldin were in third place after both 50 and 100 yards, moved into second place after 150 yards and were just edged for the win by one-half of a second by Loyola.  The Greyhounds posted a time of 1:19.05 and the Mids took the silver medal with a time of 1:19.57.

Women's Standings
1. Navy - 631.5; 2. Bucknell - 399.5; 3. Army - 380; 4. Boston U. - 288; 5. Lehigh - 155; 6. Loyola - 154; 7. American - 150; 8. Colgate - 117; 9. Holy Cross - 101; 10. Lafayette - 49.

Men's Standings
1. Navy - 643.5; 2. Army - 517; 3. Bucknell - 394; 4. Loyola - 348; 5. Boston U. - 156.5; 6. Lafayette - 148; 7. Lehigh - 133; 8. American - 119; 9. Holy Cross - 85; 10. Colgate - 64.